You can have a safe game, but it may involve a number of four letter words uttered 
Occasionally throwing clubs out of frustration although I’m over that now. An errant shot can hit you in the head, but I haven’t experienced this in 20 years of playing. Or you could drive a golf cart into the river or sea. Easy to avoid though as well!
There’s only one four letter word I hate… SNOW! 
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Dang! Did you ever consider kayaking! It sounds safer, and fun!
Snow is fine. 4 inches that falls quickly, but melts by the end of the day.
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Golf clubs are too wonky. Wonder if they’ll let you use a hockey stick or a baseball bat.
Yes, much respect and appreciation for Eric Soares for his guidance and inspiration for the more “adventuresome” ocean paddlers. I was fortunate to learn about him early in my paddling initiation. I devoured his book and articles. Soares along with his well known rough water and wave riding enthusiasts, the Tsunami Rangers, also challenged then prevailing orthodoxy of 16’ plus “Brit style” sit-in-side, “rollable” kayaks as the the only “sea worthy” kayaks. In fact, if one is not doing some multi-week expedition, the Tsunami X-15 sit-on-top kayak is perhaps a more appropriate (if not perfect) rough water play kayak. Yes, you can roll it, but a roll is not necessary to make a claim to be a “true seakayaker”. What is needed is a whole range of paddling, self and assisted rescue techniques, stamina and the awareness/knowledge of the challenges of the dynamic environment created by the intersection of factors including of wind, wave, tide, coastal bottom and land structures.
For those who never heard of Eric Soares:
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The most dangerous paddling spot in Florida, to many, is the Sebastien Inlet.
It can be as calm as a glass table at slack tide, but slack tides last less time than moving tides. It seems like just a heartbeat before it changes, but all of the salt is like that.
I have surfed a six foot tide wave coming into it and hit an eight foot standing wave just inside of it. It can be treacherous if you have not spent enough seat time working on better solutions.
It can be a blast at times though. I hit it every few months because the west coast of Florida can be boring when it isn’t storm season.
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Danger can be appealing.
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Eric was a real original man. Very accomplished and certainly no pushover, but also kind, generous and at the same time, humble in the face of Mother Nature’s realm. I’ll never forget how supportive and gracious he was to me when I returned to sea kayaking after a long absence. Also very encouraging when I was starting the National Center for Cold Water Safety.
He got soured on decked kayaks after a solo storm paddle on SF Bay in which he couldn’t reattach the skirt after a capsize and self-rescue. Talk about cool under pressure - here he was in storm conditions, swimming for Alcatraz, judiciously firing off a flare here and there at appropriate targets and sure enough, he manages to catch the keen eye of a ferry pilot.
He was also not a fan of drysuits in rock gardening - concerned that a suit might get torn or holed on some barnacle-encrusted rock. His wisdom appears in many places on our website - like this quote at the beginning of Golden Rule No. 5: “Risk assessment is a key safety element of every sea kayaking endeavor.” I miss him. I’m still in regular touch with Nancy.
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Making videos of the carnage at various Florida inlets is practically a cottage industry, and there’s no shortage of boats getting into trouble. But dangerous inlets and river mouths are found all over the world. New Zealand has some really epic ones and I think they do a better job than we do of educating boaters about the danger. There also isn’t a tame inlet on on the entire Pacific Northwest coast.
But that’s why I took the time and effort to make the video. Same with all the videos I’ve turned out over the past two years. I think people are watching more than they’re reading these days, and I’m all about finding the best ways to educate fellow paddlers. And I put them up on Vimeo so nobody has to suffer through a bunch of creepy or off-topic ads to watch them.
Likewise with our website. It’s all free, no registration, you don’t have to give your name or email, no cookies, no ads, etc., etc. That’s just how I like to roll on safety. I think monetizing it is just grotesque, and I want no part of that.
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Do you have a video of a kayaker at Saltstraumen, Norway? I’m having trouble finding one. Maybe no one is quite crazy enough to try a 20 knot current?
I am sorry for your loss, but also happy for you in having the blessing of that friendship.
