Golf... a sport?

[Vivo]

An overweight man rides an electric golf cart to the green. Caddy places a ball on a tee, fat man chooses club, stands beside ball, aims, swings, hits ball... walks to the golf cart and rides again.  Is that a sport? A lot says its a sport because it requires physical skill and you burn calories and is likewise included in the olympics. Well, I dunno.  I only play golf to brush shoulders with high level executives and business people.... they love to win.  

[streido]

As the saying goes, "Golf is just a good walk spoiled". Still its more of a sport than figure skating, dancing or syncronised swimming will ever be.

Ive even heard folk say cheerleading is a sport 

Call it whatever you want, makes no odds to me or my life.

[ts1]

Imho it depends on how you execute this sport/hobby/... Probably the top players have decent fitness and endurance.
I can't even remember a world chess champion with obesity. (Some went fat many years after their summit, but imho no reigning world champion.)
Mens sana in corpore sano.

[gregspeople250]

If you've ever watched the world level golfers play, you'd know that they are truly athletic.  It's incredible what they can do with a stick and ball.
I like the quote by Hemmingway "There are but three true sports--bullfighting, mountain climbing, and motor-racing. The rest are merely games."
However, I never take anything away from the athleticism of the many people who play sports/games, including synchonized swimming!

[streido]

If you've ever watched the world level golfers play, you'd know that they are truly athletic.  It's incredible what they can do with a stick and ball.
I like the quote by Hemmingway "There are but three true sports--bullfighting, mountain climbing, and motor-racing. The rest are merely games."
However, I never take anything away from the athleticism of the many people who play sports/games, including synchonized swimming!

Lol, like the Hemmingway quote,  thats almost perfect, only killing for "sport" doesnt do it for me tho. Unless they make Deathrace legal , then im in, "wow great move there by Streido, 2 grandma's and a youth, 350 points" 

[ScooterWolf]

On a professional level I'd say it's a sport. Below that it's a skilled game, though I think it's more of a sport than Nascar is -- Snore. After that everything is above
professional poker -- double snore  .

-Wolf

[08087]

It's a sport but not in the common sense that many of us equate with sprots. Tennis, football, American football are what most of us think of when referring to sports. however I know the NASCAR drivers have to be in shape just like jockies do, just like a track star has to be.

Just try doing what they do and get back to us as to how easy it is/was.

Cheerleading to me is more a competition as there is no "scoring" involved at leaset there wasen't when i was a kid.

[zombie]

Now if you had Cheerleaders playing golf on a track During a NASCAR race... That's three "sports" I hate but combined... Id pay to watch that.

[bleys]

I don't particularly care for golf myself...however done correctly, it is a sport and even decent exercise.  If you lug your golf bag around, without the cart, you are getting a good walk in and the use of muscles to swing the clubs both stretches and exercises the upper torso, shoulders, and arms.  Also there is some working of the core muscles of the abdomen involved.  Having said this, there are better ways for me to spend a Saturday morning.

By the way riding a scooter or motorcycle works out the core muscles (balancing the body and the bike) more than sitting in a car and can be considered a very light, although not aerobic exercise.  Don't expect it to replace the gym though.

[Vivo]

Come to think of it, it can be both or any game/sport for that matter. Basketball on a professional level like NBA etc. can be considered a sport and when a father and son plays basketball out the garage, it can only be a game, right?  Professional golf can be a sport but leisure playing can be just a game.

Before, car racing is a sport because the driver needs skills and must be physically fit. Now it's not because the computer does all the driving! Lol!! 

[ScooterWolf]

I think Nascar is a race, but not really a sport. Driving in a circle forever doesn't seem like an athletic endeavor. I once drove from Portland Oregon to San Francisco in 10 hours, and I was in less shape than I am now, so the endurance part doesn't really impress me. I think if there are challenges like those in a Monte Carlo Grand Prix where there are twist and turns that test the driver's skill then I see that as a sport.

Also, since one needs a car -- a good car, that limits the participants to those who can afford one, or get sponsors, and that aspect seems to add an artificial quality to the idea. I think Nascar is popular because people want to watch crashes. Take out the crashes and I wonder how popular the 'sport' will be.

-Wolf

[Vivo]

I think any game will become a "sport" if there is big money involved, sponsors, and recognitions/endorsements from international organizations, media, the works.   Race cars that zoom on race tracks without these big bucks will just be an ordinary sunday activity.                 

[ts1]

I once drove from Portland Oregon to San Francisco in 10 hours, and I was in less shape than I am now, so the endurance part doesn't really impress me.

Did you race? Performing very precise physical actions in quick succession for a long time in a stressful environment?
(Google suggested a time of 10:44 hh:mm. So you haven't been very much faster than the average.)
I know how exhausted my father appeared after a 2 hr flighttest in a prototype warplane. Sure, the both turbo jet engines burnt a zillion times more BTU than he. And it isn't even considered a sport. But for sure one must be quite athletic to accomplish such a mission.

[ScooterWolf]

Did you race? Performing very precise physical actions in quick succession for a long time in a stressful environment?
(Google suggested a time of 10:44 hh:mm. So you haven't been very much faster than the average.)
I know how exhausted my father appeared after a 2 hr flighttest in a prototype warplane. Sure, the both turbo jet engines burnt a zillion times more BTU than he. And it isn't even considered a sport. But for sure one must be quite athletic to accomplish such a mission.

I was racing the clock. On my return journey I had a hatchback filled with my belongs from grad school so that the only room in the car was the driver's seat in a car that could probably do 65-70 tops fully loaded. I had to get past Grants Pass before sun down. