I'm at birthday party last weekend for my friend's 5-year old and his buddies find out I'm sports writer. Some nondescript LPGA championship is playing on the TV with no sound and one of the fathers tells to me how Lorena Ochoa ought to get more recognition. Another asks me if I think Tiger Woods will pass Jack Nicklaus' hallowed record of winning 18 professional majors - after all, Tiger's halfway there. So I jiggled the ice in my glass and offered a seasoned perspective: "Seriously guys, do you really consider golfers to be athletes?" I was friendless for the rest of the afternoon.
Are golfers athletes? Ichiro Suzuki, the fleet Seattle Mariners outfielder, commented on Tiger's Wood's athleticism last spring in USA Today: "Tiger is a great golfer, but ... when you say athlete, I think of Carl Lewis. When you talk about (golfers or race-car drivers), I don't want to see them run. It's the same if you were to meet a beautiful girl and go bowling. If she's an ugly bowler, you are going to be disappointed." I'll have to ponder the "ugly bowler" analogy a little longer but I think Ichiro raises a larger question: Is golf a sport?
Golf does not even rise to the level of "a good walk spoiled" because the primary action of walking is not required. So says PGA Tour v. Martin (2001) where the Supreme Court ordered the PGA to allow disabled golfer Casey Martin to use a golf cart in between holes rather than walk. The Court supported its decision by finding that whether a golfer walks between holes does not "fundamentally alter the nature" of the game. How can you call something a sport where being ambulatory is not a basic minimum physical requirement?
A "sport" requires athleticism. Athletes are people who demonstrate superior physical skill in the areas of strength, agility and stamina. Think of the mythological gods and heroes who personified the highest physical virtues: Hermes (speed), Hercules (strength), Aphrodite (stamina). There's got to be at least some running to call it a sport. I'd prefer some contact, too. But "no walking required"? You call that a sport?
Just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's a sport. Computer programming and brain surgery are difficult. They are not sports. Just because you compete doesn't make it a sport either. Pretzel vendors compete. Art galleries compete. Hell, a spelling bee is a competition. Golf is recreation--something to pass the time. It is no more a sport than marbles or cat's cradle.
That takes me to my final point: Golf is boring. You want to get a nap in on Sunday afternoon? Turn on golf. Looking for that TV show to help the kids get some shut-eye? Turn on golf. Do you want to see the least amount of physical prowess combined with the greatest dearth of raw emotion? Turn on golf.
Not long ago, I listened to a host on talk radio praise Hall of Fame play-by-play announcer Pat Sumerall for his ability to call any sport on television -- even golf. "Golf's easy," said Summerall. "Nothing happens."
That, my friends, says it all.
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Golf is indeed a sport - or at least that what an older athlete will say to justify in his mind that he still participates in athletic activity.
I agree that golf requires precision and skill, but to call it a sport would then put chess in the same category. What I find amazing is that some of the people here seem to believe that because of Mr. Hollander's chosen career he needs to enjoy every sport. Or that he needs to be proficient in every sport to be able to comment on it. This is a BLOG and a place for Mr. Hollander to voice his opinion. He is entitled to his as much as you are to yours.
Golf is a game.
It requires skill, but not athleticism -- thus, it is not really a sport, except in the minds of those who want to cling to the delusion that their pasttime makes them an athlete. ;-)
First of all, you need to read Webster's and understand the definition of "sport." Golf is most certainly a sport. You apparently don't know the professional game very well. These guys are athletes, pure and simple. Does that make the weekend hacker a professional caliber athelte? No. But neither does it make a guy or a girl playing weekend flag football, or tennis, an athlete, either.
And it's a wonderful sport which has brought joy (AND frustration) to millions worldwide.
Sport, Game, Athletic,....Who cares. Here are the facts.
1) Golf is the greatest killer of time ever, usually 4-5 hours.
2) Everybody who plays golf loves it.
3) Its played outdoors on natural turf.
4) Many people carry their 40 lbs. bag over a 6,500 yard layout (3.5+ miles).
5) I've been playing for over 35 years and haven't pulled a hamstring yet.
Of course golf is a sport. Just because Casey Martin can't walk comfortably from hole to hole doesn't mean he's not an athlete. I would imagine Casey ,EVERYDAY, spends hours pounding ball after ball after ball after ball. Try hitting 1000 balls a day, big guy, for a month straight and let us know how you feel. I would be willing to bet you couldn't do it physically, much less mentally. To thumb your nose at (those horrible!) country club golfers is akin to thumbing your nose at dads who play pick up basketball with their neighbors - how dare they consider themselves athletes! Well, they don't. They have fun. They bond. They compete. It's human nature. I guess it is also human nature to have some invited guest at a party make some sort of snide remark hoping to get some attention. That seems to be the sport of choice for you. I may be wrong because I wasn't at the party, but I'd be willing to lay odds you were "friendless" before your dumb statement.
