The World's Hardest, Most Difficult Sport?

[9wood]

The worlds hardest, most difficult sport?  

http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_worlds_hardest_most_difficult_sport.htm

This is a great article

[natureboy]

I like the general theme of golf as hard. General time investment is fairly accurate. But the author doesn't really seem to know the game. Modern drivers add maybe 40 yards vs. persimmon. I think a 300 yard drive on 100 mph swing requires pretty firm fairways. 150 yards with an 8 iron isn't short game.

When was it written...Tiger doesn't have muscle bulk? Not anymore. But he's right that raw strength is often wasted in golf, unless it's in your legs or core.

Also, this is basically talking about skill development. Any sport at a high level takes gobs of work. Just that much of it becomes physical training for speed, endurance, power, flexibility, durability on top of refining core game skills to gain or keep an edge to stay at high proficiency.

I do agree that golf is one tough, complex game, though. I think I beat the 6 year average to ~ bogey golf, though .

[sjduffers]

1 hour ago, natureboy said:

When was it written...Tiger doesn't have muscle bulk? Not anymore. But he's right that raw strength is often wasted in golf, unless it's in your legs or core.

Since the Callaway FTi and Nike Sumo drivers are mentioned as the current best drivers available, I would guess, quite some time ago, and indeed perhaps before Tiger added so much muscle bulk.  Probably around ten years ago, based on when I acquired a used FT-9...

[No Mulligans]

Yes golf is hard.  But there are many sports that are beyond the physical abilities of so many while those same people could get proficient at golf.

Pole Vaulting

The rings in gymnastics

Two man beach volleyball (at a competitive level)

Surfing

Try to take any of those up when you are 50 years old... Golf which can be taken up at 50 or older, not nearly as high of physical requirements.

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

Yes golf is hard.  But there are many sports that are beyond the physical abilities of so many while those same people could get proficient at golf.

Pole Vaulting

The rings in gymnastics

Two man beach volleyball (at a competitive level)

Surfing

Try to take any of those up when you are 50 years old... Golf which can be taken up at 50 or older, not nearly as high of physical requirements.

Pole vaulting is hard! In college, our fall track program was decathlon work. I could not get over the bar and I was a pretty good athlete. I did gymnastics as a kid and think rings are easier. 

Golf is hard, but it is also accessible to all people young and old. Even people with disabilities can play and have fun. And you can play it at a bunch of proficiency levels and still have fun. That's the "game" part of golf. Fun. Surfing is a bit like that too.

[iacas]

Obviously, the definition of "hard" must be determined before one can determine the "hardest" sport.

[Patch]

I'm thinking that all around rodeo is a pretty hard/difficult sport too. As is professional mountain climbing. Sky diving?  Danger has to enter into  the equation as to how hard/difficult a sport is. 

I dont consider golf a hard sport to play. Anyone can play golf, with the difference being that some folks are better players than others. Golf has a handicap system that makes most all golfers equal when playing each other. This in itself takes a little away from how hard the game is. I think what some folks consider the hard/ tough part of golf is, would be the goals they set for themselves. Not all golfers are capable of playing at single digits and/or scratch. Golf instruction can only do so much for an individual. 

I dont know much about polo, but I do know it takes some doing to stay on a horse at full gallop. Riding relaxed is much like playing relaxed golf. 

I have a relative who is a tennis teaching pro. When we play our sports, I  am a much better tennis player than he is a golfer. 

I think playing golf is more of a personal challenge than it is tough or hard. 

[SavvySwede]

15 hours ago, 9wood said:

The worlds hardest, most difficult sport?  

http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_worlds_hardest_most_difficult_sport.htm

This is a great article

Just looking at the article the author already made a much stronger case for polo than golf IMO.

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Obviously, the definition of "hard" must be determined before one can determine the "hardest" sport.

I think in this case we'd have to say "hardest skill acquirement/learning curve", factoring in athleticism rules out golf from any serious consideration.

[Golfingdad]

My vote goes to Sepak Takraw:

 

[rkim291968]

12 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

Yes golf is hard.  But there are many sports that are beyond the physical abilities of so many while those same people could get proficient at golf.

Pole Vaulting

The rings in gymnastics

Two man beach volleyball (at a competitive level)

Surfing

Try to take any of those up when you are 50 years old... Golf which can be taken up at 50 or older, not nearly as high of physical requirements.

 

This.  Golf is relatively easy to start and enjoy.   There are sports that I cannot even try at my age. 

At amateur level, golf is more of a game than sport.  

[SavvySwede]

23 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

My vote goes to Sepak Takraw:

 

http://i.imgur.com/tYJPuts.webm

[Golfingdad]

1 minute ago, SavvySwede said:

http://i.imgur.com/tYJPuts.webm

Holy crap!  A new winner. :)

Golf is only really considered hard because of the arbitrary goals we set on the game.  If somebody made up the game with a par of 144 instead of 72, it would be a cinch.

The other reason it's considered hard is because it's easy to see the gap between amateurs and pros based on how it's scored.  It's harder to see how much better pros are than amateurs in other sports because scoring is usually based on opponents and it's not as obvious.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

I think in this case we'd have to say "hardest skill acquirement/learning curve", factoring in athleticism rules out golf from any serious consideration.

I disagree. There are all kinds of forms of athleticism, and golf requires touch, speed, and precision. Nimbleness, flexibility, speed/power…

[Pretzel]

http://www.examiner.com/article/pok-a-tok-the-sacred-ball-game-of-the-ancient-maya

Pok-A-Tok seems harder to me than golf, since you're trying to get a ball up into the tiny hoops by essentially hip-bumping it, with life and death consequences to losing (and the games often lasting days due to the challenge of attempting to get the ball through the stone hoop). If you lost you were sacrificed, which makes the pressure of tournament golf pale in comparison! 

[boogielicious]

4 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

My vote goes to Sepak Takraw:

 

Hacky Sack meets kickboxing!

4 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

http://i.imgur.com/tYJPuts.webm

I am amazed at the sports drunk people invent and then become real proficient at!

[Pretzel]

4 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

http://i.imgur.com/tYJPuts.webm

I'm pretty sure this one is fake though. You can't apply enough backspin to a soccer ball to get it to bounce backwards using only your head AND providing the ball with such a low trajectory. There's just not enough friction between hair and ball to make that work.

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

I'm pretty sure this one is fake though. You can't apply enough backspin to a soccer ball to get it to bounce backwards using only your head AND providing the ball with such a low trajectory. There's just not enough friction between hair and ball to make that work.

I don't know what that fifth ball was (the third one the server hits), but that's a real sport that I've seen being played many times. I have no reason to doubt the video.

[natureboy]

5 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

My vote goes to Sepak Takraw:

Holy smokes that's a cool one. Pele says 'I got next'.

Here's a ball & stick sport I love that combines some crazy hand skills with speed / endurance:

 

 

1 hour ago, iacas said:

I disagree. There are all kinds of forms of athleticism, and golf requires touch, speed, and precision. Nimbleness, flexibility, speed/power…

And the definition of 'proficient'.

 

1 hour ago, Pretzel said:

http://www.examiner.com/article/pok-a-tok-the-sacred-ball-game-of-the-ancient-maya

Pok-A-Tok seems harder to me than golf, since you're trying to get a ball up into the tiny hoops by essentially hip-bumping it, with life and death consequences to losing (and the games often lasting days due to the challenge of attempting to get the ball through the stone hoop). If you lost you were sacrificed, which makes the pressure of tournament golf pale in comparison! 

Yeah, but they sacrificed almost everyone so at least you had a 50-50 shot .