New Kidney Or Yacht? The Extravagant Game Of Golf

golf, business deals, Tiger Woods, Bill Hudley

There's money in this!

You can spend...half a day watching golfers walk from one tee to another...

By Citizen Correspondent Bill Hudley

Date Posted: 05/19/07

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There is a sport that I suppose is played around the world that baffles me, no end. Just because I don't like to watch or play it doesn't mean it's a lousy game. Don't get me wrong. I don't have a grudge against anyone nor do I envy the champions of this sport. I have a good friend who seems to enjoy getting up at four in the morning to arrive on the greens by six. Not a terrible scenario...unless you consider that his foursome finishes the round four and a half hours later. I see a lot more redemption in showing up at the tennis courts by seven and hitting the showers by nine - a program that rocks for me in July. The problem I have with the game of golf is that it is the only spectator sport I know of where you can spend the equivalent of half a day watching the participants walk from one spot to another without actually playing! That's just for openers.

If you haven't guessed, I don't play golf. I don't have time for golf, which brings me to the other end of the axe I have to grind.

Shortly after I got into business, many years ago, a customer said to me, "Bill, if only you played golf, you and I could do a lot more business together!"

My reflexes prompted me to think: why don't we just have lunch for two hours? That would save us time and money, and it would give me more than enough time to sell my deal. I could not see his logic; and I see less of it now than when I was thirty years younger. I hope there's enough space here to elaborate.

The skill that's required to sink a white sphere that weighs less than two ounces into a cup measuring roughly twice the dimension is not what I call super human. Additionally, I contend that a golfer can prove his or her ability to drive, chip and putt a perfectly shaped object in as few as nine holes on any course. I don't get many arguments on that score.

So, let's look at the money. Oh, that. Yes, that. According to a CBS correspondent, Tiger Woods is knocking on the door of $1 billion in earnings [probably includes royalties] and I believe that mark will be achieved in less than 10 years as a professional. Folks, there is another way of presenting that kind of information, but the language would not be permitted in this forum.

The money top that players earn, not just in the golfing world, but specifically to drive a pitted little orb into the air is past egregious, in my view.