Jackass Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 If a 59 year old man can be right at the top of the leaderboard in a major championship, can it really be considered an athletic event? Or can we all agree that it requires about the same athletic skill as speed chess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Beach Bum is 87 years old and can kick most 25 year olds ass in a game of beach volleyball. Are you sure 59 means you are all washed up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 If Blitz was here, he would say a lot like this here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Beach Bum is 87 years old and can kick most 25 year olds ass in a game of beach volleyball. Are you sure 59 means you are all washed up? 71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowboutthemCowboys Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 If a 59 year old man can be right at the top of the leaderboard in a major championship, can it really be considered an athletic event? Or can we all agree that it requires about the same athletic skill as speed chess. I hope Tom sees this and kicks your ass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boat_hacked Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 :georgeforeman: you saying someone over 35 can't be an athlete? :georgeforeman: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I will beat the crap out of any and all 16-25 year olds. Anytime anyplace. I'll go younger if no one is around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawks21 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 A game can only be considered a sport if it has at least one of the following: an offense, a defense, a ball or a puck. Golf qualifies. Heck, he is only a few months older than Satchel Paige, should we take baseball's sporthood away? This has more to say about how poor the younger golfers are than anything. It is like this in just about every tournament. There is Tiger and a bunch of older guys. Younger guys are nowhere to be found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonorator Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 If a 59 year old man can be right at the top of the leaderboard in a major championship, can it really be considered an athletic event? Or can we all agree that it requires about the same athletic skill as speed chess. let's see where he is on sunday ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Agent Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 You don't have to be an athlete to be good at golf. But I think it helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawks21 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 You don't have to be an athlete to be good at golf. But I think it helps. You don't have to run fast or jump high, but the uncoordinated have zero chance to achieve this level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chargerz Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I don't know. Speed chess can be pretty tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theprofessor Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Clearly, the above comments flow from mouths that either have never played the game or are not athlete's themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackass Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Clearly, the above comments flow from mouths that either have never played the game or are not athlete's themselves. Which comments are you referring to? For the record, i have played golf many times, enjoy the activity and also play a variety of sports with a decent amount of ability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I'll be the first to admit that I watch more golf than the average sports fan, but I think it's safe to say that there are currently far more "out of shape" or overweight players in MLB than there are on the PGA tour. The same goes for other sports... How many NFL offensive linemen do you think would actually be able to walk 18 holes (about five miles) in Florida/Arizona heat, six days a week, without passing out from heat exhaustion, and then spend another 2-4 hours (those are low numbers... some of the freaks on tour spend even more time than that) hitting balls on the range after their round on a daily basis? I'd be willing to bet that there are dozens of guys in the NFL that wouldn't make it past the first three days. You don't have to be a great athlete to play golf, but being in good physical condition, being athletic, and having a fair amount of coordination certainly all give you a much better chance at playing competitively/consistently, especially at the PGA level. Why do you think that some of the best athletes in the world also happen to be scratch (or nearly scratch) golfers? Sure, they have all the time and money in the world at their expense, so they can obviously play a lot, but it's also because there is a parallel between being athletically gifted and being able to naturally pick up the game of golf. Personally, I have no interest in Nascar, and could care less whether people consider it to be a sport or not, or whether the drivers are considered to be athletes. But, I do know this... anybody who drives a car that fast for that long in that kind of heat has my respect, athlete or not. Once again, you don't see too many overweight Nascar drivers, in comparison to baseball or football (although a lot of that has to do with the fact that they wouldn't be able to get into the car if they were big). Whether we call them sports, athletic events, or just games... who really cares? The fact is, they're REALLY good at what they do, and they get paid a TON of money to do something that they consider to be more fun than work... something that 99% of us would jump at the chance to do if we could, but we can't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylive5 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 My question on golf is this? Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 A game can only be considered a sport if it has at least one of the following: an offense, a defense, a ball or a puck. Golf qualifies. Heck, he is only a few months older than Satchel Paige, should we take baseball's sporthood away? This has more to say about how poor the younger golfers are than anything. It is like this in just about every tournament. There is Tiger and a bunch of older guys. Younger guys are nowhere to be found. Not sure where you're getting this information... there's more big young names on tour right now than there has been in 15 years. Many of them are being proclaimed as the next Tiger, or the next this or that... we'll have to see how many of them pan out. But, one thing the PGA has plenty of right now is young superstar-level talent. Kim McIlroy Lee Kaymer Ishikawa There's a dozen others that I can't think of right now, but that's not even including guys like O'Hair, Watney, Holmes, etc.... guys who have multiple wins on tour in the past couple of years. Kim and Kaymer both also have multiple wins, and they're not yet 25 years old. McIlroy is being touted as the best young player to come out of Europe in 20 years, and the young Japanese phenom, Ishikawa, has brought hoards of media to both the U.S. and Scotland, in Tiger-like proportions. Watson's story this week has more to do with the style of play at the Open... links golf has less to do with distance than any of the other major tournaments. Accuracy is key, and knowing the course (Watson obviously