Being able to play golf reasonably well can help your career. When my company participates in charity tournaments, I often get invited and get to hang out with guys who have enough power to impact my long term career path. On top of that opportunity to hang out with high level guys, I get to play golf for free on courses that I could never afford, on weekdays, while still getting paid for being at work.
Anyone looking for clubs, watch Rockbottomgolf.com for deals and use the coupon code "goboilers" to get an additional 10% off. Not sure if it still works, but the owner gave me the code when I called him about a set of irons a few months ago.