Entrepreneur (Tries) To Explain Why Cycling Is The New Golf

The headline is the same old thing we've read ad nauseum over the last few years: "Millionaire entrepreneur explains why cycling — and not golf — is the new sport of choice for young professionals."

Business Insider's Daniel McMahon takes on the various articles pointing to cycling as the new golf for young professionals with money and energy to burn. He profiled PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, who has some fun takes on the difference between the two pastimes.

The sport of choice where deals are made and ideas are thrown around and relationships are forged is definitely traditionally golf. That's where you don't have to sweat — you just walk around with people you like,

Sometimes...go on...

and occasionally pretend like you're doing something physical [...] but it's not very quantified. It's just kind of aim, hit the ball, and pray. I'm sure the skills involved eventually remove the prayer necessity, but it's pretty open-ended.

Apparently he's never heard of a scorecard.

So you have this current generation of young executives, and they're not particularly interested in walking around slowly. They want to do something physical, especially outdoors. They are very quantified, because that's definitely a thing now: It's not so much fitness as they are interested in fitness that they can measure. So the blooming of the Fitbits and Misfits the Jawbones of the world is all about people saying, 'I don't have to go to the gym, feel crappy for an hour, and be thankful that it's over.' You can actually see what you've done. The quantified-self stuff has perforated the popular conscience.

Good thing we have nothing like that in golf!

There's also the combination of quantified and social, and — for better or worse — the showing off of the equipment, which for cyclists is basically road jewelry. For golfers, it's about having clubs of some special alloy or whatever craziness. It's definitely very out of fashion to have an amazing house to show off, at least I feel that. The real-estate showiness is fading, and showing off your fitness and your fitness equipment is increasing.

Sure, cycling is expensive. You can easily spend 20 grand on a bike and full set of kit, but it's easier for me to justify than spending 20 grand on a set of golf clubs I'll never use.

If you spend $20,000 for clubs, I sure hope it's for a couple of foursomes.

Let's face it, golf just doesn't have the allure of corporate logoed-spandex for too many of these young professionals. Or the latte-sipping sessions. Put that way, kind of makes you feel good about golf, doesn't it?