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Do you need to keep improving to enjoy golf?

Not anymore. So long as I don’t get worse, I’m fine.
 
honestly, I don't know the answer to the question. I enjoy pursuing better fundamentals regardless of absolute score. I get a kick simply watching a pured putt role and the line around the ball does not visibly move. Does not mean I hit the putt. by same token when I pull a putt and it drops for par I get little satisfaction.
 
I would have to quit golf if improving was a key to happiness, now new shafts, clubs, etc now that is happiness.
 
Yes. The challenge to improve is a driving factor, whether it's golf or other hobbies, music in particular. If I knew I would never get better I would likely give it up.
 
No, I just want to have fun and get out of the house. Hit some good ones hit some bad ones who really cares?
 
I am still at an age where improvement is key to my enjoyment (in my 63rd year), but I play with folks who see their age affecting distance and I know that day will come. I will have to get used to the idea of moving up to different tee boxes, I guess, but I think short game skills will not fail me with any luck
 
Personally, I don't have to improve to enjoy the game, but the chase of improvement is definitely part of what drives me to keep playing.

My handicap hasn't budged more than 2 strokes in either direction for probably the last 5 years, but trying to shave a 1/2 a stroke here or there keeps me motivated and has led me to places like here and to many friends.
 
I suck at golf. I've always sucked at golf. It's a 4 letter word for me. I don't get angry, I figure I'll always suck at golf.

I enjoy playing it. Whether I improve or not, that's secondary.
 
That’s kind of a funny thing, because for me, once I stopped caring so much about improving, THAT’S when I started to improve.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to improve. Badly. I’m uber competitive. And I still work towards improvement.

But once improvement stopped dictating my enjoyment of the game and stopped defining whether or not I enjoyed a round of golf, THAT is when I saw my scores lower. Once I stopped beating myself up for bad scores, bad shots, a blow up hole, etc, THAT is when I saw my handicap drop by 6.

I used to dwell so hard after a bad round on something I messed up, especially if it was something I routinely messed up (i.e. lack of improvement). I even remember thinking how playing a round once was an absolute waste of my time and effort because I didn’t improve my score, didn’t hit the ball better, etc. Once I was able to stop that and just enjoy the game, I was then able to let the small things go, accept mistakes, etc., which led to better scores, fewer blow up holes, and all around enjoyment.
 
No. My game has been pretty much the same for the last several years and still play 5 or 6 times a week. The under par rounds that come out of me from time to time definitely keep my going. Even if they went away, my love for the game would still have me out there at the same rate. Love being outdoors and really enjoy the excercise I get from walking the course.
 
My short answer would be yes, improvement is needed for me to enjoy the game. This game is a challenge and facing those challenges is what makes it so enjoyable/desirable for me. Being able to improve even a little aspect of those challenges is what I want to do, and Ned to do with my personality.
Everywhere in my life my goal has been to be better today than I was yesterday, so in keeping with that, then yes I do have to improve to enjoy anything.

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I enjoy it regardless but I enjoy it even more when I'm playing well. I try not to get upset when I'm not playing well and just enjoy the fact that I'm on the course.
 
No unfortunately I am on that slippery slope called getting to the point that my game is not going to get better. So I just play for the enjoyment of the game itself. I have had my day in the sun and now I am in the twilight of my golf days.
 
I'm a lifelong learner. So, trying to improve is part of the enjoyment. But only part of the enjoyment. So, the answer is no. I don't NEED to improve to enjoy the game, but trying to improve is ONE WAY to enjoy the game.
 
I have competed at national level in one sport, and county level in a completely different sport so I know how much training it takes to compete at those two different levels, and I just don't have the time to be able to practice golf to get to that same level

Golf for me is just something I want to enjoy, and being out on the course with Jen, friends at the club or the UK peeps at our gathering is my main motivation for playing
Yes, I have certain goals I would like to reach, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I don't reach all of them
 
I think it’s less about improving rather than feeling I’ve playing to my best on that day. I get frustrated when I don’t play well but do enjoy being on the course. Having had golf taken away during lockdown it has really made me appreciate how much I LOVE the game.
 
OGputtnfool said:
Apparently not. Lately, I suck, but I keep going back.
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This was my exact thought :LOL:

Been playing for 27 years with little to no improvement despite lot's of $'s and effort spent trying.
 
