What is it about golf? I wrote in the June 12 issue of the Des Moines Business Record about my disdain for golf outings in the corporate world.

A barrage of comments, positive and negative, from friends and strangers alike, followed. They arrived in e-mails, at social gatherings, in calls to my cell phone and at business meetings at Broadlawns Medical Center.

A woman associated with a businesswomen’s golf group assailed me with a scathing e-mail criticizing my assumptions. She ended the correspondence with an invitation for me to take lessons and find the joy in golfing.

William Yager, an employee at Broadlawns, wrote a rebuttal to my guest opinion piece ending with the comment, “Go play golf.” A friend in the building industry left a message on my cell phone indicating that he was tired of having to play golf to get business. He thanked me for writing the article.

Recently, an acquaintance commented that she copied my article and sent it to several board members, asking why her organization continued to have golf outings. She expressed great disdain for golf, commenting that her husband had the audacity to give her a set of clubs for their wedding anniversary. “Can you imagine?” she said.

Actually, I could not. The golf clubs presented to her were never used, and the woman and her husband have never golfed together since.

A woman who owns a prominent company commented that even though she plays golf, enjoys it and is good at it, salesmen never ask her to play. They ask the male administrators from her company instead.

Another woman wrote me comparing golf outings with 7 a.m. breakfast meetings. She indicated both were designed for men who did not have child-related responsibilities and who could take time for such activities.

People comment to me that they loved my article. When I ask which one, they always reply, “the one on golf outings.”

This does not make sense to me. I have written opinions on what I consider to be some weighty issues. They are issues that need to be discussed and analyzed.

Women are electing cesarean sections when they could give birth vaginally. Foreign nurses are being imported from countries that need to keep their nurses. Lack of treatment for mental illness is leading to criminal activity and jail time. A sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) program is in place in Polk County, helping survivors of sexual assault and making a difference in many women’s lives. Small colleges are good for students.

It seems none of those topics merit the discussion created by golf outings. What does this mean?

After reflecting a bit on the phenomenon, I came to the following conclusion. I should run for Congress on the anti-golf platform. It seems there is more passion about this subject than about the economy, health care, gasoline prices or the war in Iraq.

I might win. But the golf industry lobbyists would be a formidable foe.

One thing has not changed. I still will not golf. Fore.

Jean Logan is a professor of nursing at Grand View College and a member of the board of trustees of Broadlawns Medical Center.