It is an unchallenged axiom that a rainy day is not conducive to golf. It stands to reason to assume that what feels like an infinite succession of rainy days in sunny South Africa is even less conducive to golfing pursuits. (Well, except for those outlandish enthusiast who maintain that “golf is a game for all conditions”, even when the conditions involve carrying an umbrella.)

And yet, the term “golf” came as the respectable 30th place in the bidorbuy most popular searches for January 2009.  During that month, exactly 1259 users searched for the keyword “golf”. If we add to that number the 352 occurrences of searches for a more specific golfing term, “golf clubs”, the total number of golf-related searches rises to 1611.  Now, that combined score places golfing terms searched on bidorbuy in January right up there among the top fifteen – at the 11th place, to be precise, leaving behind such strong contenders as the rings (1593 searches), GPS (1518 searches), watches (1495 searches), TV, DVD, furniture, Garmin, etc.*

On the other hand – perhaps it is exactly the overcast skies that have driven golf lovers to bidorbuy. Now they have all the time on their hands to browse!

Some probably come to stock up on the essentials like:

• Fairplay Golfcar
• Second-hand irons that come with free shipping
• Golf balls decorated with European currencies

Others may be looking to acquire golf-related collectibles and memorabilia like:

• Ernie Els hand-painted portrait
• Gary Player signed links cap
• Cute Dunlop man ready to set off golfing

In case the subtle indicators like vast sums of money circulating around the professional golfing circuit or all those business suits concluding business deals over a round of golf have led you to believe that this is an upper-class pastime, consider the origins of the game. The most accepted theory is that golf (as practiced today) originated from Scotland in the 12th century, with shepherds knocking stones into rabbit holes.

It is not known what inconveniences the rabbits suffered as a consequence.

*View the bidorbuy Popular Searches page to see which searches are currently uppermost. If you have difficulty determining the popularity by the size of the font, here are the ten top searches recorded on bidorbuy in January 2009 (the figures in parentheses refer to the number of searches):

1. PS3 (3395)
2. Cars (3035)
3. Xbox (2429)
4. Wii (2376)
5. PSP (2316)
6. iPod (2249)
7. iPhone (2147)
8. Laptop 1978
9. Nokia (1916)
10. Rolex (1769)