Also...I read in your BIO that you claim to be a sportswriter. You use a quote from Ichiro about Tiger not being athletic, but fail to recognize the irony that Tiger is 3 times the "athlete" that Ichiro is. As a sportwriter, how do you suppose you missed that?
Finally, a sports writer who tells it like it is! You are my hero! Golf is a joke. Another lie perpetrated on the bovine mass to glorify the country club elite.
But I have an idea on how to turn golf into a real sport. Speed golf. Whoever gets his lard ass to finish the course first wins.
They could wear football helmets to protect themselves from all of those flying balls. Hell, they could even have a little contact as they dash for the final hole.
I can hear the announcer screaming as Tiger Woods takes out some country club wannabe, "Now that is some hard-nosed, old school, butt-kicking golf! I might even watch.
Yes! I've been talking about the speed golf concept for years! I remember seeing Andre Agassi hitting a drive while running through it, and doing it with style. Everyone who saw that piece joked how great it would be if golf could incorporate running, and that you could play through any old fart who is slower than you. I'd show up on the greens for that...
I used to play tennis tournaments, so I might be biased. Fred Stolle was asked at tennis clinic some years ago if he played golf and he replied, "Oh no mate, I'm still sexually active!"
It's a game, not a sport. Like bowling, poker or sport eating, a game invented by non-athletes so they can pretend to be athletes. Mark Twain was right. It's a good way to ruin a perfectly good walk. Not only that, it's STUPID. You golfers do realize you are playing fetch without a dog, right? That's not only stupid, it's BORING. End of story.
It's only a sport if you can get hurt doing it. And preferably, hurt your opponent, too.
It's a spectacle, for sure. At least in direct comparison to watching paint dry.
sport, maybe. athlete, no. have them carry their own clubs, sprint between shots and the course timed as well as each hole. then it would be athletic. as for other athletes playing it? hmm, having a 300 lb tackle crush me? or take a nice walk hitting a ball on a lawn. pounding up and down a hard wood floor all night?
The author's bio tells us all ... he has no idea what he is talking about.
Yet, there is an essential truth about golf and many other activities that require special abilities or skills, they can be performed adequately by mediocre people. Yes, even brain surgery can be performed by mediocre people, and sometimes successfully. How do I know? Well, I've represented a lot of doctors and hospitals in cases involving this sort of stuff and also a few plaintiffs.
Many people can hit a golf ball a long way ... well, not so many, but many good athletes can. A few ... not many by any standard ... can hit a golf ball consistently at a target. Just take a look at the PGA statistics on greens in regulation. It is astounding that the top 200 players in the world cannot hit a golf ball straight with consistency.
But the really athletic guys can and TW is the best example.
The essence of golf is that it requires athletic ability to hit consistent long balls, a lot of finesse for pitches and chips, mental ability and impeccable mechanics (yes, the kind of mechanics one uses in sports) to putt consistently.
No, it's not an aerobic activity, it's not a contact sport but it requires precise contact.
This author will never understand that subtle interface between sport and the mind, a sublime quality to what could often be just a silly game. But that's why he is a writer and
Oh yeah, I love this one from Bwana. My argument is flawed because of my biography. Or (and DuffShort below says this too), I"m wrong because I probably never played sports. Let"s get something straight. I play a lot of sports, quite well, and have done so since I was about six. Fortunately I"m not so old or suffering from some form of diminished capacity that I have to quit sports and play golf.
But nothing about me changes the fact that the athletic activity involved in golf is de minimis. You say Tiger Woods is one of the "really athletic guys" on the PGA Tour. Really? How do you know? When do we see him run, or jump or display any real range of physical activity? Some posts here suggest just by looking at Tiger you can tell he"s an athlete, and therefore golfers are athletic. Should the same reasoning apply to other top golfers like John Daly, Craig Statler, or even Phil Mickelson? (That"s a rhetorical question.)
Whether or not any golfers are good athletes does not mean that golf is athletic. The fact is that golf requires extremely limited physical activity and very little of that could be called athletic. No athletics equals no sport. Sorry.
As posted before, get out your dictionary. Post word for word definition #1 from Webster's. You are wrong. Again.
The same can be said about pool billiard. You were saying?
I wonder why most athletes would trade in their cleats to be Tiger freaking Woods. Come on, the list is too long to mention here; Michael Jordan, John Elway, Roger Clements, Troy Aikman, Wayne Gretzky, etc. Each off-season guys like this play golf every day. We're talking football, basketball, and baseball players, race car drivers, tennis stars, hockey stars.
