How can skateboarders golf?

[ManimalChin]

The moral argument for environmental sustainability of golf courses is alwyas puzzling to me, because that land is fairly well preserved and maintained for nature. Wildlife flourishes, and the watering and upkeep is comparable, if not more energy efficient, to any patch of densely populated concrete jungle that would take its place.

If you're concerned about what type of climate changing and environmental impact golf has on the planet, I don't know how you can skateboard and not constantly feel guilt from wasting wood and supporting the import/export of cheap consumable goods. Skateboarding relies on you constantly breaking your equipment and buying more. Ive had the same golf clubs since like 1995, which were my Dad's before then.

OP - you seem more concerned with the stereotype of a BMW driving Trump supporting golfer than anything else. Golf is for everybody.

[fs1/2cab]

I go play some golf with my dad sometimes, because otherwise we don't do that much together or have the best relationship. That golf course is next to a nature reserve and they use some recycled rain water or some shit for the course, so that is cool.

Some golfers just want to have fun, some golfers take it and themselves way too serious.
Some golfers like drugs/booze and some golfers are straight edge.
Kinda similar to skaters I think.

But haven't met a golfer yet who likes black sabbath or wu-tang. (I wear my usual shirts at the course, can't wear pink polo shirts for example).

I never in my life threw my board, but golf makes me incredible angry sometimes and I once broke my club and screamed at the fucking grass. I am not proud of it.

Driving golf cars on wet grass is really fun and scary.
And finishing a hole under par feels really good. Not as good as a clean heelflip, but good.

Golf and skating are similar because most stuff is in your head and you need to be fully focused most of the time and that can be really exhausting and frustrating. I played 9 holes a few times and I was done after that.

Thanks for reading and much love pals.

[Lowcalcium]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

In my experience golf courses and country clubs are populated by the kind of people who despise skateboarding, its culture, and lifestyle. Conversely much of what skate culture mocks is celebrated in that "world".

I'm always puzzled and disappointed when I learn that great skateboarders enjoy that scene (esp Crailtap camp).How do the former EMB/venice pit crews tolerate spending all that time assimilating with the douchy republican BMW crowd?

 The actual sport itself doesn't bother me though I find it pretty awful from an environmental and urban use standpoint.

[close]

Public courses exist. 
Liberals can drive nice cars. 
Golf is physically low impact.
What else do 40+ year olds do as a hobby

I don’t disagree with the environmental issues you mentioned and don’t quite get how obsessive people get about it, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve considered getting into it

[close]

I mean, I am 44 and I:
Skate
Surf
Snowboard
Run
Mountain Bike

Fuck golf. We have a massive housing crisis and people want to stroll along private (you can call them public all you like, my local park doesnt cost me $85 to walk around) heavily manicured/fabricated places with an exorbitant cost-to-entry activity where we could build housing for working class and poor people?

fuck that shit. Launch all golf-related-anything into the fucking sun. Any pro skater etc that demos that all over their social media is a kook.

[close]

You sure are active out there Dave. Good thing you get out all that aggression doing your physical activities.

Cause it would be a shame for you to care about what other hobbies people might enjoy.

[close]

Sorry you interpreted what I said as "caring about what other hobbies people might enjoy."
I think we were talking about the singular activity and its meta impact on our society, golf.
I don't really care about your assorted other hobbies, but I do care about this one that is so obviously detrimental to the world around it. Whether you want to bury your head in a sand trap and acknowledge that or not is on you.

Dave I hear what your saying about the environmental impact, and for the most part you are right in terms of Ball Golf. Most golf (ball golf) courses have a negative impact on our environment due to these factors: the water it takes to keep the green, well green; the good land they use up where affordable housing could be built, the amount of pesticides ball golf courses use to kill flora & and fauna, and the wildlife habitats they destroy.

But unlike ball golf, disc golf is a poor man's, blue collar, working class activity.

Most disc golf courses are literally built on land that: can't be built on, would cost too much to level and develop, or land no one truly wants.

For example, my local home course in Virginia was previously built on a land fill. 

Hence, unlike ball golf, Disc Golf courses for the most part have a very small environmental impact on the environment. Now in 10 years that may change with more courses and more people playing...but at the moment disc golf is still not on the level with ball golf...and probably never will which is great

[ManimalChin]

the good land they use up where affordable housing could be built

Exactly what I was talking about in my post. Affordable housing could be built on any of the land that luxury condos/apartments and strip malls are being built all over the country, every day. But for some reason the preservation of land and upkeep of a golf course draws more attention. And in theory you may have an argument about the sustainability of replacing one single golf course with "affordable housing" for another 25,000 people, but in practice I have yet to see anything that suggests otherwise. This is moral theory, after all. I live in one of the most urbanized cities in America - Los Angeles - and I just can't get on board with what you're saying. Sorry. Nothing personal but this is just speculation that the land would most definitely be better served if it was anything else.

[ManimalChin]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

In my experience golf courses and country clubs are populated by the kind of people who despise skateboarding, its culture, and lifestyle. Conversely much of what skate culture mocks is celebrated in that "world".

