Rant: Internet golf culture is insufferable

I'm a hater. I'm willing to admit that. And I'm gatekeeping, which is never not annoying. But bear with me.

I'm happy to see that golf has become a more relatable and accessible hobby for people of all ages, but a huge majority of the golf content I come across online is complete garbage. There are a few exceptions. This sub is great. People share their accomplishments, new gear, cool courses they play, opinions, etc. A handful of golf vlog channels on YouTube are perfectly harmless and fun. Some of the memes, I'll concede, are pretty funny. But I'm getting more embarrassed to be associated with golf as I see more and more dumbass golf trends and memes that seem wildly popular.

The perception of golf/golfers among non-golfers has never been great. It's usually associated with snooty, stuck up, privileged, rich folks. But somehow it's done a complete 180. The main themes I consistently see are douchey guys who use golf as an excuse to get absolutely shitfaced with the boys, to get away from their bitch wives, and to spend exorbitant amounts of money to hack their way along top tier courses.

People are out there just having fun. I can get on board with that. But I can only tolerate so many memes about waking up hungover as hell, arriving at 7:59 for your 8am teetime, being blacked out by the 8th hole, being 15 over and getting hot dogs at the turn, hitting on the cart girl, and calling your wife to let her know you're going to play another 18. Why is this the most relatable golf content?

Call me a pearl clutching golf purist, but I feel like this new fratty reputation is drawing in people who go out on golf courses as a meme with the intention of going viral for doing goofy shit. Hitting balls into their friends, puking on the teebox, hitting into other groups, fighting on the course. The list goes on. I also get the impression that the people this is attracting have no sense of golf etiquette and leave a wake of destruction behind them. Every now and then I find myself behind groups like this and it's an absolute nightmare.

That said, the attention/exposure good for the sport and helps bring more business to courses/brands and that allows them to invest more, which I'm happy to see. But I feel like it's become trendy, particularly among young men, to get into golf for all the wrong reasons.

I'm sure I'll get hate for this, but while some of the content I find harmless and funny, a vast majority of it is shit I just can't relate to and find painfully unfunny and overplayed.

Edit: I feel like I should clear something up. I have NOTHING against a group of people going out, getting drunk on the course, and having a good time. This is not an attack on people who play like shit or get hot dogs on the course. I'm talking about my distaste for the depiction of golf on the internet. For a few years now I've seen the exact same memes on repeat, recycled over and over that depict golf as an excuse to get hammered, to ditch wives, and for general debauchery to take place. It's tired, it's played out, and I think is not representative of how a majority of golfers conduct themselves or actually feel about the game