If you described golf to a young innocent child, I think the child would immediately fail to comprehend why grown people go to such an effort to place a small ball into a small hole a certain number of times, write down the results, then argue, contend, market and propound on the results. At this point it would be wise to stop because the child would never believe there are whole libraries, careers, foundations, landscapes devoted to the subject.

Some children grow up more credulous than others. Some learn that people of puissance put, that swingers swing, that if you're good at it, you can go on TV and sell Buicks. So these children bend, they acquire an interest, some fall into the devotional dovecote and make it their passion.

Others will never see its beauty, never know its thrall. Some of these will remain uninterested, and others will learn to feign for fortune that they, too, understand and believe, hiding a pathology of uninterest.

In short, golf is precisely like religion.