Golf might be known as the rich man's game but a new research has revealed that many professional golfers live a lonely isolated life surrounded by intense rivalries and on a meager income.
Research Lead at the International Institute for Golf Education at Myerscough College, Dr. John Fry, told the British Sociological Association's annual conference in Glasgow on Friday that he interviewed 20 professionals, including Ryder Cup players and a former world number one, to reveal the particular stresses behind the glamour of the game.
Fry said that the number of tournaments held abroad had increased over recent years, adding that the impact of the increasingly global nature of professional golf tournaments means that players spend long periods of time away from home and many experience intense feelings of loneliness, isolation and perceptions of being cut off from the 'real world' during travel time and even at the tournament itself.
He said that although players formed superficial friendships to help ease the boredom and loneliness from being away from their families, they would avoid confiding in other players at all costs. He revealed that emotional support was something of a closed shop and the general consensus was if players were struggling on or off the course then generally their colleagues would be happy they were having a hard time.
Fry said that the result is that players tended to keep their personal problems to themselves, particularly within the golfing fraternity, in order not to give others an advantage and to also guard against being viewed as a moaner. He added that such attitudes can also serve to increase and reinforce the perceived levels of loneliness that particular players may harbour.
One golfer told the doctor that one thing is no one's going to care, adding that the majority of people that a player tells his woes, half of them would be happy and the other half don't care. Another golfer, said that when playing poorly, players should offer no excuses because no one's interested.
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One player on the second-level Challenge Tour said that golf was a very selfish sport and a very individual sport. While a Challenge series player told Fry that he wouldn't say he had many friends, adding that he knows a lot of them now and they are all good guys and one sees them in the hotel at night and maybe have dinner with them and play practice rounds with them but he wouldn't call them his friends.
Dr Fry also found that most professional golfers outside of the main European tour were struggling financially. Although those at the top earned millions of pounds each year, the reality is that the vast majority fare comparatively poorly.