I am an avid reader of materials related to my pursuits, from technical to musings. I didn’t know Soares personally, but I found in his communications - written and video – the technical, the cautionary and the inspirational.
You are paying forward your blessing.
Mahalo!
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The guy who took me down to Beavertail paddles one - not sure if it is that version, but it is definitely a Tsunami Ranger sit on top.
He more than keeps up with the folks in long boats, and he took it into places I wasn’t going.
If I could find one of those around here I’d probably become a sea kayaker. He also has a tandem version that we took out for some rock gardening on the other side of Beavertail at Fort Wetherill. We end up stuck on the rocks at 0.48 - took me while to realize that you just need to wait for the next wave…
River paddler … 
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That looks to be TsunamiX-15 (Tony) who used to be a regular in PNet and someone I surfed with more than few times over a decade ago.
Frankly, I am pretty sure he got burnt out from PNet “dogma wars” about what are “true seakayaks” – 16’ plus Brit designs by one of the “Dennises” and not his Tsunami Ranger X-15. He was also a big believer in the utility of wetsuits (over drysuits) in certain venues, over the “orothodoxy” that if you don’t wear a drysuit for winter paddling, you are candidate for a “Darwin Award.” Tony/Tsunami X-15 left PNet and continued on to paddle/surf on the real and beautiful waters of RI. I haven’t seen him since the last winter RISK surf session down in Matunuck over 10 years ago. Too bad.
I and some other PNet ole timers have managed to come, go and return on this site, on and off, through the years. We manage by honing in on the fun, commaderie and real world paddling partners we have found here. We have also learned to skip around, or ignore the “paddling dogma wars” about boats, gear, immersion wear, etc, etc. We also realize we can share our experiences but know that we have no obligation to do so. I (we) also understand that our experiences are just data points and not the “Ten Commandments”. Take it to heart or trash it. (I really don’t care.) This understanding also allows a little more equanimity in reading how folks on this forum can react/project with their own emotions that have to do with them and not necessarily us.
Hopefully, will run into Tony again in one of my forays down in the Ocean State. 
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I definitely read Soares opinion about the role of wetsuit for his paddling needs. I don’t think I took it to heart until I actually paddle surfed with Tsunami X-15 (Tony) at a bunch of winter surf sessions.
I have two drysuits that sit in my storage box while the wetsuit is my immersion gear of choice for rough water winter paddling. I am used to it and feel “safer” (subjective) with it.
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The Rangers and their history may be a generational thing. I have passed the point of 70 years albeit fairly recently.
I met one of the original Rangers at a symposium early on in my sea kayaking. Even then this individual had started converting to less aggressive ways to paddle than throwing the boats into surf below, then themselves, to swim onto the boat while it was bouncing between rocks. Supposedly because there was no other way to get on the water. Or maybe because that was a whole lot more fun than launching from a sensible beach a couple of miles away.
It may be that newer people would not know enough to avoid dogma about sea kayaks getting in the way of assessing a Ranger boat.
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jyak,
You need to get out more.
Thirty inch waves?
That’s enough. I listen to you guys and watch the videos. That’s enough for me. My goal is exploring.
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You disappoint me, ppine, whoever you are. Jyak shared his experience in the context of making a judgement call. Who are you to denigrate his level of comfort in any conditions? That’s just uncalled for, and it’s the kind of snarky comment that alienates people on any forum. He doesn’t need to do anything, but you definitely need to keep remarks like that to yourself.
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About 40 years ago when I first got the paddling bug I heard about the National Paddling Film festival- held in Lexington KY by the bluegrass paddlers. We’d drive 3 hours to watch the films. I did this for several years and one year they showed the Tsunami Ranger video and it became my favorite. I knew absolutely nothing about sea kayaking but loved their “go for it” approach. You could tell they had serious skills, took some risks but didn’t let their egos get in the way of making a fun humor filled video.
As far as understanding ocean conditions, I am 100% the novice so films like the one posted by M. Avery are quite informative for me. Thank you for posting the film.
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Paddling is supposed to be a pleasurable activity. It is not a contest about size.
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