Thursday
May142009
man & nature # 147 ~ or ...
Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 05:55PM 
18th green & fairway at the Lake Placid Club • click to embiggen ... we could talk about the wonderful world of golf.
The greens and fairways are coming in great. The weather has been more good than not. What's not to like?
Reader Comments (6)
Golf.
To explain my emotional reaction: I cannot overcome the feeling that these greens are sometimes cut with a knife into natural surroundings. The amount of agrochemicals necessary to obtain the aspired quality of grass is in many cases above the unproblematic level.
I have to admit that the european perspective is influenced by a scarcity of land and small, tight structures that for citizens of the US feels at least odd. Here in old europe quite a number of golf greens negatively influence the last residues of natural ecosystems. So this adds to my bias against golf courses.
Aesthetically the image is well balanced and pointedly composed with that dynamic shadow, the flag balanced with the cart. So yes, visually working, but for me content-wise not really appealing.
Allow me to address another part of golf that’s, “not to like,” – golfers. Perhaps some of them suffer from what I refer to as the “Collin Powell Syndrome” – he acts and feels about political issues of the day just like a Democrat, but calls himself a Republican. He does this primarily because he likes hanging out with rich people. It seems to me that so many American men play this sport, and do play it badly, primarily because it makes them feel like they are rich.
The physical nature of the sport is muted by the practice of mandatory golf carts, a practice that has demonstrably slowed down the game (counterintuitive yes, just like heavy things falling to the earth with the same speed/acceleration as lighter things). One might even suggest that the physical aspect of sport is the baseline point of every sport. Perhaps golf will not be considered a sport at some point in the future?
Worse still is the particularly juvenile brand of machismo prominently on display every time I find myself with a 7 iron in hand. Whether it is the “any excuse to get drunk” crowd; or an overabundance of poor humor, heavily laced with a dose of racism or general bigotry; or perhaps the bravado of lousy golfers, who would struggle under the best of circumstances to break 110 yet still insist on playing from the championship tees; repeated exposure to these cretins has me rethinking my position on gun control and wondering if there is WALMART nearby where I could purchase an Uzi.
Let’s be clear, I am not knocking lousy golfers, they have as much right to the course as anyone. Hell, they are in the solid majority anyway. It’s just the abundance of jerks that has me evolving away from a sport I did, at one time, enjoy.
Does anyone out there have any insight into the curling community???
About the image. I particularly like the pointed shadow. That is what I really like in your images is that you seem to be, every time, a distance ahead. An interesting case of foreground object. The vignette, in my opinion, interferes a bit though.
go here for another view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSRCjG-VLk
George Carlin talks on homelessness and golf
When are we meeting up for a round?