Golf and Fly fishing

FAOL Community Sound Off
1

I can’t resist this…

I’ve got the golf channel going on in the backround and they are making a big deal of Phil Mickelson’s two drivers in the bag…I say…any self respecting fly fisherman knows you can’t get along with only one rod.

2

At the size of Phil Mickelson, I say he is under par with only two drivers. What a sad state of affairs. However, I must say…Golf, the only sport where if you don’t perform, you don’t get paid. I only have one rod, #7 ,one reel (with extra sink tip spool) and a limited vest in my truck. I like a handicap. Oh yes, the vest has a very nice silver 1/2 pint flask to help past the time to change flies …It takes a long time to change flies. Jonezee

I learn more about the world while talking to myself when fishing alone

[This message has been edited by Jonezee (edited 14 April 2006).]

3

Jonezee,

“…Golf, the only sport where is your don’t perform, you don’t get paid.”

That used to be true.

Allan

4

My dear man Allan…where have I been…you must mean that they are now sponsored so that is their main revenue…as I said…how sad. I suppose it will be just a matter of years until all tweed fly fishing jackets in England will be resplendid with patches and banners sewen into the outer shell proclaiming “Wulff” “H&H” and “Double Malt Glenfidiggggicchh Royal Scotch” “Winston is good for you” and of course " A Peach on your reel is a Peach of a line".
Show me the way…I am not worthy but will glady cash the check.

[This message has been edited by Jonezee (edited 14 April 2006).]

5

ducksterman;
Golf…Because all the other 4 letter word’s were taken!!
Fly-Fishing - almost as bad but you can do it alone without a score card. Hmmmm! Caddy’s to carry our rod’s and pick our fly’s? Sir “A little black Caddis just to the left of the big rock”! Now we would have someone to blame it it didn’t work!!
Couldn’t resist either!!

Don’t forget the Michigan Fish-In August 14th to the 20th. The Holy Water’s of the Au Sable await you!!

Cactus

6

Someone once said “Golf is wonderful. It keeps thousands of the unworthies off the trout streams.” Works for me.

Bill

Name indicates where I fish and for what I fish.

7

[url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/4/prweb370529.htm:0460b]http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/4/prweb370529.htm[/url:0460b]

8

These are my two passions, and while some fly fishers claim that they are incompatible, I think they are very similar.
Though fly fishing is not as apt to ruin a good walk as Mark Twain surmised.
If you look at the posts on flyfishing boards you will not some incredible similarities between golf and fly fishing.

  1. People practice.
  2. Accuracy is key to success and both inlude distance and direction for both activities.
  3. It is entirely gear driven as the wholly infatuated cannot get enough gear (I personally own 7 rods and 7 putters, as if either will improve my “games”).
  4. If the gear has a golf or fly fishing logo on it, the price is doubled (Orvis/ CutterBuck).
  5. Both are games that require concentration, but is still oftentimes more fun with others.
  6. The euphoric highs of success and lows of mistakes is very similar.
  7. And lastly, because the activitiy is essentially a contest to improve against one’s self it is wholly addictive and exciting.
    As for Mickelson’s two drivers, I was led to believe that the second driver is more like a 2 wood, which makes sense. I am amazed with the skills of pro golfers, but the announcers get so focused on the minutiae, like equipment that I find the announcers kind of silly sometimes.
9

Jack Hise…
I think that the caddy that you refer to is sometime called a “Fly Fishing Guide.”

10

I suppose I will ruffle a few feathers with this comment, but so be it.
Golf courses are reponsible for horrible pollution and nitrate overloading of waterways. The gross overuse of fertilizer and herbicides is anathema to conservation minded sportsmen.
OK - fire away.
Cheers, Alec

[url=http://www.favoriteflies.com:11003]Favorite Flies[/url:11003]

[url=http://www.opc.org:11003]+[/url:11003]

11

Flytackle,
I think you have a point there, here in Central Florida, I have read in the paper that golf courses are closing down due to lack of revenue. One town is looking at buying a course and turning it into a park, which I think is great!
I work in Hazmat at an Air Force Base and the Golf course there must have approval for all chemicals put down on the course from our major command. If it isn’t on the list, they cannot use it, so, maybe it will become a trend! They at least are trying to cut down and be less intrusive on the environment… Rob

12

Pisces, I’m surprised you see similarities. I golfed for well over 30 years before switching to fly fishing. They are night and day different to me.

