[hughprime]

I have nothing against golf as a game, and I've played it a few times myself, but the idea that there's this much money floating around just in sticking logos on the shirts of guys who hit balls into holes to persuade other guys to buy new sticks with which to hit other balls into holes makes me feel like there's an awful lot of money being wasted.

[jpwagner]

And I'm sure you also think people should not spend their money on Rolexes when a Casio will do, or on Mercedes when a VW will do...etc.

People pay for what they want to pay for.

[DannoHung]

Golf is the most popular sport for wealthy people. Ever watch (and not fall asleep) a golfing event on TV? Advertisements are for ridiculous luxury goods and asset management services.

[eserorg]

Profitability of an advertising franchise = (value-per-impression) x (Number-of-Impressions)

Online social networking has an extremely low value-per-impression.

Professional golfing has an extremely high value-per-impression.

Which explains why Tiger Woods has generated more in profits than the entire history of the online social networking business.

[sjh]

And Woods alone attracts a not-inconsiderable portion of the audience: TV ratings for this year's US PGA Championship were around 50% higher than for the same tournament last year, the principal difference being Woods' absence in 2008 due to injury.

[Goronmon]

Prize money, appearance fees, endorsement fees, bonuses and his golf course design business were calculated to have pushed him over $1 billion.

Not just simply advertising for golf clubs. I wonder how much is golf course design business is worth.

Not to mention Woods is such a dominant player in his sport. Take salaries for baseball players and funnel it even more to the top players and you might have similar results.

[adharmad]

You can say that about a lot of entertainment in general.