The Great Indian Golf Excuse Book, A Humorous Look at Sports Culture in India
Why in News
Recently, Indian professional golfer Rahil Gangjee humorously highlighted the endless range of excuses golfers use to justify bad rounds in his column Fairway Files, published under the title “Teeing off: The Great Indian Golf Excuse Book.” The column, witty in tone, reflects not only the culture of golf in India but also a larger truth about how athletes and individuals often cope with failure, setbacks, or underperformance.
This has sparked discussions about how excuses, self-justifications, and even humor play an essential role in maintaining mental balance in high-pressure environments like sports. The article becomes more than just about golf—it is a mirror for life, sports psychology, and resilience.
Introduction
Golf, often referred to as a gentleman’s game, is unique among sports for its blend of precision, patience, and persistence. But like all sports, it comes with inevitable disappointments. Few players—whether amateur or professional—escape the frustrations of missed putts, bad swings, or unpredictable greens.
What makes Indian golfers particularly interesting, as Rahil Gangjee points out, is their unmatched creativity in generating excuses for poor performances. If making excuses were an Olympic event, he humorously suggests, India would sweep gold, silver, bronze, and even fight for consolation medals.
Excuses, therefore, are not just throwaway lines but an art form. They serve as shields for fragile egos, stories for post-game banter, and even tools for mental survival. By categorizing these excuses into distinct chapters, Gangjee provides a playful but insightful commentary on human psychology in sports.
This current affairs piece unpacks the humor, the cultural significance, and the underlying lessons from The Great Indian Golf Excuse Book, expanding it into a larger reflection on Indian sports culture, mental health, and resilience.
Key Issues and Background
Gangjee’s column divides excuses into seven chapters, each representing a different dimension of the art of excuse-making. Let’s examine them in detail:
1. The Course Conspiracy Theories
The most popular excuse category is to blame the course itself. Since the course cannot defend itself, it becomes an easy target. Bad greens, invisible slopes, bumps, or sudden pin changes become convenient culprits.
Examples include:
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“Bad greens”: Works every time—any city, any weather.
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“Too slow/too fast”: Depending on how you missed your putt.
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“They’ve changed the pin position”: Spoken like it’s a national conspiracy.
This reflects a deeper sports truth: when externalizing blame, athletes often choose inanimate objects first.
2. Blame the Equipment
When not blaming the course, golfers often turn on their gear. From the “wrong ball” to a “cold driver” or even a “dead putter,” the equipment takes the fall.
This represents how modern sport often intertwines performance with technology. Clubs, shoes, or even golf balls are anthropomorphized, made into heroes when successful and villains when not.
3. Physical and Emotional Trauma
Nothing earns sympathy quite like injury or fatigue. “I haven’t played in 6 months,” “Back’s acting up,” or “Didn’t sleep well” are excuses universally recognized in sports.
These excuses are powerful because they humanize the player. They make poor performance not about lack of skill but about resilience against adversity.
4. Environmental Factors
Blaming nature itself—weather, humidity, or crowds—is another classic. “Humidity’s killing me,” or “Crowds distracting me” shift responsibility to uncontrollable factors.
It mirrors the larger reality of sports in India, where conditions are often tough and athletes learn to adapt, but excuses still provide psychological relief.
5. The Self-Sabotage Excuse
This category admits fault but in a noble, almost heroic manner. For example:
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“I’m just experimenting today.”
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“Just helping my partner.”
These are clever shields that reframe failure as intentional strategy.
6. Advanced Multi-Layer Excuses
The most skilled excuse-makers combine multiple reasons: “I’ve been busy with work, just got a new driver, and the greens here are terrible.”
This layered approach creates a web of blame so wide that no one can argue.
7. Emergency Exit Excuses
When all else fails, the nuclear option is deployed:
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“I think I’ve got the wrong handicap.”
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“Golf is a cruel game.”
These are philosophical, existential defenses. They leave no room for counterarguments because they appeal to fate itself.
Specific Impacts or Effects
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Sports Culture in India: The humor in excuses reflects how Indian athletes, like in many sports, use narrative as a coping mechanism. This shapes locker-room culture and team spirit.
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Mental Resilience: Excuses help protect fragile self-esteem after poor performance, enabling players to return the next week instead of quitting altogether.
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Public Perception: Fans often pick up on these excuses, and they become folklore in sports conversations, turning failures into stories worth retelling.
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Psychology of Performance: Excuses reveal how athletes navigate the pressure between expectation and reality. They highlight the mental side of golf, where confidence and calm matter as much as physical skill.
Challenges and the Way Forward
Challenges:
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Excuse Culture: While excuses provide relief, over-reliance on them can prevent honest self-assessment.
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Performance Pressure: Athletes may hide behind excuses instead of working on technical flaws.
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Fan Expectations: Excuses can sometimes frustrate fans, especially when overused.
Way Forward:
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Encouraging Honesty: Coaches and mentors must balance empathy with tough love, helping athletes confront weaknesses constructively.
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Building Mental Strength: Sports programs should include psychology and resilience training.
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Promoting Humor: Humor, as used by Gangjee, can turn excuses into positive bonding moments rather than toxic deflections.
Conclusion
Rahil Gangjee’s Great Indian Golf Excuse Book is more than just a humorous column. It reflects universal human behavior—our tendency to shield ourselves from failure, to preserve dignity, and to turn mistakes into stories.
Excuses, in this light, are not merely lies or defenses. They are part of the culture of golf and sports in general—keeping players coming back, keeping spirits alive, and ensuring that the game remains more about persistence than perfection.
The truth, as Gangjee admits, is that most of the time, it is simply us—our swing, our decisions, our mental game. But until we are ready to face that truth, excuses will remain the friendly padding that cushions our egos.
5 Questions and Answers
Q1. Why did Rahil Gangjee write The Great Indian Golf Excuse Book?
A1. He wrote it to humorously highlight how golfers, especially in India, creatively justify bad performances. It reflects both sports culture and human psychology.
Q2. What is the most common category of excuses according to Gangjee?
A2. Blaming the course, such as “bad greens” or “changed pin position,” since the course is an inanimate object and cannot defend itself.
Q3. How do excuses impact sports culture?
A3. Excuses provide psychological relief, preserve dignity, and become part of the storytelling culture of sports, keeping players motivated to return despite failures.
Q4. What challenges arise from overusing excuses in sports?
A4. Over-reliance on excuses can hinder honest self-assessment, delay improvement, and sometimes frustrate fans who expect accountability.
Q5. What is the deeper truth about poor performance in golf, as admitted by Gangjee?
A5. The deeper truth is that most of the time, failures come from the player’s own swing, decisions, and mental game—not from external factors.
