At first glance, golf appears to be a relaxing, quiet sport, but it is much more demanding and complex than many people think. The author says that there is no room for excuses in golf. Players might complain about the wind not being in their favour, for example, or about their caddie, who by the way does much more than just clean and carry the clubs. At the end of the round, though, every golfer knows that there is only one person to blame when they lose a game, and that is the player themselves.
Golfers rarely ever have the luxury of sharing their frustrations with teammates when they play badly in a tournament, because it is almost exclusively a solitary sport, which is why it is often compared to tennis. While there are certain similarities between the two sports, the author suggests that the life of a golfer is a little more complicated than that of a tennis player. In order to win a Grand Slam, for example, a tennis player has to beat seven opponents, whereas golfers have to beat every single other player in a competition. Golfers are also the only athletes who train for several hours after a competition. A tennis player or a basketball player might do the same, of course, but they would train less hard and for a shorter amount of time.
One good thing about golf is that players can keep playing for many years, not just when they are young. While some professional golfers make a lot of money, very few are actually given long-term contracts. So, golf is a challenging sport for everyone, from amateurs to seasoned champions, and involves much more than simply walking across rolling green fields.
