In the Rough : Calling Golf Nuts <i> Addicts</i> May Not Be Far Off the Mark

Arthur Keenan says he finally gave up drinking when it started to interfere with his golf game.

Now Keenan is addicted to golf. The proof: Recently, Keenan, a retired tool and die maker from the Boston area, spent $1,200--”money well spent”--on a six-day golf trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Unlike alcohol, which Keenan gave up 14 years ago, golf is a healthy addiction, he says. It’s “better than gambling, robbing banks or cheating on your wife.”

Either you’ve known them or maybe you are one: People who live to play golf. They spend countless dollars on it--whether they can afford to or not. Sometimes they’ll call in sick just to play a few rounds. They’ll even jeopardize close relationships for the sake of the game.

They’ve been jokingly called addicts. But mental health experts now say an addiction to golf can be just as serious as addictions to alcohol, drugs, food or gambling. Not only do golfers get hooked, but both experts and golfers say a dependence exists that if not controlled can lead to serious problems.

“I’m addicted,” admits David Gold, 41, a Dallas talk show host. “Would I find it difficult to do without golf? Yes. No doubt that I’d suffer classic withdrawal symptoms--thinking about it, longing for it, obsessing about it.”

Bonnie Goodman also has a golf bag on her back.

Goodman, 28, who works in the pro shop at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, says she would get up at 4:30 in the morning and be on the golf course by 5:30. But in the last two months, she has had no choice but to cut back on her addiction--although being eight months pregnant still hasn’t stopped her all together.

“Obviously, I’m limited,” says Goodman, lamenting that her follow through isn’t what it used to be.

According to USC psychologist Chaytor Mason, “Men and women get hooked on golf as opposed to baseball or some other sport because you don’t have to have a team; you can play at your own leisure--and solo. When you play baseball, you can’t hit like Hank Aaron and you need eight other people. When you play golf, you sometimes do as well as one of the best professionals, and it produces an adrenaline high, so you want to repeat the experience.”

John Docherty, former chief of the psycho-social research division at the National Institute of Mental Health, also believes that golf addiction is no joke.

“This one pursuit assumes an unusual and inappropriate dimension in a golfer’s life,” says Docherty, medical director for Brookside Hospital in Nashua, N.H., and author of articles, books and research papers on addiction.

“His or her entire week becomes focused on golf and, like drugs, it begins to infiltrate areas where it doesn’t belong,” he adds.

David Earl, 45, managing editor of Golf Journal, the official publication of the U.S. Golf Assn., belongs to seven clubs in the United States and Europe. On a recent binge, he played 126 holes in four days.

Earl has won the “Golf Nut of the Year” award from the Florida-based Golf Nuts Society, which gave him points for “nutty behavior which demonstrated his commitment to the game.” The society’s four-page “entrance exam” includes bonus points for a golf-related divorce. Earl has been divorced three times and thinks golf had something to do with each one.

George Peper, 41, editor of Golf magazine, says he is “almost addicted” to golf, which has caused some spats during his marriage. “I’ve had to get permission to play. We’ve had big fights over it. But I’m still on my first marriage. I know lots of people who have divorced three or four times over golf.”

Bud Petrick, 57, of Pacific Palisades says his wife, Lori, is “very understanding.” Others aren’t so fortunate, says Petrick, who plays three or four times a week and figures that between club membership and trips to golf meccas like Pebble Beach and Palm Springs, he spends about $18,000 a year on golf.

“I’ve witnessed a few arguments between couples around here because of the game,” he says.

Martin Kafka, a psychiatrist and former medical director of the Cognitive Behavior Therapy Unit at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., says work is usually the outlet of choice for people trying to find a sense of competence and control in their lives. Golf combines both: A sense of competence in controlling the ball.

“It stands to reason that golf would begin to take on more significance than merely a recreational outlet,” says Kafka.

He believes that in very dependent relationships, one partner withdraws into work or golf, which then touches on the other partner’s sensitivity regarding unmet needs. Golf addiction is frequently a cover-up, he says, for sexual dysfunction and may become a denial mechanism for avoiding marital problems.

Experts also believe that golf may bring on or exacerbate alcoholism and other primary drug addictions, particularly at country clubs where members congregate to dissect the game at the bar, commonly known as the “19th hole.”

“One wonders,” Kafka says, “whether addictions to alcohol or cocaine actually fuel dependency on golf. People with chemical dependencies find all kinds of rationalizations for drug abuse. They would say that their problem isn’t so much drinking or snorting cocaine (as) merely enjoying golf. They rationalize drug use as part of the golf game instead of realizing that they are also addicted to a substance.”

Carol Libin, 40, of Lexington, Mass., has been married to Michael for 14 years. She recalls his golf days at Oakley Country Club when, to her way of thinking, he golfed excessively.

“It’s difficult sometimes when you have a husband hooked on golf and you’re at home waiting for him to come home to dinner,” says Libin. “When the children were young, he played weekends and sometimes after work.

“It was easier during the week because I had housework and errands, and he was always home for dinner. On the weekends, though, it was more difficult. He’d leave early in the morning and wouldn’t get home till, mid-afternoon. It shot the whole weekend.”

After the birth of their daughter, Libin decided to take a stand.

“We sat down and discussed it,” she recalls. “Mike didn’t admit it right away, but after he thought about it, he said it was totally unfair that he should golf both weekend days. He decided either Saturday or Sunday would be a golf day and the other would be a family day, which was wonderful. And that saved the situation.”

Says Libin, who five years ago joined a nine-hole wives’ group: “When that golf ball bite hits the brain, you might as well forget it.”