Golf also helps to think about another concept,
the concept of so-called nature/culture.
This is a concept coined by the French science studies
Philosopher, social theorist Bruno Latour.
And Latour argues that increasingly in a high tech modern world
that we live in a universe of hybrids.
Where what's part of nature?
What's an organic thing?
And what's a human made technically produced object where
that border has become increasingly blurred and sometimes indistinguishable?
So an example might be the case of oncomouse.
Oncomouse or oncomice are mice that have been genetically engineered for
cancer testing.
Onco, oncology, cancer so oncomouse is a scientifically
manufactured product but oncomice are also living beings.
They're mice so they're both nature, and they're both nature and culture.
They're both artificial and organic.
All of the same time.
And one can think I think interesting ways about golf and
golf courses in particular as an example of nature culture.
Because golf courses as we all know are all about the grass.
And in particular, the grass that we tend to focus on is the grass of the putting
green where the hole is.
Now, what many people don't know is that a huge amount of science,
and agronomical research, and money, and
engineering goes into producing grass on golf courses to get it to look so
perfect,and so nice, and without any weeds and every blade of grass in place.
And putting greens, in particular, are a particular kind of agronomical,
biochemical engineering challenge.
Because every golfer ends up at each hole walking onto
the putting green because they have to get their ball in the hole.
And so the putting greens are walked on more than any part of the course.
And at the same time they have to be mowed very short so
that the ball will roll nice and fast like we expect, like we see on television.
We want our putting greens to roll fast and true.
But cutting grass stresses a plant and
they have the added stress of having all these feet pounding on them all day.
So it's taken tons of research
to be able to engineer grasses that can stand up to this cutting.
And to this traffic and not turn brown and decide I'm giving up, I'm gonna die.
So there are whole research sections of universities,
whole divisions in turf grass companies, that figure out
how to manufacture the seed and how to grow putting greens that will work.
And putting greens then are an example of nature culture because they're both
these engineered products of all kinds of experimentation and science and
yet still living green things.
So golf teaches us or tells us something about nature culture.
Then finally, I think golf raises the issue and returns us to the issue
of pleasure and what it is that we like to, why we like to play sports.
And as I've emphasized in the class.
Now that sports, why we like a particular sport is different depending on the sport.
Mountain climbing as a different kind of appeal than shuffle board.
And golf in particular has some,
I would say quite a range of pleasures that it satisfies.
There's certainly that Freudian eros, that sense of mastery that I talked about,
that you get a few times in a round where you hit a shot that ends up just going
exactly where you want it, this illusion of mastery over a complex universe.
But then golf also Is a sport that gets us outdoors.
And so many of us work indoors now, where most of us are not villagers or
world people anymore, it gets us outdoors.
We get to be in the sun and under the big, blue sky.
Golf also can give particular kinds of pleasures to particular kinds of people.
If you're a kind of techno geek who likes building stuff and
collecting all kinds of gadgets, golf is a great sport for you.
Because there's always these different clubs, and devices, and balls,
and measurements.
And in your garage you can set up, and some people I'm afraid do, these whole
workshops where they tinker and experiment in search of the perfect golf club.
Golf is a sport that's great for loners, if you like to be alone you can go out
late in the day and play with only your thoughts to trouble you.
But golf also can be a social sport where you play with your foursome,
your four hours outside chit chatting between shots.
Golf can also answer the pleasures to those.
Or can satisfy those who like to bet, who like gambling,
cuz there's all kinds of golf gambling games that you you can play as your