What a crock. If I do something awesome, people should buy ME drinks, not the other way around.
Damn you for beating me to it. And even if the person who scores the hole-in-one is a really serious drinker buying him or her a drink has got to be a lot cheaper for everyone than the other way around.
Gee, with traditions like that, I can’t even imagine why millenials aren’t playing more golf. cough http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattpowell/2014/07/24/sneakernomics-how-golf-lost-the-millennials/ cough
Yeah, or you know… Just ignore the stupid tradition completely. If I ever get a hole in one, my buddies are buying me a drink at the end of the day, period. All those other golfers don’t like it? They can suck on it. I will happily go without them buying me a drink when/if they hit one.
I think this applies more for people who are members of actual golf clubs, as opposed to much more amateur golfers like me though (who only golf a couple times a month, if that) at lots of different courses, never playing the same course twice. When you see those guys every time you golf, might be a bit of a bigger deal (but again, still, fuck those guys. They can buy their own damn drinks).
“Golf’s rules are too complicated.”
Oh that’s bullshit. Golf is only as complicated as the group you are playing with wants to make it. Golf is fine in my opinion, but I don’t have time for all that.
I’ve heard this before, but I think I’d just not tell anyone in the clubhouse.
Like I’m ever going to be a member of a golf club, anyway. I’m happy stinking up the municipal courses once a year.
Hmmmm… seems to me if I have the insurance, and we’re nearing the end of the year, and everyone in my group (flock? I don’t know golfing) is thirsty… no one’s going to complain if I miswrite my swings and say I got a hole-in-one, right?
Yes, and the article has a quote from a golfer saying almost exactly the same thing. I suspect in Japan it is just a wee bit harder to ignore tradition. Also, from TFA, apparently some golf clubs have rules requiring members to obey the tradition.
And also apparently, people do sometimes hide holes-in-one for just this reason.
My wife’s cousin hit a hole in one during a charity golf tournament - a hole that offered a new truck as the prize.
Long story short, the insurance company reneged on the prize (claimed that his shot wasn’t “official” distance and that the golf course “setup” the hole wrong). They spent 36 months in litigation. He felt like an ass suing the charity but he had no choice but to include them in the lawsuit in order to get the insurance company to pay up.
In the end they settled but it sure soured him on charity tournaments.
I worked with a guy who had a sorta similar situation… The hole in one on the hole in question advertised a million dollar payout*… But the fine print * was that, apparently, it was a chance at a million dollar payout. And you know what he had to do to win that million dollars? Go back another day and compete against any other competitors who had gotten holes in one in various charity tournaments, and GET ANOTHER HOLE IN ONE. He didn’t do it, obviously, but instead ended up winning the consolation prize of $100, or something equally small and ridiculous.
How seriously douchey of the insurance company.
I haven’t read TFA but this makes sense, from an incentive-standpoint, at reducing lying. The incentive (esteem) of falsely claiming a hole-in-one is counter-balanced by the cost of buying drinks for everyone. For the type of person who has enough disposable income and time to join a country club, the cost of drinks is probably not a huge deal, especially when compared to the admiration gained for demonstrating such immense luck skill. We could test this theory by comparing the reported rates of holes-in-one at clubs that rigorously follow the tradition to clubs that don’t, especially ones that reverse the tradition.
“Oh they should be buying me drinks for being so awesome…” Have you no respect for the ancient traditions of golf?
I mean, I’m cheap too. So cheap in fact, that buying rounds for everyone in the clubhouse where I golf would run me no more than $100, probably more like $30 on a weekday. Don’t want to buy rounds, don’t golf at nice, expensive courses.
Or make sure you golf at clubs where lots of other people get holes in one (hole in ones?) - and spend plenty of time hanging out in the clubhouse.
Let’s say a casino offered this as a bet. Get a hole in one, win 1 million dollars. If the odds are 12500:1, and 8600 people showed up, the casino would pay out about half the time… But if those punters paid about $125 to enter, the casino might make some money on the deal.
Alternatively, the casino could charge a pittance, and require two holes in one.
But pay a pittance, get a million dollars for one hole in one is a money losing proposition.
So, is the lesson “if you’re not really one of the wealthy elite. don’t pretend to be and play golf at some douchey membership club where rules are in place to economically impact you if you get a hole in one?”.
If you get a hole-in-one at a miniature golf course you only have to buy everyone a Pepsi.
What if they don’t like Pepsi? I know one Japanese female golfer who hates Pepsi, but <3s Coca Cola. 
Even $650 doesn’t exactly sound like a sum that should bring financial ruin to the kind of person who has a club membership. I’ve had car repair bills run higher than that and I still have a liability-only insurance policy.
