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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Why Golf is not a Cuban Sport


The last time Cuban revolutionaries played golf in Cuba was a long time ago.
Che Guevara shot a 127, besting Fidel Castro's 150 on a par-70 golf course.
So while they were played golf, they were playing it badly--and fatigues and combat boots were not the appropriate attire for the time--nor have they come into vogue since. Their 1961 round a month before the Bay of Pigs invasion was the beginning of the end for golf in Cuba — soon the communist government had eliminated the sport from the island almost entirely.

Why?
Well, it is not exactly a proletariat sport, is it? It is hard to make it even modestly into a team sport, and the huge land mass required for an 18-hole course paired with the manpower required to maintain it make golf the perfect sport for a communist to poke fun at. Add in that most golfers aren't getting much exercise--instead of walking the pristine grasslands of a well-maintained course, they are riding about in golf carts--even if these vehicles were to be replaced with bicycle cabs, could this really be a game of the people?

It would be hard.
There is a remaining 18-hole golf course in Castro's Cuba, the Varadero Golf Club in this beach resort 85 miles east of Havana. But the Cuba of the 21st century, a Cuba that is trying to capture more foreign currency, and knowing they do not truly get what would be appealing to people who spend those dollars, that Cuba is thinking of building more golf courses.

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