In my experience as someone who started learning how to golf in their 30s, you need to be playing at least 4x a week to get good enough to start enjoying it in the first place. Unless you like shanking balls 5 yards, looking for lost balls in the woods, or picking your ball up near the green because the rest of your group has already finished the hole. Which to me, is no fun at all.

Thing is though, the more you play, the more expectations you have (or don't have depending on your seriousness).

I used to play frequently, and would be constantly unhappy with my round because I put effort into the game. Due to costs increasing, job being more demanding, and just having other things to do, I've golfed very little this year.

I've played 2 full rounds this year, spent very little time on the range (much more on the putting green, as my residential building has a small turf green that I can just noodle around on at any time) and expected zero from each round.

Ironically, those two rounds have been by and far the best rounds I've ever played in my life. For one of those rounds, I actually took a small-ish but still decently sized dose of magic mushrooms. 2 of my playing group were serious golfers and completely sober, and they were blown away by how relaxed i was when i was tripping. I was calm, relaxed, and enjoying my golf but still completely locked in and focused, and still tripping. I was like +6 through the front 9 from back tees, which in my book is fucking amazing as I generally shoot low 90s.

The real goal for a bunch of golfers is to get to the point where they're not the slowest guy on the team and stop there. At that point you can network on the field without annoying the people you're trying to schmooze, but also not show them up. It's about who you are playing with, not the game itself.

I also picked it up in my 30s - twice a week for a year with lessons along the way is enough to get you to sub 100, and it’s perfectly fun to play at that level. Going lower than that does take more effort though.