In my last article, I touched on fact that golf is very diverse and is part of the entertainment business. There are many reasons to play golf but here are 10 common ones.

1. Meet new people: Golf is very much a social game. You can meet people just by getting joined up on the first tee, men’s/ladies nights, tournaments or becoming a member at a course.

2. Develop life-long friendships: Once you meet fellow golfers, it is very common to include them in your weekly foursome or get them out for a couple’s night. Think of how many people you have as friends because of golf.

3. Great for doing business: It is no secret that many business “meetings” have been conducted on the golf course. Women have also begun to use golf as a valuable business tool.

4. The love of the game transcends age, race, income — everything: It is great to see grandparents taking grandchildren to the range/course. Every group will be diverse in some way.

5. The game is a healthy choice: The beauty of the game is its longevity and the ability of most people to play it late in their lives.

6. The beauty of the courses: We are very lucky in Greater Sudbury to enjoy a variety of scenic courses at very reasonable prices. The downturn in the economy has virtually stopped most new course construction worldwide, but the previous 15 years saw magnificent courses built in the Muskokas, the Toronto area and Florida, that many Sudburians have enjoyed.

7. The amazing diversity of the game, even on the same course: Like I have said numerous times, you must stay in the present while golfing. Just because you have a similar shot on your course as the previous day or week means nothing now. Just because the other shot was good or bad will be no guarantee the present shot will be anything similar.

8. Challenge of the game (is there anything this difficult?): It is not a game of perfection but we keep chasing the proverbial carrot.

9. Creates a reason to travel to new places: The tourism industry quickly learned that a quality golf course brought people to their resort.

10. Its a lifestyle, not just a sport: Look at the billboard ads along the highways in Florida. They are certainly portraying that image with golf as the common theme.

Tom Clark is the director of instruction at the Timberwolf Academy. The academy can be reached at 705-524-WOLF(9653) ext. 6. This is the third in a series of six columns.

Posted by Vivian Scinto