Cleaning up on the course

Does picking up garbage on the course give you good karma?

At the Kensington League Doubles today (Milford, Michigan) my random draw partner, Norm, started picking up garbage as we played. He brought a big garbage bag and was filling it up as we started the round. There was plenty garbage to be had. I complimented his motivation and he told me that since he only rarely played the course he only had a few chances to pick up stuff and wanted to make a difference. Well, I got inspired and started picking up trash and stuffing it into his bag. Soon thereafter, our playing partners John and Bill got in the act as well. We filled up the bag and emptied it a couple times until the bag developed a hole. Then Norm pulled out a new bag. He brought it along because the weather report was calling for rain, wind and 40 degrees and he thought it would work well as a rain jacket.

I mentioned to Norm that it was a well documented fact that picking up garbage leads to good course karma. Then we threw in a couple long putts. One was about 100 feet away, in the schuul, lean out forehand, into the wind, downhill, with a drop-off past the basket.

We won by two. Happenstance? Or karma??

[Yeddie VanHalen]

One round we decided whoever was at the bottom of the card should have to pick up cigarette butts at the next tee box. We all ended up with bags full of cigarette butts. As stated before, cleaning is contagious & nobody really complained (much).

[Ryan Powers]

I've got a slightly different take on this. I think that for me, picking up trash on the courses may be bad karma. At Brewer park in MI, I'm always finding beer bottles about 6 feet from the trash buckets that are attached to every tee post.I walk over, mutter to myself about how lazy some people can be, throw away the bottle, and then boom. I'm out of focus due to my frustration with people's inability to walk 6 feet to throw something away. So maybe not quite bad Kharma, since the act of picking it up is good, but I think it can definitely have a negative effect on my play.

[Terry "the Pirate" Calhoun]

Ryan, I know quite a few people who place return deposit items outside trash bins in order to assist the folks who cruise courses collecting them to return for the money.

[Ryan Powers]

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that the way that the buckets are set up, there is one for trash, and an additional one for bottles which the local can guy (coincidentally named "Guy") comes and empties out periodically. I normally find the bottles strewn about as well, not neatly placed aside.

[Terry "the Pirate" Calhoun]

Totally weird, then. Nice set-up, though, for "Guy," which is cool.

Ryan Powers said:

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that the way that the buckets are set up, there is one for trash, and an additional one for bottles which the local can guy (coincidentally named "Guy") comes and empties out periodically. I normally find the bottles strewn about as well, not neatly placed aside.

[AK Discer]

I think by doing something that is good and you realize it, it puts you in a good frame of mind. Positive energy equals a clear mind and easier concentrate....also preparation and practice meeting opportunity.

[Matt]

Practice paying off. If it's because of picking up trash you could cut your instruction lessons down to 5 seconds ;)

awesome gesture though picking up trash.

[Ken Long]

I think it started out as happenstance and ended up as Karma. Meaning happenstancingly...you hooked up with Norm who inspired YOU and you both got Karmicly connected to finish up with those long bombs. Or it could be Karma that brought you two together in the first place. But over all I think Karma holds the weight.
Also I don't think you can go out and look for that "Good" Karma on any given day. I think it just happens without thinking. And that Karmic time...was You and Norms time.
I feel a sense of Karma when I pick up trash at Fort Custer as well. But I have never gotten a 100 foot putt because of it.
K.

[Blazo]

Karma is a nice idea. So are hot, virgin, good-hearted princesses and friendly, talking animals that help with your quest to save the world. The only problem with these ideas is that they're not real. The karma fantasy implies that the universe is somehow fair. How could anyone justify that life is fair? By creating a mystic afterlife. So if karma carries over to the afterlife, the believers have all their bases covered. If karma is supposedly a direct payout in the present life, I'm not sure anyone could justify those kids from their graduating class dying in a car accident at 16. Did they steal one too many cigarettes from the corner store? So if the afterlife pays back all the karma points you've earned, why did you waste your time earning them in this life? I mean you could be littering your @$$ off and talking smack behind people's backs that whole time and just wait til the next life when you earn some direct-acting karma.

Ahhh the wild, crazy fantasies most people convince themselves to be true... If you pick up litter you'll probably feel better about yourself and you'll help keep your local course looking nice. Do it for a REAL reason like that, not so you can directly earn your next 100 foot putt!!!

[Ken Long]

Are you related to the Maharishi Yoga or Ravi Shankar?
After reading your comment...I needed to take a spiritual nap.
Glad to know we're related in a lefthanded sort of way.
Keep up the good work.
K.

[Blazo]

Hahaha not sure who those guys are, but they sound cool. Not sure what a spiritual nap would consist of, but I think that means you agree with me...if not we still got the southpaw connection.
Karma is just one of the many absurd ideas (in my opinion) that people believe to make them feel some sort of comfort that we live in a fair world.
I get frustrated with people blindly believing things for the wrong reasons. I try to encourage people to take a step back and look at why they believe in certain things and don't believe in others. I was raised Catholic, so I'll always be a skeptic!! :)

[mark ellis]

Hot, virgin, good-hearted Princesses are way too common. I need something much rarer than that. I need a hot, virgin, good-hearted Princess who thinks I'm cute (and a far more open minded wife).

Karma is not a perfect concept but there is a degree of ultimate justice in the world. What goes around does tend to come around. Except for lefties. We just get abused. :)