Golf is easy, no competition

[radycardia]

Just an observation: Young athletic, coordinated, strong kids don't play golf. It isn't as cool as football, baseball, basketball. It doesn't get you girls.

The kids who play golf are generally smaller, weaker, slower.

A physical challenge between the high school golf team and the football/baseball/baseketball team would be a complete joke. The "athletes" could run faster, jump higher, and they would even be more coordinated.

Bottom line: The best athletes generally don't grow up wanting to be Jack or Arnie. They want to be MJ or Brady or Arod. Many don't play golf until they are much older.

Imagine if Michael Jordan grew up wanting to play golf. Imagine if he practiced golf 8 hours a day like he did with basketball. He already is a 1 handicap playing casually.

If the top athletes decided to play golf early on instead of other sports, golf would be much more competitive. Tiger would have some more competition.

Discuss.

[alomar123]

I disagree, just cause you can run fast, and jump high doesnt mean u can hit a small golf ball the same everytime. Those who can master their muscle memory and are coordinated are those who are really good. You dont need muscles to hit the ball good, those who are accurate are those who win. Not to mention the most important aspect of the game requires no athletic ability PUTTING. Tiger can put(no really anymore) but thats mostly how he won. There would be more competition though if more people played the game at a younger age, and if it wasnt as expensive

[glebert]

I didn't play golf in high school, but still didn't get any girls. I want a refund.

[Silzildrummer]

I disagree, too. Example: Charles Barkley is pretty athletic and strong and was a great basketball player. He golfs quite frequently and we all know how his game is. Heh.

[plugged]

I assume you posted this tongue-in-cheek to get a rise out of the audience.

If not, you're way off base.

First, no one ever claimed that golf required a great deal of strength, or coordination, or athletic ability. No other sport could have a 60-yo man well past his prime come within inches of beating the very best young stars that the sport could offer.

What golf does require is loads of skill and mental tenacity above just about any other sport.

You are making an assumption that star athletes in other sports could easily excel in this "easiest" of sports. If true, you see pro boxers, football, basketball, and baseball players easily adjust to the sport. I would venture to guess that the average casual player on this board could beat the average casual pro sports player any day of the week. Michael Jordan has been very devoted to golf before ever retiring from BB, has probably spent mega bucks on the very best equipment and coaching, and he is still only a 1 HC.

Finally, if, as you say, many potentially great golf stars forego golf for other "manly" sports simply for the cool factor and girls, then they are idiots. A risk-benefit analysis would reveal that great golfers earn boo-coo more money per year than the average baseball, basketball, or football stars, and that the playing career in golf is much longer than any other sport which translates into more money over a lifetime. AND, as we all know, the "cool" factor will get you hot women for only so long; money will get you them for the rest of your life.

[10footer4bird]

Just an observation: Young athletic, coordinated, strong kids don't play golf. It isn't as cool as football, baseball, basketball. It doesn't get you girls.

might be the dumbest thing I have heard today!

[Knockglock]

I assume you posted this tongue-in-cheek to get a rise out of the audience.

LOL! very true very true.

[TheLauncher]

I have to say that I agree to some extent.

I think you are right in thinking that most kids, given the opportunity, choose baseball, basketball, football or soccer. Partly because the sports seem "cooler" but probably more so because golf is a game that can be enjoyed for a lifetime, individually. Most young people will only get one opportunity to play organized team sports-- while they're in school. So for me, it was a wise choice to play baseball in high school, foregoing the spring golf season, and take the rest of my life to play golf. Also I think its an issue of exposure to a given sport. It's obviously a lot easier to grab a basketball and head to the park for free than it is to get a membership at a crowded country club where you might not even own the appropriate clothes, let alone a set of clubs. You need a lot of space to play golf, if you're in a big city, well... And you should perhaps know better than to say something as incendiary as this on the internet:

A physical challenge between the high school golf team and the football/baseball/baseketball team would be a complete joke. The "athletes" could run faster, jump higher, and they would even be more coordinated.

