Most air-friendly of all outdoor sports? Golf. It doesn’t get any greener than this

Week-in and week-out on weekends, I watch televised broadcasts of golf matches almost religiously, that is, unless there is something else going on that takes precedence. I don’t miss a beat, meaning I watch these televised golf matches to the exclusion of all other broadcast sports, which on weekends, seem to flood the channels.

Golf’s really sellable quality is that practically anyone can play. You needn’t be an athlete per sé.

Once the appropriate equipment is had, a tee time at the local links reserved and a cart secured if one does not care to walk, you’re on your way, off to the races, in a manner of speaking. If one is so-inclined, a lesson or two can be taken beforehand.

I, myself, used to play the game as a teenager. I also bowled, but have since parted with clubs and put bowling ball away. In fact, on one round, I almost scored a hole-in-one. I remember that particular hole being a par 3, the tee-off spot was elevated way above where the green was. Weird though this may sound, but that’s about all I can remember from my golf-playing days.

Mind you, I have watched and participated in other games and sports, but nothing in the sports or game world in my opinion can compare, from the spectator point of view, to golf. Which could partly explain why I enjoy watching the pastime so much.

There are other reasons too. At the professional level, cheating is non-existent. If it happens at all, I’m not aware of it.

Next, I also notice that all the competitors walk the entire course – there are no carts used, and the caddies walk as well.

If any carts are used, like if there is a call for an official ruling about a particular golf shot that needs to be made during the course of play, and an official is summoned to the location in question, the said official, typically, is dispatched by golf cart to and from the spot. Or if a playoff to decide a match winner, here again, golf carts are usually called upon to shuttle players, caddies and clubs all to the playoff hole. And, the golf carts, incidentally, are almost always, if not exclusively, battery-powered which means there is none of that exhaust that their combustion-engine counterparts source.

Moreover, when watching televised golf, there are always the galleries gathered on various parts of the course. In all the years I viewed such events, not one time have I ever noticed any of the spectators engaged in smoking tobacco products. This is not to say that smoking on golf courses doesn’t exist. It’s just that we as television viewers aren’t exposed to that, at least, as far as I’m aware. Which, for my money, suits me just fine.

And, whereas in many other sports there are after-game fireworks displays – fireworks which release particulate matter into the atmosphere upon their being ignited, there are no such celebrations in golf – at least, none that I’m aware of.

Except for the occasional caught-on-camera-swearing by players, golf all around, meaning with regard to the various activities and attributes connected to it, is a clean – and I mean clean when I say clean – sport, which, unconsciously, could be the reason why I like watching golf as much as I do.

On the other hand, the part where golf isn’t as clean is in the method used in getting to and coming from the course being played: more often than not this is by motor vehicle whose prime mover (engine) is of the internal-combustion, gas- or diesel-powered variety. Then again, there are those who own homes whose properties border those courses situated right next to them, affording these folks the ability to walk or cart it directly onto the course from such.

I gotta tell you: where else do you find that?!

– Alan Kandel

4 thoughts on “Most air-friendly of all outdoor sports? Golf. It doesn’t get any greener than this”

  1. I live on a golf course for most of the past thirty-two years. Have you observed the maintenance required to maintain the greens – some electric carts used by maintenance but also gasoline engines on mowers, trimmers, etc. And the chemicals! I live near the maintenance yard and observe the enormous chemical industry delivery trucks that park on the street for the maintenance yard. Dream on – golf courses, as “practiced” by most of middle America, require enormous workforces of underpaid labor – workers who would be challenged if they appeared in the neighborhood after hours (unless they are doing lawns on the side).

    • Thank you for your input.

      Compared to other types of sporting events outdoors, I just feel given the overall nature of the sport, golf is on the list of being the least air-destructive/least air-disruptive.

      Consider for a moment automotive racing events. In the past I’ve been to a few of those too.

      As for the maintenance side of golf, based on the information you’ve provided, improvement seems warranted.

    • By any chance, did you notice the haze in the air in the photo at the top? The scene is looking due east and on a clear day, the Sierra Nevada Mountains that can be seen in the background certainly make for a nice backdrop. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case the day I took that photo.

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