Also, if you don't think Tiger Woods is an athlete, you're an idiot! The guy is built like a d-back.
Tiger Woods is built like a defensive back? Maybe for a high school team. Sure, he's in good shape. But that doesn't change the fact that golf isn't a sport. Just because lots of pro athletes like to play golf doesn't make it a sport. Those guys are competitive individuals and like to compete on the golf course. Many like to play poker (another tough game) but that doesn't make poker a sport.
Let's see......at about 6' 1" and 185 lbs, he seems like the quintessential cornerback to me. Just sayin.......................
Yes, he is built like a professional football defensive back. Ask all the professional athletes who all say the exact same thing about him. You were saying? LOL
Golf is not a sport, it's a game. To be sure, it takes a great amount of talent and concentration to play at the professional level. Same could be said for poker. There is no direct competition in golf. Golfers don't play "against" one another. There is no defense. No strategy. They play 18 holes, look at their respective scores and the player with the lowest total is declared the winner. TV networks have to edit out 98% of the game in order to make it interesting to watch. Who cares if they have to walk a lot? Some of the best players are old and overweight. Talented? Yes. Athletes? Hell no!
Some of the best players are old and overweight. Talented? Yes. Athletes? Hell no!
Under this flawed logic these Hall of Famers (or future) wouldn't be.
Tony Guinn
Shaquille O'Neal
Gaylord Perry
BABE RUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Larry Allen
Charles Barkley
George Blanda
Alexander Tikhonow
That's eight "chubbies" off the top of my head.
I can see clearly that both Dave Hollander and Lon are not golfers. Any professional athlete or gifted amateur makes their sport look effortless. That's why they're at that level. Golf offers a peculiarly perverse challenge. Common sense tells us that batting a little ball around a field is duck soup. Reality is extremely different.
I challenge anyone who thinks golf is a snap to go to a golf course, rent a set of clubs, and play an 18-hole round. I guarantee at the 19th hole you'll be sucking wind and nursing muscles you didn't know you had.
Oh, and Lon, anyone who thinks there is no interaction between players has never played a $2 Nassau.
Golf started out as an endurance sport. Have you ever taken a look at the course at St. Andrew's? Imagine that, only rougher. Throw in the use of wooden sticks and hand-stitched hide balls, men in kilts, and lots of rain. No carts due to the lack of the internal combustion engine. Now, you tell me. Would you consider spending five hours in Scottish weather, wearing increasingly wet wool, and whacking the equivalent of a hacky sack ball with an abbreviated hockey stick. to be a sport? It's no dumber than a triathlon and nearly as risky. Golf is a wet-weather game that has been moved to the desert. Small wonder it's lost its edge.
Golf is essentially billiards (18-ball instead of 8-ball), played outdoors, on a gigantic "table." Is billiards a sport? Is golf a sport? Is pinball a sport? No, no and no. Neither is auto racing....
And, I say they were all, perhaps except pinball, sports. I'd throw in darts. What make something a sport? Sweating? That one cannot be overweight and succeed? A clock? A team? For golf, a sphere has to be put into a target, like basketball. The sphere is put into motion with a stick, like baseball. Lots of people play and the best are noticeably better like soccer. Everyone in competition is trying to perform better under the same circumstances, like track. It is scored quantitatively rather than qualitatively, so the champions get that way without their achievements being adjusted for difficulty factors, like football and unlike surfing.
This is all fun and stuff, but we are overlooking the basic issue, that Mr. Hollander apparently cannot nicely explain that he isn't interested in golf to friends and for some reason has to make an international challenge to the activity, which, technically sport or not, does take skill and is, at its heart, about squaring up to imperfections and honestly working out of situations.
The professionals don't cheat, maybe that's why it's not a sport.
This column reminds me of jon Kruk's rejoinder after being told his smoking reflected poorly on his standing as an athelete, "I'm not an athelete, I'm a baseball player."
It is not clear why walking should be a prerequisite for being a sport. I think wheelchair basketball is clearly a sport despite the lack of walking.
But a bigger reason why golfing is not really a sport is that there is no interaction between the players, besides the social interaction. Nothing fundamental would change about the sport if each player played separately did their 18 holes and went home. I think a sport requires at least some direct competition between the players rather than simply altering terms and comparing scores at the end.
A sport is defined as a competitive physical activity: an individual or group competitive activity involving physical exertion or skill, governed by rules, and sometimes engaged in professionally. Having played golf on some of the most demanding courses in the world, I am sure that the geeks that do not believe it to be a sport were Little League benchwarmers and or professional loudmouths. And how many sports are there in this world of geekdom. Classically I guess we have the marathon and oops I guess that's it. Hey guys get a life.......RR
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Posted May 12, 2008 | 03:04 PM (EST)