Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Golfers" by John Updike is a sharply satirical poem that delves into the world of golf, portraying the sport’s enthusiasts in a less than flattering light. Updike uses vivid imagery and metaphor to critique not just the game itself but the socio-economic implications surrounding it, revealing a scene laden with vanity, pretense, and underlying despair.

The poem opens with a vivid portrayal of golfers as "One-gloved beasts in cleats," immediately animalizing them and setting a tone of mock grandeur. Their arrival is described with heavy irony in terms such as "bogus triumph" and "bulls with the pics of their pars still noisy in them," suggesting a noisy, boisterous display that belies the true nature of their achievements. This introduction strips any romantic or genteel associations from golf, recasting it as a sport of brash, boastful displays.

Updike's use of "breathing false fire" furthers this depiction, painting the golfers as creatures full of hot air and pretension, moving with a contrived swagger ("stride, strike, stride, and putt"). The term "false fire" implies a lack of genuine passion or merit behind their showy exteriors, a theme that resonates throughout the poem.

The second stanza introduces a sense of social division and resentment: "We dread them, their brown arms and rasp of money; their slacks the colors of ice cream, their shoes, whiter than bones." Here, the golfers are depicted as elite, wealthy individuals, out of touch with the common man. Their colorful attire and pristine shoes, "whiter than bones," symbolize a superficial opulence that tramples ("stipple the downtrodden green") and exploits ("take an open stance on the backs of the poor").

As the golfers strip, any facade of might or glamour falls away. "Breathing of bourbon, crowing, they strip: the hair of their chests is grizzled, their genitals hang dead as practice balls," Updike writes, revealing the vulnerability and mortality beneath their bravado. The comparison of their genitals to "dead as practice balls" is particularly striking, implying impotence and emptiness, a stark contrast to their earlier, virile posturing.

Emerging from the shower, the transformation is complete: "Emerging from the shower shrunken, they are men, mere men, old boys, lost, the last hole a horror." This line captures the existential dread that looms beneath their earlier antics. The phrase "the last hole a horror" can be read literally as the challenge of the final part of the golf course, but metaphorically, it suggests the dread of life’s end, the ultimate 'hole' they must all face.

Updike’s "Golfers" is a richly textured critique of a certain slice of society that indulges in the sport. The poem uses the game of golf as a metaphor for broader themes of pretense, aging, and the human condition, contrasting the players’ public bravado with their private vulnerabilities. Through vivid imagery and keen observations, Updike invites the reader to look beyond the surface of the sport and its players, revealing the disparities and disconnections that lie beneath.

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