“Do you play golf?”

It is a popular question these days. Thanks to Tiger Woods, golf is more popular and mainstream right now than it has been for years. Adults are playing, kids are playing, even broke, college kids who can’t afford to do laundry somehow find enough money to go out and shoot a round of 18 holes every once in a while.

My question is: Why is golf so popular? I asked around to see what people had to say. Most could not come up with a good answer. People still do not seem to be crazy about watching it and most people who play end up getting frustrated on the course. So why do they continue to play?

I enjoy playing golf. I’m one of the many people who can go out and play so badly that I don’t have to worry about my score or about that triple-bogey on the last hole, because I’ll probably shoot even worse on the next. However, some of the people that play are not as fun-loving and easy-going about the sport. They may say they are out to play for fun, but by the third hole, they are cursing up a storm and tossing their putter out into the woods.

So why do they keep playing?

One reason that people play golf may be that it requires very little athletic skill. Golf is not an athletic event. In my opinion, walking for a round of 18 holes does not qualify as an athletic sport. And many people prefer to ride their golf carts around anyway, eliminating any sort of exercise.

Now, before you golfers blow your tops and demand that I be fired, hear me out. A golfer does not need to be fast or agile. He or she does not need to run the 40-yard dash in less than five seconds. A golfer does not need a 35-inch vertical leap to be successful. In order to be a good golfer, a person needs patience and determination.

However, these two qualities can be just as hard to come by as any athletic ability.

Michael Jordan, named by ESPN as the greatest athlete of our time, is not a very good golfer. However, look at Phil Mickelson, one of the top golfers in the game. He is a fantastic golfer, but I would venture to guess that he probably wouldn’t be able to compete in a men’s basketball recreational league.

This is a big reason golf is so popular with people. You don’t have to be the captain of the football and basketball team. You can have big nerdy glasses and slow, lead feet, but if you can dedicate yourself to becoming a good golfer, you can succeed.

Of course, there will always be those people who can pick up a golf club and hit the ball 300 yards. However, for the rest of us, through practice, it is possible to be a good golfer without the God-given natural athletic talent.

Another reason golf may be so popular is that you can never really win. There is never a point where you can stop working or improving. You can always go out and shoot a lower score tomorrow. Golf can drive the perfectionist crazy, and it can bring out the competitive spirit in us all. It is a game where the better you become, the worse you feel you do.

A bad golfer can shoot a 100 and feel great about his or her day. A golfer who feels like he or she is great can shoot a round of 90 and consider it a bad day. In golf, as in life, no one is perfect.

And of course, you don’t have to be popular to be a golfer. You do not need opponents when you can play against yourself.

It can be very relaxing to go out on the golf course alone and play a round. Well, it’s relaxing until you hit three straight balls into the water and you feel like throwing your clubs onto the ground and screaming at anyone and everyone around you, then it is no longer all that relaxing.

As long as there are people with competitive spirits and places to play, golf will always be popular.

You don’t have to be an athlete to succeed at golf, just a competitor. And because of that, kids and adults will continue to play, golf will continue to grow and college kids will continue to come up with the money for golf, while their laundry sits in the corner, untouched.