I would suggest ...

American/Canadian football ....

curling ...

basketball ...

as qualifying as "trivial".

If you read "The Legend of Bagger Vance" (the book not the movie) you'll see the spiritual side of golf ... which is not an opinion I share, by the way.

Sorry about hijacking the thread - and good luck with the story, Gans. Glad you picked Sophia Loren and not the girls from Abba!