In the rough: How golf's surprising power now reaches from the fairway to the White House

MY brother-in-law is obsessed.

- MORGAN BOLTON

No more obsessed than I am with my preferred hobby: jamming Assassin’s Creed on my Xbox, or musing about the importance of sport — like which angle to pursue on Mamelodi Sundowns’ upcoming CAF Champions League final against Pyramids, or how critical to be about my local tugby team’s recent performances — but obsessed nonetheless.

The other day, he whipped out a newly acquired driver — I forget its name, but I do recall slick black lines and red trim — cradling it like a new-born.

With that driver, he assured me, his game would be taken up a notch to the next level, in pursuit of the perfect round or perhaps a lower handicap.

I stared blankly at the piece of, admittedly, impressive engineered equipment. I have always said my biggest handicap in golf is golf.

As I get older, however, golf seems to be leaking more and more into my life.

You'd be surprised how many legendary hacks are hacking away on the fairways of South Africa in their advancing age, experiencing mostly frustration as they shank the ball this way and that, or misread a short putt to record an over-par score.