Why Do People Think Golf Is Easy?

[Yukari]

Most people who have never played think it's easy because of several reasons. I think the three most common reasons/perceptions are based on the following three:
(1) the ball isn't moving [think T-ball days];
(2) many golfers look athletically unfit (e.g., pot bellies, over weight, etc.); and
(3) for crying out loud, many golfers smoke cigars and cigarettes and drink beer when they play--how hard can it be?

[cougar978]

Because they haven't played or they have unrealistic views of their own games.

I am playing better than I have played in 10 years and I still lose sleep over my game. I had a dream a few weeks ago that I was teeing off on the first hole of a tournament and my driver came flying out of my hands and went further than the ball. Every time after I finish I go over my round and try to analyze what went wrong on any bogeys(+). This is the most physically and mentally consuming sport I've ever played (vs. baseball and football anyway).

[clam fist]

Happy Gilmore comes to many peoples minds.

[CG031]

(1) the ball isn't moving [think T-ball days];

These two were the first that popped into my head when I first read the thread's title. I think most people see it for the first time on television and immeditaly see a guy like Tim Herron and go, Wow, that guy is old and fat! The balls not moving, how hard can it be? (as oppose to baseball where the ball is coming 90 mph+ on every pitch.)

[Paradox]

Hell, I think a lot of golfers make the game way harder than it really is.

[injury]

I thought golf was going to be a bit "easier" when I started. I think what makes it difficult for me is more the angled face of the club combined with the closing clubface creating infinite possibilities of flight, and probably more so the grip easier swing easier swing fast not hard mentality that you need.

I've played and done well in any sport I've ever picked up and golf gets so frustrating to me. I can hit a ball with a bat wherever I want on a field, I can throw any kind of ball where I want within my range, I can take a racket and hit that ball where I want, give me a golf club and I might as well flip a coin on whats going to happen. I have a very aggressive attitude with everythig else, attacking the ball it's pretty much necessary with every other sport. So anything beyond simple chip range I find myself doing that with my golf swing and it just don't seem to work that way. I'll spend hours on the range trying to lighten my grip and ease up and "enjoy the swing", but if I don't think about easing up at about all points in my swing my body goes into kill mode, and yet for me that make sure you ease up still seems to create it's own kind of tension.

I'll figure it out, I'm determined to.

[Shanks A Million]

Anything boiled down to its most simple elements seems simple. A computer program is just a series of ones and zeros, a nuclear bomb is just a sphere of plutonium with a conical detonator, a symphony is made up of just 12 different notes, and golf is merely the attempt to put a ball in a hole. But it's soon apparent that chaos is always around in some form, no matter how simple or controlled the system. The simple act of placing a ball in a hole may seem simple, but because this entropy exists, the likelihood is diminished rapidly as the distance increases.

It's the same with darts, bowling, and other games of skill. The basic tenant of projectile to target is, from the outside, very simple. The actual act, much more complicated. The balancing or fast twitch muscles must all contract in a near perfect sequence to get the right distance and direction on a dart, for example. As you may realize, the more muscles involved, the more chance there is for something to go wrong (hence, more entropy).

One other major factor is the innate unnatural motion required. To strike a ball that we're facing, at a target we're not facing is highly unnatural. Throwing a dart is simple, and nearly instinctive, as is throwing a bowling ball. Hand/eye coordination and practice make these easier, as do some fundamental skill, but in the end, the target and variables stay the same. Golfers apply force away from the target, which is not only unnatural, but must become second nature to the point where a skilled golfer can "save" a shot by reacting properly (and unnaturally) to a miscue.

What really tosses a wrench into the gears of golf, however, is that you've got so many factors, that you're now becoming more entropic exponentially. Unnatural, coordination, external influence, non-repetitive shots, etc. Every shot is brand new, never been hit before, and never hit again. Each course unique, each shot different, and the conditions never quite the same. All of that factors into the mind boggling array of things that make this game so difficult, that only a tiny fraction of players can even reach the supposed 'average', or par score.

[Blades4me]

Anything boiled down to its most simple elements seems simple. A computer program is just a series of ones and zeros, a nuclear bomb is just a sphere of plutonium with a conical detonator, a symphony is made up of just 12 different notes, and golf is merely the attempt to put a ball in a hole. But it's soon apparent that chaos is always around in some form, no matter how simple or controlled the system. The simple act of placing a ball in a hole may seem simple, but because this entropy exists, the likelihood is diminished rapidly as the distance increases.

Anyone who has spent much time with athletics found out that the easier someone makes it look, the better they are. So, apparently many ppl who took up golf cuz it looked easy have little to no athletic background.

[CarlSpackler]

My wife rode on the cart one day several years ago. She had only seen the pros play on TV and I guess thought everyone played that way or close to it. After a few holes, she looked at me and said, "You really suck!". Thank you honey for planting that wonderful seed in my brain.

