Golf Is More Than a Game

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked on a podcast what I thought about AI in the golf space.

My answer was pretty simple: I don’t think a bot can coach as well as I can because the person receiving the information isn’t a robot either.

Sure, you can ask ChatGPT or Gemini why you’re slicing the ball or what you need to change in your swing. And you might even get a technically correct answer.

But coaching isn’t just about having the correct information.

When I’m working with someone, I’m learning their body, their limitations, their tendencies, what they’ve tried before, what frustrates them and, most importantly, how they learn.

That relationship builds rapport. Rapport builds trust. And trust is what gets someone to actually try something new when I ask them to.

Recently, I was giving a lesson to a brand-new client who works in corporate America for a very large company. She told me they’re constantly being asked, “Can AI do what you just did, faster or better?”

Her answer, more often than not, is no. Sometimes it takes longer to explain to AI what she wants than it would to simply do the work herself.

Then she said something that stuck with me:

“Fuck AI. I’m learning to golf.”

And honestly, I think there’s something much bigger in that statement.

Part of the reason she wanted to learn golf was because she was tired of being in front of a computer. She’s surrounded by screens, information, bad news and conversations about AI all day long.

At the end of the day, she just wants to go outside.

She wants fresh air. She wants to move her body. She wants to talk to actual people and be present for a few hours.

And isn’t that something a lot of us are craving right now?

We’re creating technology that's supposed to make life easier and keep us connected, yet so much of our lives continues to move behind a screen.

Golf asks you to do the opposite.

One of my friends, Kenny, once told me, “I love being the single that shows up.”

I love that.

You can walk onto a golf course alone, get paired with three complete strangers, and four hours later you're buddies fighting over who's buying the beer.

My new student doesn’t have friends nearby who golf. She doesn’t have family nearby who plays. She doesn’t have a partner who plays. If she wants to play, she may have to show up alone.

But maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Because golf gives her an opportunity to meet people she otherwise never would. To spend a few hours outside. To laugh, struggle, learn something new and actually connect with the people around her.

Those are experiences you can’t prompt into existence.

Maybe the answer to an increasingly AI-driven world isn’t always more information, more efficiency or another screen.

Maybe we just need a little more human connection.

And maybe golf has been offering us that all along.

– Amanda