With golf, if you make a mistake early in the day, or on any one shot, you pay for it at the end of the day with a bad score.

With golf, you have time and brain capacity to think about your work or your problems during the round.

With golf, you have to play at a pace determined by the people in front of you and concerna bout the people behind you.

With Golf, you have to pay a greens fee every time you play.

None of those are true with fly fishing.

I could go on forever with comparisons. For me, fly fishing comes out ahead on each one. I wish I had switched over years earlier!

13

I enjoy golf also. In fact ,earlier today I shot a 72 ( YES, a seventy two).And, having attained THAT score, I felt NO NEED to continue to the next 5 holes. This game is EASY!! Ya just gotta know when ta quit.

Mark

I’d rather be in Wyoming!

14

Marco…LMAO!!!

Brad…I can see Pisces similarities & your differences. Like you, I totally gave up golf in deference to flyfishing, and I was close to a “scratch” golfer. Son Ben now has my clubs. It’s just that there is nothing like flyfishing!
Mike

You can call me Mike & you can call me Mikey…Just remember that this site’s about sharing!

15

Tubber
I was a scratch golfer when I lived in Vegas (mark the score scratch it out mark another scratch it out ect ect ect)
Marco you mean it took you that long to get a 72.I meen geeeeesh I had that by #7 hehehehehe

Seriously folks The true test of a golf/flyfisher is if he/she has ever been invited to leave a course for putting down the clubs for fishing a water hazard.
Dennis

16

Some funny stuff here!

I started flyfishing with a corporate boondoggle to Alaska. Had all the gear as a result.

Moved to Colorado. Was playing my usual mediocre and frustrating golf one day on a course with a great view of the mountains. Found myself wondering why I was paying $60 to be frustrated when I could be up there playing with trout for free.

My second and third epiphanies came when I tied some simple thread midges on an extremely basic fly tying kit my kids bought me and when I later caught some trout on them.

I curse the day I first played a round of golf on the former cow pasture turned into a 9 hole course in my home town.

17

oldfrat, there are definitely differences, but few activities draw the same sort of “enthusiasm” for its participants, (“obsession” for the participants significant others.) I do love them both, and on a day like today, when the river is up and dirty, I could go golfing. I think I may be backward from many too. I grew up fishing, and did not start golfing until after college.

18

I find am also a fan of both golf and flyfishing, and find it odd that some have mentioned how much golf costs while fishing is free. Several years ago, my wife clipped an article out of the newspaper that mentioned how these two pursuits of mine were the two most expensive personal sports to be involved in, based on annual costs, per person in the U.S. The costs were generated by the green fees (in the golfer’s case), and the amount of money that the flyfisherman (and women) spend on gear and travel.

19

Soup,
Sure like to see a link to that info. I can’t see how they could be the same, for the average flyfisherman/golfer. Granted we are constantly bombarded with the newest gadget or graphite to try, golfers have the same dilema ie: shoes, shafts, bags, etc. And as oldfrat says at $60. a pop, that adds up quick. Now if we had to pay $60 stream entry fee…maybe. And as far as travel, people go on golf vacations.
Just my opinion. No facts or figures to back anything up.

20

Oldfart - Would you rather have nine holes or a WalMart with camper parking at night? Around here in Michigan, golf courses feed deer,rabbits, the ocasional fox, racoon and skunk. I never saw a deer, fox, racoon or skunk in a WalMart lot (at least in natural habitat). I guess what I am trying to say, it is the lesser of two evils.

[This message has been edited by Jonezee (edited 18 April 2006).]