I'm always puzzled and disappointed when I learn that great skateboarders enjoy that scene (esp Crailtap camp).How do the former EMB/venice pit crews tolerate spending all that time assimilating with the douchy republican BMW crowd?

 The actual sport itself doesn't bother me though I find it pretty awful from an environmental and urban use standpoint.

[close]

Public courses exist. 
Liberals can drive nice cars. 
Golf is physically low impact.
What else do 40+ year olds do as a hobby

I don’t disagree with the environmental issues you mentioned and don’t quite get how obsessive people get about it, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve considered getting into it

[close]

I mean, I am 44 and I:
Skate
Surf
Snowboard
Run
Mountain Bike

Fuck golf. We have a massive housing crisis and people want to stroll along private (you can call them public all you like, my local park doesnt cost me $85 to walk around) heavily manicured/fabricated places with an exorbitant cost-to-entry activity where we could build housing for working class and poor people?

fuck that shit. Launch all golf-related-anything into the fucking sun. Any pro skater etc that demos that all over their social media is a kook.

People have this same mentality with purpose built mountain bike trails. Have you ever encountered a booby-trapped trail meant to physically harm bikers? Here in LA we even have roadies out destroying jump trails with shovels because it "negatively impacts the environment."

Maybe we should start building more affordable housing where we mountain bike and surf. All that open ocean space, just being wasted!

[baaaaaaguette]

Expand Quote

the good land they use up where affordable housing could be built

[close]

Exactly what I was talking about in my post. Affordable housing could be built on any of the land that luxury condos/apartments and strip malls are being built all over the country, every day. But for some reason the preservation of land and upkeep of a golf course draws more attention. And in theory you may have an argument about the sustainability of replacing one single golf course with "affordable housing" for another 25,000 people, but in practice I have yet to see anything that suggests otherwise. This is moral theory, after all. I live in one of the most urbanized cities in America - Los Angeles - and I just can't get on board with what you're saying. Sorry. Nothing personal but this is just speculation that the land would most definitely be better served if it was anything else.

Massive cities look so soulless and bleak im glad i live in a sub half a million city

[ManimalChin]

 This city is broken in so many ways, and corporate pollution is just one more factor that directly affects the health of the 15+ million people who live here. 17 million gallons just dumped into the ocean by the LA Department of Water and Power. Sorry for golfing a couple times a year lol

[Star Whores Episode I: The Fellatio Menace]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

the good land they use up where affordable housing could be built

[close]

Exactly what I was talking about in my post. Affordable housing could be built on any of the land that luxury condos/apartments and strip malls are being built all over the country, every day. But for some reason the preservation of land and upkeep of a golf course draws more attention. And in theory you may have an argument about the sustainability of replacing one single golf course with "affordable housing" for another 25,000 people, but in practice I have yet to see anything that suggests otherwise. This is moral theory, after all. I live in one of the most urbanized cities in America - Los Angeles - and I just can't get on board with what you're saying. Sorry. Nothing personal but this is just speculation that the land would most definitely be better served if it was anything else.

[close]

Massive cities look so soulless and bleak im glad i live in a sub half a million city

If city governments really wanted to build affordable housing, they would build affordable housing. It doesn't have anything to do with all the space used for golf courses. It has more to do with them rather having wealthy people live in their town than poor people.

[Lou Strux]

I’m late to this convo, and I apologize in advance if this has already been said (not about to read through5 pages of golf related discussion; THIS is a skateboarding forum, after all) but to answer the OP’s ding-dong question: the way skateboarders can golf is by making a reservation at your local public course, showing up with your gear at the arranged time (or show up a bit early & rent some equipment from the pro shop if you don’t have any clubs or cleats) and then start swinging. It’s that simple. Nothing more to it, actually.
A better question would be WHY would skaters golf?
Especially taking into account that golf is a great game for shitty old dude’s to play, and provided you survive long enough, you’ll have plenty of time to give it a crack when your a codger, so why would you waste the precious time your body is still youthful enough to jump off of & over shit on fucking golf?!?
You’re only young for a while. Skate now & play golf when you’re a wrinkly turd like me. Life is too short to waste on second hand stoke. Go have fun while your knees and ankles will still permit it. Golf isn’t going anywhere, fer Christ’s sake.

[SHARPSHOOTER]

Wait till your body is absolutely crumbling. You get a nice walk in the sun and get to drink. What’s there to hate

[MareVitals]

Nah fuck golf. I'm not denying it could be a fun activity at its core but the environmental impact (they make courses in the fucking desert) and culture behind it are enough to keep me away. There are plenty of way cooler low impact activities to take up as you age instead of that dork shit.

[ManimalChin]

Nah fuck golf. I'm not denying it could be a fun activity at its core but the environmental impact (they make courses in the fucking desert) and culture behind it are enough to keep me away. There are plenty of way cooler low impact activities to take up as you age instead of that dork shit.

damn hadn't thought of that

[mushroom slice]

Rib golfs and imbues you to golf wit him

[Tear Up a Trick]

Playing 9 holes tomorrow.  Looking forward to trying out some new shoes.  I think golfers and skaters are pretty equally obsessed with their equipment and shoes. 

