Without golf balls, there wouldn't be golf. You might argue that the same sport could be played with tennis balls, or volleyballs, or even those ridiculous fit-ball things. But without the special design of a golf ball, the courses would be much shorter. If you watch baseball, cricket, hurling, or hockey, you'll know that 100m is the best you can reasonably hope to hit the ball. And that's if you get it perfect.
So Golf now has much shorter holes. Which means the courses are shorter. Which means you need much less property on which to have the courses. If you assume each course loses half its area (not unreasonable when a par 5 is now 250m instead of 490m), then suddenly there's a heck of a lot more real estate out there. Which means denser living overall, less commuting, more productivity, and a generally greener lifestyle.
Come to think of it, what's the carbon footprint of golf? There's all these synthetic balls, grass which has to be mown very regularly, all the clubs, bags, buggies, clubhouses, and marginalisation of women. Which leads to one heck of a footprint, before you consider the international travel a lot of the professional players undertake.
I didn't intend this to be a rant about golf. I actually enjoy playing the sport occasionally. But if the balls disappeared from the face of the planet, and we forgot how to make more, I think it would change a great many things.
Day 33 - Photo 33
Balls
if golf balls didn't exist then men would have no excuse to go out for hours and hours... think of all the boring conversation us wives would have to put up with!! save the golf balls!
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