DataDude said:
This was my exact thought :LOL:

Been playing for 27 years with little to no improvement despite lot's of $'s and effort spent trying.
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Don't even get me started on how much I've spent on this quest...
 
DataDude said:
I can't count that high anyway...and I'm an actuary :LOL:
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Care to calculate my risk of being single if I keep spending 20% of my income on golf? How does it figure in there that I'm spending part of it on 2 of my kids now? :eek:
 
what a great question that hits at the heart of what Ive tried to do for the past several years let alone the last 30 or more.
Firstly let me say that there is much more enjoyment in a round when I play well vs when I play poorly. I think not all but most folks (especially mid and higher cappers) are not being real honest when they say the enjoyment of a round doesnt proportionally rise and fall with that days performance.

As for the improvement? Well......I been through evrrything there is the past several years in order to try to get more consistent and yet I just cant. The efforts , lessons, time, money, and overall dedication I have placed in do not at all add up to anything and I am simply unable to improve. Ive exhausted all the excuses in the book (within my means) and all the advices put out there. And Ive finally come to accept Im simply just not one the luckier ones (far from it) and in fact Im not even one those which the game didnt come so easy yet were lucky enough to be able to improve significantly enough with great efforts and time and money within thier means.

Im one the outliers imo. Most folks with decent amount of efforts and dedication will get themselves to being a mid to at least high 80'splayer majority of rounds and even so many folks I personally know can do that without all that much efforts at all. yet there are those (like myself) who simply cannot get there. And when you know you've put in so much more efforts time and money than so many those people and yet you cant get consistent enough to be at even the same place, it gets real disheartening. Its the only game/sport in my life where I didnt achieve a level of play consistent enough to feel decent.

You dont play enough,
you dont practice enough,
take lessons
practice with a purpose.
learn and practice short game
dont let the last shot bother you,
dont think
sound grip,posture, stance, alignment is all you need to consistently strike balls well enough.
dont worry about score
get fitted
etc.etc.etc.etc.......Ive exhausted every one those and a hundred more and I dint mean i gave them a little try, I mean I given them all a hardy welcoming time consuming process. Ive made the dedications and efforts within my means and even more than my means. Done it all just to get to where so many folks are who havnt placed even 1/4th of what i have into it and yet still I cannot play as well. I just simply cannot repeat enough good ball striking and Im done with lessons and time and money and great efforts and seeing little to no reward from them. Its become so disheartening after all I gone through that I am really no better then i was before. I have more rounds near 100 than i do below 90.

So Ive now come to choose to be either disheartened and angry (which I often enough am when i think about all I've put in) or accept Im just not as lucky or as fortunate as most (as for playing this game). I have to choose the later most the time because otherwise its no enjoyment at all. But i admit its hard sometimes. I have at times walked off the course after 9 simply due to being so disheartened. But Im not going back for more punishment of lessons and efforts and time and money and time practicing the lessons only to yet again go out and play and see no improvement. Im just not doing it anymore as its gotten ridiculous. So Im just playing and letting it go and not even running a cap anymore. Im not getting any better but i wasn't before anyway and at least now I dont have to feel Im putting as much in so i wont feel quite as disheartened. Basically Im intentionally putting some the excuses back in.
 
Do I want to get better at golf, of course! Does not improving lessen my enjoyment, absolutely not. I'm not getting better at sex, but I still enjoy the heck outta it! Wait, was that too much information?:ROFLMAO:
 
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It is in my competitive nature to want to improve my game. Does it mean that I will enjoy golf more if I get better? Probably not. Honestly, if I get better it'll probably make me enjoy it less since I will continually know that I could've gotten a better score. At the end of the day, it's a game and one that you get to spend 3-5 hours outside, typically with buddies, and your only real competition is yourself.
 
Scorpion12 said:
I suck at golf. I've always sucked at golf. It's a 4 letter word for me. I don't get angry, I figure I'll always suck at golf.

I enjoy playing it. Whether I improve or not, that's secondary.
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Nope. You will get better. I promise.
 
squats said:
It is in my competitive nature to want to improve my game. Does it mean that I will enjoy golf more if I get better? Probably not. Honestly, if I get better it'll probably make me enjoy it less since I will continually know that I could've gotten a better score. At the end of the day, it's a game and one that you get to spend 3-5 hours outside, typically with buddies, and your only real competition is yourself.
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That's one of my secret fears. Expectation can be a brutal mistress.
 
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