Originally Posted by
misterwaterfall
With golf, you also compete with a handicap. I wish we had the same thing in cycling.
The Category system is essentially handicapping. It's separating guys out by strength and skill to even out the playing field. Sure, there are going to be exceptions, but it kind of works the same way.
And I too played golf in high school - four years on the varsity team. Now, I play a couple times a year. I can usually play well for the first nine holes, but the back nine is a disaster largely because I get tired. It may not seem like much, but it does take conditioning to swing a golf club consistently for a full 18 holes. Even more if you want to do it multiple days in a row.
I'll also add that my brother was a scratch golfer before he got married and had kids. Now that he only plays about once a week, instead of 3-7 times, he has fallen to an 8-10 handicap.