does... he's won there before) is extremely advantageous. I don't care how much preparation Tiger did this week... it can't come close to the experience of having competed at Turnberry in the past. Keeping the ball in play, keeping your composure, and putting well will keep you in the mix... it's not that big of a surprise that a 59-year-old would be able to do those three things. Whether he can sustain it for two more rounds becomes the question... we saw Norman (who's not THAT much younger than Watson) almost pull it off last year. Still, if Watson manages to stay in contention through Sunday, it would be pretty impressive and give the U.S. golf fan contingent a great name to cheer for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 as i always say in these athlete arguments.....the true test of athletic ability is the decathelon. who would/could compete in a decathelon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 My question on golf is this? Why? I'll take your bait and answer this... For me, personally, there are a number of reasons why I can't get enough of the game of golf: - Unlike basketball, baseball, or football, you can play golf alone if nobody else is around. - Golf and drinking beer go well together. - It's challenging and peaceful at the same time... not to mention, some of the most beautiful places I've seen in my lifetime happen to be on golf courses. - Most importantly, I am a very competitive person, and golf just happens to be the one game that I simply haven't "mastered" yet. And, by mastered, I mean to the level of expectations that I've set for myself. In other words, with most sports, as long as you're fairly athletic/coordinated (which I consider myself to be), you'll be able to pick them up fairly quickly. If I play something long enough, I'll sooner or later be able to play that game/sport fairly competitively. Golf is just a different animal... while another game may take weeks, months, or years to perfect, golf takes a lifetime. And, in many cases (mine included), you can play it for nearly a lifetime and still feel on some days like you haven't made a bit of progress since the day you first picked up a club. Very challenging, very frustrating, yet VERY ADDICTIVE. My wife says I'm addicted to fantasy football... If I had to choose, though, I'd give up FF in a heartbeat before I'd ever think of really quitting the game of golf. The weird part about that is that I'm actually probably much better at FF than I am at golf. That's it... the combination of me being extremely competitive (I have never been able to play a game/sport without keeping score, even as a young kid) and having a borderline addictive personality makes golf the ultimate obsession for me. I can't tell you how much I've spent on golf, how many balls I've lost, or how many times I've told myself that I should just find another hobby, saving myself loads of time, money, and frustration... yet, I always go back, and always will. I'll probably play until I either die or can no longer walk, and even then, I can almost guarantee that I won't have yet reached the point where I can say I'm satisfied with my game. That said, like any other hobby, I go through stages where my interest in golf hits highs and lows. I'll play five rounds in a weekend, and other times, go 3-4 months without playing at all (usually during football season). But, when I stay away for a while, it's inevitable that eventually I'm going to get the urge to get back out there, sooner or later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 add 1 more to gophers....... the beer girl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I'll call golfers "athletes" when they carry their own bag of clubs around with them on the course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furd Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Golf certainly requires more athletic ability than, say darts or bowling. But less than table tennis or badminton. I'm not sure what that means. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBalata Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I'll take your bait and answer this... For me, personally, there are a number of reasons why I can't get enough of the game of golf: - Unlike basketball, baseball, or football, you can play golf alone if nobody else is around. - Golf and drinking beer go well together. - It's challenging and peaceful at the same time... not to mention, some of the most beautiful places I've seen in my lifetime happen to be on golf courses. - Most importantly, I am a very competitive person, and golf just happens to be the one game that I simply haven't "mastered" yet. And, by mastered, I mean to the level of expectations that I've set for myself. In other words, with most sports, as long as you're fairly athletic/coordinated (which I consider myself to be), you'll be able to pick them up fairly quickly. If I play something long enough, I'll sooner or later be able to play that game/sport fairly competitively. Golf is just a different animal... while another game may take weeks, months, or years to perfect, golf takes a lifetime. And, in many cases (mine included), you can play it for nearly a lifetime and still feel on some days like you haven't made a bit of progress since the day you first picked up a club. Very challenging, very frustrating, yet VERY ADDICTIVE. My wife says I'm addicted to fantasy football... If I had to choose, though, I'd give up FF in a heartbeat before I'd ever think of really quitting the game of golf. The weird part about that is that I'm actually probably much better at FF than I am at golf. That's it... the combination of me being extremely competitive (I have never been able to play a game/sport without keeping score, even as a young kid) and having a borderline addictive personality makes golf the ultimate obsession for me. I can't tell you how much I've spent on golf, how many balls I've lost, or how many times I've told myself that I should just find another hobby, saving myself loads of time, money, and frustration... yet, I always go back, and always will. I'll probably play until I either die or can no longer walk, and even then, I can almost guarantee that I won't have yet reached the point where I can say I'm satisfied with my game. That said, like any other hobby, I go through stages where my interest in golf hits highs and lows. I'll play five rounds in a weekend, and other times, go 3-4 months without playing at all (usually during football season). But, when I stay away for a while, it's inevitable that eventually I'm going to get the urge to get back out there, sooner or later. +1 very well said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBalata Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I'll call golfers "athletes" when they carry their own bag of clubs around with them on the course. I load my bag onto the back of my cart every round, all by myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peepinmofo Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I'll call golfers "athletes" when they carry their own bag of clubs around with them on the course. Amen. Golf is NOT an athletic sport, much less a sport. It is a skill. Sure there are some athletes that play golf, but that doesnt mean anything. It isnt hard to walk 18 holes. It might be for John Daly, but lets be real... Is a skill that John Daly has really considered a sport? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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