"It's a highly complex, fiendishly demanding, often perverse activity," describes author Michael Murphy of golf. The exhilarating and frustrating game demands a stillness of mind, a razor sharp focus, and an inexplicable desire to constantly better your game. "I mean why, why would you be out there hitting this f***ing little ball all over the place?" Murphy demands with bemused curiosity. This CBC Radio documentary explores the great lengths golfers go to in search of a golfing zen state of being.

• Passionate golfers are effusive about the sport:
- "Golf is not just exercise; it is an adventure, a romance... a Shakespeare play in which disaster and comedy are intertwined [and] you have to live with the consequences of each action." — Harold Segall, writer.
- "Golf asks something of a man. It makes one loathe mediocrity. It seems to say, 'If you are going to keep company with me, don't embarrass me.'" — Gary Player, golfer.

• To others, golf is but an annoyance, an inexplicable mystery.
- "[ Playing golf is] like chasing a quinine pill around a cow pasture." — Winston Churchill
- "Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition, courage deflated by stupidity, skill soured by a whiff of arrogance." — Alistair Cooke, broadcaster.

Medium: Radio
Program: IDEAS
Broadcast Date: Feb. 27, 2003
Host: Paul Kennedy
Guest(s): Michael Murphy
Duration: 13:22