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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   37165 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 22, 2024

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I never really understood the appeal of golf.

It's an outdoor activity that is neither too jocky like playing actual sports, too blue-collar like hunting or fishing nor too nerdly like flying model planes.

It's also doesn't require a rare location like a snowy mountain or a sea.

So when you want to meet with another manager in a casual environment, there aren't that many other options.

Neither hunting nor fishing are particularly blue collar in a U.S. context, although they are conservative coded. Elites do these things more expensively than working class folks, of course, but engaging in the activity doesn’t in itself indicate any particular spot on the class ladder.

Indeed, a manager inviting another manager out on his boat to go fishing is reasonably common.

I agree, but it's more boating than fishing.

So when you want to meet with another manager in a casual environment, there aren't that many other options.

Interestingly in England, the home of golf, this is known as ‘the pub’.

England, the home of golf

Scotland is NAE the same place as England!

Golf also has the advantage of being random. I can run with /u/Walterodim a dozen times, he'll be faster than me every time, he'll only stay with me by holding back. There will never be a day when, just randomly, I'm faster than him for a bit.

Trump looks like vintage Tiger Woods compared to me, but if I joined the scramble group here, I'd probably make a couple good shots, maybe just lucky chips or long putts anyone has a lie percentage chance at. I'm terrible, but at least a couple times a round I'll hit a ball so well that I'm thrilled.

Where in say, weightlifting, I'm always going to deadlift less than my concrete contractor and more than my wife, in golf I'll sometimes get lucky and hit one better than a pro would, and sometimes duff it completely.

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