This is a forum of golfers primarily; they are going to defend themselves.

The reason I decided to respond and can give credence to the premise of your post is an TV show I watched on the Golf Channel recently, where an aspiring tour player was matched up with former NBA star Alonzo Mourning. If you are to look at all 6' 9" of him, you would never guess that he was a golfer. But after watching him play a few holes you realize that, more important than being a golfer, this guy is a natural athlete, blessed with coordination and a mind-body synergy that I could only dream of. If he truly understood half of the things about the game that his aspiring pro playing partner did, (and had the practice) he would have smoked him handily. For whatever he lacked in technical knowledge, or golf sense, if you will, Mourning's innate physical talent made up for it and was readily apparent.

If the top athletes decided to play golf early on instead of other sports, golf would be much more competitive. Tiger would have some more competition.

I think you're on to something here. For whatever reasons, the world's most physically talented player's likely don't choose golf as their first sport. Obviously there is a lot more to golf than physical ability, but if you could put you or I, for example, and Magic Johnson (Jerry Rice, Wayne Gretzky, Tom Seaver, etc., take your pick) in the same mental golf space, my money's on the athelete's every time. There are some thing you can't teach.

[Fourputt]

Also consider the cost of playing golf over the other sports. A decent set of clubs will easily run more than $1000. Then there is the cost to play enough to gain a reasonable degree of proficiency. It simply takes more time and individual initiative to become a decent golfer than it does for most other high school sports. Anyone can go to the gym or park and shoot hoops all day for next to nothing. Playing Little League ball is cheap by comparison to golf... and the same applies to Pop Warner football.

There is simply no comparison.

[TheLauncher]

Lawrence Taylor a 5, Ray Bourque a 3.7, Larry Bird a 3.1, Jerry Rice a 1.1, Sterling Sharpe a +2.4.

http://www.golfdigest.com/rankings/2...ankings_gd2007

[zanga254]

I'm on my High School golf team, got girls, and most of my teamates also play football and lacrosse. If you're in golf to get girls, be tough, and be popular, then it's not gonna work. But thing like this also include other factors, such as how social you are, etc. Besides, you're a 20 handicap, what would you know?

[DBeane]

A very predictable statement from an ex-highschool football player who can't break 90. No offense...you started it.

Running fast, jumping, wrestling, catching a flying object and running it to a certain location, and making sure the ball doesn’t end up in the grasp of his opponent are all things my good friend Manfred does very well. He is a Basset Hound. The last time I asked him to hit a soft 6 iron into a heavily bunkered green from 195, he pooped in the fairway and chased a squirrel up a tree.

Golf is very hard, it requires a very high level of athletic ability to do well, and this is a stupid discussion. I just thought the analogy about my dog might get some laughs.

-Beane

[gogolfing]

Lawrence Taylor a 5, Ray Bourque a 3.7, Larry Bird a 3.1, Jerry Rice a 1.1, Sterling Sharpe a +2.4.

Could this also be because they retired at a young age, have money to get top quality lessons, the time to practice..... ?

[kevin.chan]

people in the states are more favor to the sports that offers skills + power + speed ( football / basketball / soccer etc ) especially the younger age group.

[Fourputt]

Lawrence Taylor a 5, Ray Bourque a 3.7, Larry Bird a 3.1, Jerry Rice a 1.1, Sterling Sharpe a +2.4.

Charles Barkley.... enough said.

[alomar123]

people in the states are more favor to the sports that offers skills + power + speed ( football / basketball / soccer etc ) especially the younger age group.

I agree but there is no power in soccer, and thats y americans hate it

[lobsterzilla]

I disagree, too. Example: Charles Barkley is pretty athletic and strong and was a great basketball player. He golfs quite frequently and we all know how his game is. Heh.

terrible example. Charles was agreat golfer before his mental block.

[Zeph]

I agree but there is no power in soccer, and thats y americans hate it

How do you figure this?

There is no padding and men running into eachother all the time is why.