[Greg]

If you only hit shots on the range where you could control all the variables it would be a lot easier or on a simulator. Just simply addressing the ball exactly the same each time is hard to do if you think about it, its an inexact science done visually. A fraction of an inch toward the heel or toe and boom bad shot, even if you made the best swing you could personally make, maybe not so much with driver but matters more with the shorter clubs. And on the same plane as well, too high and top it, too low and chunk it and dont forget about alignment with the target and getting the right trajectory to land the ball on the green and get it to stay there. Then throw in adverse weather conditions and factor in fatigue later in the round, both mentally and physically. The list could go on and on.

[sean_miller]

People who haven't played sports tend to think they're easy for everyone - no, they're easy for some people and they're hard for others. Same goes for a lot of things in life.

[Michael K Craig]

The pros (in anything, not just golf) have a lot of confidence and calmness so they make it look easy. And most non-golfers haven't really tried it, just have seen it played on TV.
Michael K Craig

[B-Con]

As has been pointed out, golf doesn't require obvious physical condition, like muscle. In some sports it's obvious that the players have to be beefed up to do what they do. A linebacker makes his need of upper body strength obvious every time he does his thing. A center in basketball makes his height or leaping ability known to be necessary every time he's going for a rebound. Sure a golfer needs muscle, but there's never any display of "oomph". A viewer can look at a golfer and think that there's nothing, physically, separating that golfer from himself, while few would compare themselves to power forwards.

Also, golf doesn't require obviously precise results every shot. In basketball, every shot consists of throwing the ball and getting points if the ball was thrown accurately enough to go through the hoop. It's all or nothing every shot with very little room for error. So every time someone scores it's obvious that the ball was thrown very precisely. Every pass thrown in football requires a lot of precision, so every time a pass is caught it is obvious it was thrown very precisely. Golf requires a lot of precision, but it's not as obvious to the uneducated observer. To many, it probably looks like the players just haul off and hit the ball with a stick and all they have to do is get it down the course somewhere. In reality, you can aim for a specific spot and miss by 20 feet and still be in good condition. (I'd be thrilled if I could approach the pin to within 20 feet every time.) According to stats on pgatour.com, the vast majority of approaches from 100 yards (a typical long wedge approach) don't come closer than 10 feet from the pin, and on TV a ball sitting 15 feet from a pin that doesn't necessarily look very impressive.

As well, most other sports score from long distances. Basketball player routinely score from 22 feet out, football players kick many yards and run for 30 yard touchdowns. Golfers usually finish a hole by rolling the ball 3 feet. I'm sure it could look like, "How hard could that be?"

[extremeld]

There are two categories here

one - golfers = we know how tough golf is

two - non golfers = they know how easy the pros make it look

to take somone from category two to category one takes about 1 topped drive on the 1st!

k

[Chillmoon91]

Yeah pros just make it look very easy, I mean I was watchin mcilroy today in the french open, its almost annoying how easy he makes it look!

[Chi]

 

 It’s easy, I always thought it was easy and it is. I started playing at 29 1/2 years of age and I’ve just turned 30. I started not knowing anything about golf, not knowing how to hold any of the clubs and I started playing on official skytrak tournaments after only few days buying it as a beginner golfer.  We play championship courses like Bethpage black and pine hurst N2 that add up to 7100 + yards from our tee’s. Luckily I had an employee who was decent at golf but not a professional by any means. He gave me quite a few good tips though and learned on YouTube Lol long story short I started hitting scores of 100 at first. It’s already down to 72-76 and I’m in second place atm skytrak tournament at only 1 over par. I’ve been told it could take 10-30 years to achieve this but it’s far from the satisfactory goal. Also although I injured myself half the time during the 6-7 months I’ve played, I hit another milestone of hitting 308 yards with 161mph ball speed with goals similar to Dechambeau 400+ yards & 220+ mph ball speeds. It’s all mindset. Look up skytrak leaderboard on WGT from Top Golf! I’m trying to win ‘em all 

[max power]

On 7/1/2010 at 9:41 AM, MSUGolfer said:

The people who think golf is easy are those who have never picked up a club.

No one I’ve ever met who has hit balls or played even once thinks golf is easy.

[Shorty]

On 12/26/2021 at 11:59 PM, Chi said:

 

 It’s easy, I always thought it was easy and it is. I started playing at 29 1/2 years of age and I’ve just turned 30. I started not knowing anything about golf, not knowing how to hold any of the clubs and I started playing on official skytrak tournaments after only few days buying it as a beginner golfer.  We play championship courses like Bethpage black and pine hurst N2 that add up to 7100 + yards from our tee’s. Luckily I had an employee who was decent at golf but not a professional by any means. He gave me quite a few good tips though and learned on YouTube Lol long story short I started hitting scores of 100 at first. It’s already down to 72-76 and I’m in second place atm skytrak tournament at only 1 over par. I’ve been told it could take 10-30 years to achieve this but it’s far from the satisfactory goal. Also although I injured myself half the time during the 6-7 months I’ve played, I hit another milestone of hitting 308 yards with 161mph ball speed with goals similar to Dechambeau 400+ yards & 220+ mph ball speeds. It’s all mindset. Look up skytrak leaderboard on WGT from Top Golf! I’m trying to win ‘em all 

I think the (very old) discussion is about actual golf, not video games.