Politics & Power Quote by Jim Bishop

A neat little jab at American masculinity, Bishop’s line treats golf less like a sport than like an alibi. The joke hinges on the gap between what golf promises (leisure, camaraderie, wholesome outdoor fun) and what it often functions as in mid-century life: sanctioned disappearance. “Mature American men” is doing quiet work here. These aren’t reckless boys; they’re responsible husbands and breadwinners, the exact cohort culturally expected to be dependable. That’s why the punch lands: if even the dependable guys need four-plus hours of “exercise” and “fresh air” to breathe, something in the domestic script is suffocating.

The wives are crucial, too. Bishop doesn’t paint them as dupes so much as participants in a mutually convenient fiction. “Think they are out having fun” suggests the fun is beside the point; what matters is that everyone agrees to call it fun. Golf becomes a respectable cover for a range of motives: avoiding chores, evading intimacy, networking, drinking, nursing grievances, or just claiming private time in a culture that rarely admits men might want it.

As a journalist writing in an era when suburban conformity and corporate life were tightening their grip, Bishop aims at a broader American habit: turning emotional needs into scheduled activities with receipts. Golf is perfect because it’s performatively virtuous and endlessly time-consuming. The humor is dry, but the critique is sharper: a society that can’t name its discontent will route it through nine holes and a handshake.