Why play the game?

Our group of guys is pretty tight. We're all fairly decent "ameteurs." It is not unusual for someone to shoot even par or as low as the 60's in our group.

Today our pairing put me with one of the scratch players in our group. This dude can play but he has a very short fuse. He's always got some bitch about something, whether it be playing too slow, his game or whatever. He has rabbit ears and is a very feisty person.

One problem I always have playing with this guy is that he always seems to be in a hurry. There's always this sense in my game that I need to play faster because this guy is getting irritated about how slow we're playing. This would be the case even if we were on pace for a 3 hour round.

Today this guy's round was not going well. We all have those days. But when this guy has "one of those days," he is throwing clubs, cussing constantly and impatiently rushing all of the other players. My other pal started to putt terribly just from feeling rushed.

This hot head's history goes way back to before I knew him. I've seen him shoot 67 and be disgusted. It just seems to me that this guy is NEVER happy. He always leaves the course in a bad mood, despite the fact that he usually beats all of us and takes our money.

Thinking about this guy makes me wonder why he even plays golf if he can't have fun doing it. I know I'll never play on the PGA tour. I want to play well, but I'm mainly playing for the fun of the game and the camraderie of playing with my pals. I guess then the other question would be this: Since I'm playing for fun and camraderie, why am I playing with him?