Heavenly Golf?
Trump told us this week, “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground.” It’s a term Trump likes – when he delayed tariffs for 90 days in 2025 it was because, “…countries are getting yippy,” and “the bond market has the yips.”
“What are yips?” I wondered. If you are an ardent golfer you’re likely thinking me ignorant. ‘Yips’ are a sudden and unexplained loss of ability to execute certain skills . They are most commonly referred to in relation to ball sports. In golf, Trump’s favourite sport, the yips interferes with putting and affects between a quarter and a half of all mature golfers. Golfers who have played for more than 25 years appear most prone to the yips and there are theories it is associated with aging, although excessive use of particular muscle groups and focal dystonia (involuntary muscle action) are also suggested.
Trump’s love of golf does nothing for my own impression of the sport. Golf is interesting – at one level it seems elitist (the outrageous grounds fees charged by private courses, the association with expensive locations, the scale of land and water use, expensive equipment, the reputation for business deals to be closed on the golf course). At another, golf is one of the most egalitarian sports in terms of how the World Handicapping System enable golfers of different abilities to play and compete on a fair and equal basis, in any format, on any course, anywhere around the world. What other competitive sport achieves that?
Golf’s elitist association stems from its origins as a sport of the rich and wealthy in Scotland. The oldest known rules of golf were penned in 1744 for the Company of Gentlemen Golfers, later known as The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, although golf was first played in the 1400s. Golf spread from Scotland to England and the British Isles, and across the colonies, taken by soldiers, expats, and immigrants. Golf was exported to America in the late 1800s, with the first permanent American golf club established in 1888 at Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in Yonkers, New York and the United States Golf Association (USGA) formed in 1894. Golf quickly became a symbol of social status and business networking.
Japan took up golf in a big way from the 1950s with golf now the most common hobby amongst executives and also embraced by a significant share of Japan’s more affluent population. In a country with a high population and a lack of flat land (leading to high land prices), it’s no wonder golf is something for the elite. We were amused to find the Pearly Gates sports store in central Asahikawa (Hokkaido) with Pearly Gates golfing gear on display in the main window. We assumed the connotation was golf as a heavenly experience, rather than it being likely to lead to your death, or you playing it implying you are in an age bracket closer to death.
Which takes us back to Trump, whose death is more imminent than the majority of the population and whose actions are resulting in the imminent death of many people. Even larger numbers of people will die if Trump’s lack of yips mean he calls for ‘boots on the ground’ in Iran. I feel I am living in a parallel headspace, where I carry on day-to-day actions as normal, while wondering when there might be a moment that defines a shift in state – like an earthquake destroying the city I live in, a Prime Minister announcing a national lockdown in a pandemic. I hope that moment hasn’t already passed.
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