Why everyone's into golf all of a sudden

Spring is here and the outside world is beckoning. So we’re taking a break from talking about evil billionaires, digital surveillance, and shadowy financial instruments to bring you a special conversation with boyfriend-of-the-pod Drew Millard, who just published a book called How Golf Can Save Your Life.If that sounds pretty far afield from our usual programming, it’s not: Inspired by his experiences returning to the sport after a stint in 2010s media left him with a nasty case of depression and burnout, it’s a book-length celebration of the idea that the best way to resist the worst aspects of modern society is to get to get off the internet, spend time more outdoors, and learn how to be a better human, not just when it comes to other people but also to yourself.Emilie and Drew just got back from a golf-themed book release party they organized last week in Brooklyn, so we thought we’d bring Drew on to talk about why it seems like golf is suddenly everywhere in contemporary culture, from NYC menswear to DJ Khaled’s IG; the sport’s working-class origins; and how the book doubles as a critique of the state of digital and algorithmic media.Buy How Golf Can Save Your Life from Bookshop.org.Check out Drew’s work on SubstackSubscribe to Nersey, a podcast Drew just started with some former coworkers (ahem) from a certain defunct music website (ahem). They say it’s “sort of about music.”Support our independent journalism by becoming a paid subscriber at theculturejournalist.substack.com. Paid subscribers receive free bonus episodes every month, along with full essays and culture recommendations.Keep it weird with The Culture Journalist on Instagram. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe