Golf

There is no doubt that some people have a masochistic streak. Most sporting endeavour is a question of fitness and balance. The footballer uses his feet and soon can kick the ball roughly in the direction he wants it to go, the runner, the rugby player, the snooker player, the cyclist all these games are conducted using the body largely as it was designed to operate. Not so in golf.
Was there ever a game designed to frustrate and embarrass more than golf. The ball is small and therefore difficult to hit. Add, that you are required to hit it with the end of a 4' stick, flattened and angled at the end so there is only one spot, on the surface of the angled bit at which, coming into contact with the ball can you be sure the ball will be flighted in the direction you want it to go. To hit the ball the stick has to be propelled through an arc starting behind your right shoulder sweeping down in front of you and continuing to finish behind the left shoulder.
Never satisfied, they strew the ground ahead with obstacles to prevent the ball from advancing towards its goal, a small hole in the floor down which you manoeuvre the ball to drop.
You need a lot of sticks and quite a few balls to play the game and so on a hot day as you climb up and down the hills in search of a hole you drag a large heavy bag from point to point selecting, with much false optimism the right stick for the next shot.
Like life, the game is built on optimism but optimism isn't enough and disillusionment is the attendant bedfellow. Why when I go through the same routine, the legs positioned, head rigid, three practice swings just like last time but this time the ball veers off to left or right or more embarrassing, you miss it all together.  Par for the course, they count it as a shot !!    
Only the thought of the 19th hole keeps the golfer going. A cold pint and the rueful explanation of how such and such a shot went so disastrously wrong, makes the day complete.