Putting out on 18 just after 6 p.m., at a time when the rest of the country’s been dark for a good hour, is one of the great, little pleasures of Arizona golf. Yes, Arizona’s figured out how to give you more sunshine too.
By ignoring the stupid “Fall Back” end of Daylight Savings Times rules that everyone else (except for Hawaii and a few kooks in Indiana) followed this weekend, Arizona allows hackers to get in a good chunk more golf. And everyone else to see the sun when they can actually get out in it.
You know, in the evenings when they’re not hurrying to work or school.
This argument that we need the sun to rise in the 6 a.m. hour has long held as much water as the argument the world is flat. Get over the farmer’s lifestyle thing already. No one’s farming in the U.S. anymore. Heck, even the farmers in Butler County Pennsylvania are running golf courses these days.
The question isn’t why has Arizona chosen to ignore this rollback to darkness. It’s why haven’t other golf meccas caught on after all these years. The Carolinas? Vegas? Since when does Vegas ever identify with the establishment? (Guess the baby stroller thing runs really deep.) California? You’ve got more destinations than anybody. Florida? Surely, even the Disney people would approve.
That extra hour of sun is priceless. You can tee off at 3 p.m. in the late fall and winter in Arizona and still get in a full 18 if the course isn’t packed. 3 p.m. It’s a lot easier to sneak away from work at 3 p.m. than it is at 9 a.m.
But Arizona’s out of synch with the rest of the country! Who cares. The rest of the country are morons. The U.S. Government is already doing its experimental changes of lengthening Daylight Savings Time by a few months each way starting in 2006. In another 20 to 25 years of countless taxpayer-funded studies, they’ll come to the same conclusion as Arizona.
Why wait for everyone else to catch up? Arizona’s already there. Let the Neanderthals live in darkness at 4:30 p.m. all winter. Some of us have some evening golf to play.
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The Accidental Golfer:
Katharine Dyson:
Ron Mon:
Brandon Tucker:
Let me break it down for you, as the kids say. When it's 6 p.m. in Arizona, it's 5 p.m. in Las Vegas, California and every other place on the West Coast. Hence when it's getting dark, it's an hour later on Zona's clocks.
And if you claim to have been playing at 7 p.m. in North Carolina this time of year, you're living in the fourth dimension. I've been in NC this time of year many times. It's already dark by 5:15, latest.
i say the heck with falling back farmers have not needed this in 100 years
The rest of the country has one more hour of sunshine on summer evenings. Then we sync back up with Arizona in the fall. You're misunderstanding that.
Sorry Chris, you've got it backwards. Arizona actually gets darker earlier than the rest of the country during DST. In the Midwest during the summer you can play golf until almost 9:00 pm.
How can you argue with the science?
Mr. Baldwin, I love your column, and agree with you. I would recommend talking to your web administrator about banning IP addresses.
Unless stewie is responsible for singlehandedly conserving hours of sunlight in a state that doesn't observe DST. He told me he recycles, so it's possible.
As exhibit A in the question of who we should believe, I submit these jokers' screen names. Pipes, and obvious juvenile reference to the mail anatomy. Judging from the tone of the post, it's probably some guy suffering from Napoleon syndrome. ViperWerks? Umm, snakes are about as cool as ninjas, and just as mature. Sounds like the kind of guy who pops a thousand boners then flips out.
I really wish you'd talk to someone about banning IPs.
By the way, I left my real email address. Feel free to contact me if you would like to talk seriously about combining efforts on a golf blog. I would love it, as I don't have much else to do here with my 20 minutes of daily internet time in prison.
It's a good thing that's not the question, because you clearly wouldn't know the answer. (hint again: Arizona ignores the rollback because they are already there. They didn't spring forward.)
The answer to why other golf meccas haven't caught on after all these years is, um, well, because they DID spring forward and therefore they have to go back to standard time. You can't keep springing forward every year and never go back. Then you'd be in the future, like George Jetson.
Are you caught up yet?
My mother taught me that a true friend is one that supports you no matter what. Though you are incarcerated, you are trying to help me here and I just want you to know that I appreciate it and consider you my new friend.
However, as I already have a golf blog, I'm not sure if I need a collaborator. Perhaps this could be a good opportunity for you to start your own? Are you allowed to own golf clubs in jail? Do jails have a large enough yard to make a practice hole or green? If so, then maybe you could start a website for those in jail that wish to start (or continue) playing golf. I checked to see if golfersinjail.com is available and it is (as a possible suggestion for a website name).
Good luck in the future -- if you need a reference when you get out, drop me a line.
To my naysayers:
When you travel and play golf as much as I do, you learn to appreciate the light and warmth of the sun. As such, I have done extensive study on the features of the sun and its effects on the environment and human nature. It would be very possible for California, Arizona, Florida, Michigan and New York (five of the largest golf states) to adhere to Standard Time year long and so not rollback in the fall thus giving the majority of golfers that extra needed hour in the fall and winter.
Enjoy your time in the dark, fellas....
You should blog about how nickles are better than dimes because they are bigger.
When you travel and play golf as much as I do, you learn to appreciate the light and warmth of the sun. As such, I have done extensive study on the features of the sun and its effects on the environment and human nature. It would be very possible for California, Arizona, Florida, Michigan and New York (five of the largest golf states) to adhere to Standard Time year long and so not rollback in the fall thus giving the majority of golfers that extra needed hour in the fall and winter.
Enjoy your time in the dark, fellas...."
um, like everyone else has already pointed out--right now IS standard time, not in the summer. It is possible you have cemented yourself as the biggest tool on the internet with your repeated postings trying to defend your stupidity. It is in the SUMMER that Arizone differs. Right now, the ENTIRE US is on the same time. I'm not sure whether this is funny or just sad. Can't wait for the mea culpa when you realize that you have become the laughingstock of the internet. Just watch the page views go up on this. The link is spreading like wildfire. Nothing like the internet to expose your stupidity to the world. Congrats!!
and you go far as to call the rest of the country "morons" and "Neanderthals"... pure comedy!
"Mary, usually you'd be dead right to question any journalist's grasp of math. But on this one, you're as lost as Cindy Crawford at Harvard."
HAHA, self pwnage at its finest!
Well, at least you got one thing right :)