Yes, we can safely assume that most golfers earn lots of money and are therefore likely to be free-market fetishist conservatives (i.e., loyal Republicans). Fits in very nicely with the "Golf Gear" tab at McCain's web HQ.

Then again, don't they feel the days getting warmer out on the golf course?

If I recall correctly, a New York Times story from 6 months past or so, reported that golfers are aging and not being replaced with younger  players.  The high costs and demands of family life were cited as reasons.  Perhaps that most golfers are rich old Republicans explains why their acceptance of the fact of global warming lags Republicans in general.

Looks like climate science has really joined gay marriage, France, and the ACLU on the list of things Republicans love to hate.

What I don't understand is that carbon emissions represent waste, and in the long run reducing waste increases profits and market share. What kind of idiot do you have to be to fall for the GOP line that investing in more efficient production methods is bad for business? The global environment doesn't even have to enter into the calculation. Increasing production efficiency and reducing resource inputs is simply good business.

Likewise, lower-impact golf courses are simply better courses. The best new courses in America reduce their water use by maximizing the use of natural terrain and native flora. And they're the best courses not because they're politically correct, but because that's how golf courses are supposed to be. The great courses of Scotland, for example, are not constructed so as to require a million gallons of water a day in irrigation.

From Dwight Eisenhower on, yes.

Rhubarbs,

  It is not business that is important it is MY business.

My dad recently picked up this ridiculous hobby.  I ought to like any sport that allows you to drink and smoke while playing, but I acquired a healthy suspicion of golf from John le Carre:

George Smiley: Percy can flirt, Peter. And Control hadn't reckoned on the power of the Alleline lobby.

Peter Guillam: Who were they?

George Smiley: Golfers. "Golfers and Conservatives." That's what Control said to me.

And the award for most outdated and obscure literary reference goes to: Ratnerstar. Congrats Ratty.

Ah yes.  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  I imagine that Ahmed Chalabi was a keen golfer too.

It's a great novel, blackie, so it's really not "outdated" in that sense.

As one who grew up on my family's golf course (working, not playing), and worked at various others around Ohio, I have to tell you that the conflation of golf with wealth is a myth.  Certainly, the country clubs and private courses have an upscale clientele, but out on the mom-and-pop courses that dominate middle-America, your main customers are beer-swilling Ford workers.  

Sorry to ruin everyone's favorite assumption.

Awesome, blackton.  First of all, I'd like to thank the Academy...

So the golfers think it's a myth but the skiers are alarmed. The hunters are worried about the impact of drilling in the Rockies. The cyclists are smug. I haven't read what the fishermen are saying.

Golf is just 'flog' spelled backward.

They need to see who composes the catalog of people who refer to themselves as bona fide golfers, and also if the "golfer"--not "golfing"--population has changed.  I am going to go out on a limb and assume that the population of Golf Track (ha!) teens has been cut into by lacrosse or poker.  Not that these activities preclude the golf, but they are very distinct cultures.  

Also college educated republicans are more likely to be deniers than those with just a high school diploma. Apparently the more exposure to the scientific method the more likely someone will realize "consensus" has no place in it.