Guitar vs Golf: The Battle for Hobby Supremacy!

Posted · Add Comment

You’re a space alien who’s just landed on Planet Earth and you’re looking for a hobby. You scan the hobby lobe in the brains of 1,000 passersby, and you get 1,000 identical responses: Words With Friends. So you play that for a while, but now you want something more old-school. You scan again: 500 say guitar, 500 say golf. Which is the better hobby? Let us compare and contrast…

FUN–any hobby should be fun!

GUITAR: Guitar fun includes playing along with your favorite songs, trading tips and techniques with other players, hearing yourself through an amp for the first time and finally nailing a lick you’ve been woodshedding.

GOLF: Golf fun includes spending time with friends, making jokes after bad shots, receiving compliemnts after good shots, and draining the occasional 25-foot putt. However, when your game falls apart and you can’t hit a decent shot to save your life, fun goes on vacation.

EDGE: Guitar.

CHALLENGING–a good hobby stimulates the mind and helps you find your limits.

GUITAR: Are you kidding? You can take guitar playing in any of a hundred different directions, and there are challenges in every one.

GOLF: Are you kidding again? Every round of golf provides challenges, and the crazy thing is this: almost every shot has the potential to end up in a challenge you’ve never seen before. And when that happens, you simply have to deal with it.

EDGE: Golf.

SOCIAL–a good hobby presents the chance to mingle, in person, with other hobbyists.

GUITAR: With guitar, you have the option of playing with others or keeping your efforts to yourself.

GOLF: You cannot be a loner in golf. You can practice by yourself, but when it’s time to play you are going to have to play with other golfers. Golf forces you to be social.

EDGE: Golf. (This is debatable for hermits, I know.)

GEAR–a good hobby involves gear and the chance to discuss gear with other hobbyists.

GUITAR: Um, yes, you could say there’s a fair amount of gear in the world of guitars. Some guitar players are more than happy to spend a half hour discussing their rig before they ever play a note.

GOLF: But hold on! Golf is certainly no slouch when it comes to gear. But in my experience, a golf gear discussion is over by the time a guitar gear discussion is just getting warmed up.

EDGE: Guitar.

ACCESSORIES–every good hobby has accessories that let you personalize your endeavors.

GUITAR: Please.

GOLF: Please.

EDGE: Tie.

CLOTHING–many hobbies have telltale uniforms.

GUITAR: Absolutely anything goes.

GOLF: The better you get, the more you run into dress codes.

EDGE: Guitar.

WOMEN’S CLOTHING

EDGE: Golf.

EUREKA MOMENTS–a good hobby should produce occasional revelations and moments of unexpected euphoria.

GUITAR: Guitar playing’s eureka moments include learning barre chords and learning that your favorite song isn’t really difficult; it’s just in a nonstandard tuning.

GOLF: Few things in life are better than the feeling you get when you hit a clean golf shot (especially an iron), and the ball follows the exact path you envisioned. It is sweet.

EDGE: Golf.

LITERATURE–a good hobby has much literature to learn from and to ponder.

GUITAR: Amazon has–brace yourself, alien–65,321 books on guitar.

GOLF: Amazon has 29,482 books on golf.

EDGE: Guitar.

MOVIES–a hobby should have one great movie that serves as an ambassador to the world.

GUITAR: Crossroads.

GOLF: Caddyshack.

EDGE: Do you even have to ask?

COST–a good hobby should not break the bank.

GUITAR–The sky’s the limit when it comes to guitars and gear, and some people go nuts in this department. But if money is tight, the guitar is supreme. A one-time investment in a guitar, and then occasional new strings and picks, can bring hundreds and hundreds of hours of joy at a cost of zero. You CAN break the bank with guitar–but you don’t have to.

GOLF–You can be an economical golfer and do all your practicing in the backyard–but eventually you have to play, and therefore you have to pay. You can dodge cart fees, but you cannot dodge green fees.

EDGE: Guitar.

PORTABILITY–a good hobby travels well.

GUITAR: You can play guitar just about anywhere.

GOLF: You can play golf just about anywhere–weather permitting.

EDGE: Guitar.

So in twelve categories, we have:

GUITAR: 6

GOLF: 5

TIE: 1

So by the slimmest of margins… GUITAR is your winner, o noble space alien–happy strumming! Oh, and we need a fourth this Saturday morning…

Comments are closed.

 
 
PageLines