PASTIME OR HABIT?

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 32, 6 August 1936, Page 23

PASTIME OR HABIT?

WHY DO WE PLAY?

DIFFICULT PROBLEM

Golf has hitherto been regarded as a game; but the view is rapidly growing among psychologists that it is rather a habit than a pastime, and should be regarded as being in the same category, say, as smoking cigarettes and drinking cocktails. We are not discussing here the ethics of playing golf as against these two last delectable activities, but rather the psychological and social aspects of the problem. There is no doubt that the golf habit is an excellent one from the point of view at least of those who play it, if not from that of the ones left at home; and if this latter class are foolish enough not to play golf, whose fault is it that they are left behind? This is a question that has been receiving the attention of noted •workers on social problems—mostly women—to whom the golf question presents serious difficulties.

Golf, then, is a habit. This established, we should, in order to lessen the congestion on the courses!: provide some1 means of inoculation against this habit, or possibly disease (for recent reseaches attribute the growth of popularity of the game to an increased amount of amentia of dementia in the community, and therefore we are abia to regard it as a mental disease). In what other sport do players insist on playing when they cannot master 3ven the rudimentary principles of play; and yet on Sundays we see fools by the dozen who cannot and can never hope to play golf, pottering along the fairways in a, manner that is as pitiable as it is annoying to those who follow. The only thing that golf gives them is sore feet; but they like

There«is another symptom possessed by the average golfer that heightens the probability of its being a disease: the game grows on him. It is a kind of cancer that eats out his brain and leaves a golf ball in its place. Golfers alone among sport fiends1 can think of nothing but golf, and this is probably due to the effects of the disease mentioned above. . ' ■

If you ask the average golfer why he plays the game his answer is that only the beings that are commonly supposed to direct our lives can answer that; he doe's not know why he plays. Therefore, it riiay be argued, there is no sense in his playing at all. But he will indignantly deny this. He likes, he:says, to be out in the open air, which is no doubt an explanation that is very handy, tf it is not strictly true. He will also say that, he likes walking roundthe course arid admiring the beauties of Nature, to which in reality he pays no attention whatsoever. -If you suggest that :he does not know why he plays, this individual willlobk: at you with mild contempt, as though you had recommended Iceland as a winter retreat. It must be habit or disease. \ •..■.. .' ■;?■

If he likes walking, why doesn't >he hike; it he loves the beauty of Nature, why.: doesn't he; go": tramping?*' If ;i he likes hitting a ball around why; doesn't he play cricket; the ball is larger. It' is inexplicable. ■: / ~;:•".