Explain · Like I'm five version
Golf in terms of hunting for the TV remote
Playing golf is just like trying to find the television remote when you really want to watch your favourite cartoon.
You start by looking in the most obvious place, which is like standing on the tee box and staring at the bright green grass. You want to send the ball to the tiny flag, just like you want to point the remote at the box under the telly. You give the ball a big, happy swing with your club, hoping it goes exactly where you want it to land. It almost never does, and instead of landing on the sofa, it flies under the heavy armchair or into the dark bushes behind the house.
Now you have to go for a long walk to find your ball, which feels just like crawling on the floor to look under the dog or behind the radiator. You keep looking in places where the remote hides, like the toy box or deep down between the soft sofa cushions. Golfers call this searching for a lost ball, but it is really just being frustrated because you cannot find what you need to make the screen turn on. You keep searching until you finally spot it hiding in the shadows.
When you find your ball, you feel very proud, just like when you finally spot the black plastic buttons hiding under a cushion. You pick it up and carry it to the next spot, hoping for a better turn this time. It takes a lot of walking and a lot of looking, but eventually you get the ball into the hole.
Where the analogy breaks downThe television remote does not have a professional referee or a scoreboard that tells everyone how badly you are doing.