[baaaaaaguette]

This city is broken in so many ways, and corporate pollution is just one more factor that directly affects the health of the 15+ million people who live here. 17 million gallons just dumped into the ocean by the LA Department of Water and Power. Sorry for golfing a couple times a year lol

Wha-how?? How do you dump a fucking lake of drinking water in the ocean?

Reminds me that LA traffic is routinely used in my country as a “don’t do this” red flag. Then again the shitty trafic is probably a side effect of shitty urban planning and forcing poor people into far away suburbs, what a horrible place

[Tear Up a Trick]

Here's an article on "the intersection of skate culture and golf"

I did not realize how much Keith Hufnagel golfed.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/at-the-intersection-of-skater-culture-and-golf

[Frank and Fred]

British style Lawn Bowling is where I'd rather retire to post-skateboarding.

[beandemon]

I was on grass side of the golf industry for a long, long time. The environmental claims are a little overblown, but inputs are constantly increasing, as are expectations. I think the biggest thing to realize is that there is a wide spectrum of courses in terms of size, maintenance budget, exclusivity, price, etc.  People tend to cherry pick high end courses to talk about how awful, elitist and environmentally harmful golf is. It’s like comparing your local park or diy to Woodward or a private training facility. Most golfers are definitely doing most golfing on the lower end.

That said, it’s an awful business to make money in (although I’ve heard there was a pandemic bump), the environmental aspects should be getting better, not worse, and the golf industry is driven/trying to appeal to a “core” that is largely white, male, and chases trends.

[Stu Pickles]

skateboarding as a non professional: about self progression, requires minor adjustments and focus to succeed, spend a long time outdoors with friends drinking, youll be happy when your friends do well, satisfying to succeed in when technique and execution align, high chance you could get hurt

golf as a non professional: about self progression, requires minor adjustments and focus to succeed, spend a long time outdoors with friends drinking, youll be happy when your friends do well, satisfying to succeed in when technique and execution align, low chance you could get hurt

i get how golf culture isnt the most appealing thing to most skaters but i see how the activity can strike all the right neurons in a skaters brain

[dakotalofton]

i love playing golf it's really fun to do with friends, but this shit really hurts my wrist when i swing from falling on them so many times

[Mean salto]

Golf's fine but putt-putt is where it's at.

[Minigolf Fanatic]

I'm very in to mini golf.

[Yonnycage]

People like things man isn’t that fucking crazy

[muntcuscle]

I golf casually because it’s fun to play with a couple friends on a Sunday afternoon and have a few beers. It’s also an individual game with a lot of ways to challenge yourself. Not that different from skating as an adult when you think of it that way. Not as fun, but it’s nice to switch things up every once in a while

[frontfootimpossible]

Expand Quote

the good land they use up where affordable housing could be built

[close]

Exactly what I was talking about in my post. Affordable housing could be built on any of the land that luxury condos/apartments and strip malls are being built all over the country, every day. But for some reason the preservation of land and upkeep of a golf course draws more attention. And in theory you may have an argument about the sustainability of replacing one single golf course with "affordable housing" for another 25,000 people, but in practice I have yet to see anything that suggests otherwise. This is moral theory, after all. I live in one of the most urbanized cities in America - Los Angeles - and I just can't get on board with what you're saying. Sorry. Nothing personal but this is just speculation that the land would most definitely be better served if it was anything else.

Do you really think LA needs more people/ houses?

Maybe all the people that can't afford it should move to somewhere cheaper

[truthislie]

Right... golf is only for rich, SUV driving old Assholes the same way Skateboarding is only for young, poor, destructive drug users who never amount to anything. Teamsports are only for jocks and gaming/computers are only for geeks.

Not that I ever gotten really into golfing but it always amazes me how a lot of skateboarders don´t want to be judged yet do the exact same thing to nearly every other sport/activity or lifestyle. I used to hate everythings besides skateboarding too until I got older and realised that I missed out on a lot of fun stuff because of it. Believe it or not you can like skateboarding and other stuff that skaters typically don´t do at the same time.

[somefucker]

the driving range where its at

[Crailslideyoface]

Never played real golf, but mini golf is fun and I’d like to imagine the real thing with other skateboarders could be like being in Caddyshack. So it’s alright with me

[aàáâäæãå]

Yo, checking in here from my non-sustainable phone to tell you concrete and pavement aren’t environmentally friendly.

That’s all for now, get it while you can!

[Tear Up a Trick]

Forever I thought golf was the wackest thing ever

All the same arguments everybody here is using

Thought they should at pave it for skaters or use it for anything else

But I warn you all, once you start playing it you will get bitten by the golf bug and you will be out there every day, dreaming about balls flying through the air, and watching golf videos on youtube along with skate videos.  Don't start golfing I warn you.