An article was recently brought to my attention by a friend who golfs, but does not fly fish. The opening sentence mentions sheep dung and fly fishing, so it was with great curiosity and intrigue that I kept reading.

While shepherds were whacking bits of dried sheep dung around the spongy coastline of eastern Scotland in golf’s formative days, in the late 15th century, sportsmen and women to the south, in England, were tinkering with the use of artificial baits in what would come to be known as fly-fishing.

Read the full New York Times story HERE.

OK, so it’s another article drawing similarities between g#lf (a four-letter word) and fly fishing (either a 3-letter word and a 7-letter word, a hyphenated combination of the two words, or sometimes even one, 10-letter word). We’ve all heard mention of certain similarities before, and I’ll admit there is some truth to be found in the article:

The two sports share more than their ancestry. Both tend to appeal to those with contemplative, even analytic, temperaments. Both can arouse a powerful, even obsessive, fascination among the faithful, as well as a never-ending accumulation of gear.

Never-ending accumulation of gear. Check. Contemplative, even analytic temperaments? Not so much, at least in my case. I’m much more of a dreamer than a rational thinker. I don’t often write anything that would ever be taken too seriously, certainly not by the likes of the editors of the NY Times.

Or, perhaps I’m underestimating myself.

Maybe I should submit my take on the similarities between golf and fly fishing, posted here a couple of years ago. You be the judge: do you like my article, titled Fly fishing and golf: Kindred spirits, or do you prefer the article in the NY Times, titled For Golfers, a Change of Scenery, and of Pace?

Regardless, the author of the Times article, Chris Santella, undoubtedly earned a better fee for his work.

Fore!