Kerplookee Fantasy Golf Blog – The Addiction Called Fantasy Golf

I am 43 years old and have been participating in Fantasy Golf games since 1997. So for approximately the past 676 weeks I have been dedicating at least two hours of time towards my fantasy golf addiction. Lets see, that is collectively 1,352 hours or over 56 days of my time spent on fantasy golf. I know people who haven’t taken 56 days of vacation in the last 13 years. Believe me I know there are other Fantasy Golf addicts who know what I’m talking about and spend twice as much time as I do. Some of them are right here at www.kerplookee.com.

I used to play fantasy golf with a guy who couldn’t wait for the scores to be posted on yahoo.com. So instead of waiting for yahoo to update the scores he built an excel spreadsheet with a hyperlink to the PGATour.com that would update the scores based on a formula he had written.While a tournament was in progress the spreadsheet would calculate possible outcomes for his team (and every other team in the league) and he would print it out and tape it to the side of his television. There is another guy I know, right here at kerplookee.com, who analyzes every team in his league every week. This means that every week he goes into the league page and clicks on every team one at a time and copy and pastes their players into a spreadsheet. From there he can manipulate the data and determine the most popular picks that week. He believes this gives him insight into how to best use his waiver move. Myself…..I just check the leaderboard about every 15 minutes to see how my team is making out. OK maybe I also peek at the teams above me on the leaderboard to see if I have a chance of making up any ground.Yeah OK those of you that know me also know that I look at the teams below me as well. And yes this is part of my Thursday morning ritual as I sip on my first cup of coffee. Did I just take the first step towards fantasy golf rehibilitation?

So why do us so called Fantasy Golf addicts do all of this. What drives us to play fantasy golf? For me I think mostly it’s the passion of the game of golf itself. Since I was 7 years old I have been playing golf and loved it from the first swing. At about 14 years old I realized I didn’t have the natural talent to make a living playing golf. I tried caddying at a local country club for a while hoping to pick up some hidden secret that would unlock the golf talent inside me. I tried taking lessons on several occassions that only seemed to confuse me and put more unnecessary thoughts in my head during my swing. But I kept plugging away and playing golf every chance I got.  I’ve always enjoyed watching golf tournaments on TV whereas a lot of my friends would rather watch grass grow. So 13 years ago when I found fantasy golf I knew I had found a home. Fantasy golf was game where I could compete at a high level. It was a way for me to use all of my golf knowledge without actually having to swing the club.  I was addicted. From that point on my laptop went with me on every vacation. If for some reason I could not connect to the internet I would call a buddy to set my fantasy golf lineup that week. To this day I still do this and my buddies call me as well to return the favor.

Fantasy golf is a means of staying connected with friends I would otherwise have lost touch with. It provides me with a cheap form of entertainment without leaving the house. When I pick the winner, or better yet three golfers in the top five, of a golf tournament I get as much satsifaction (ok maybe more) as making a birdie. I know I’m not alone here. I know there are over 5,000,000 other fantasy golf addicts across the country. Please chime in and reassure me that I’m not going through this addiction by myself.

Sorry but I gotta go now and check how my golfers are doing this week at Doral. I think I’m looking good with VJ, Els, Casey and Furyk.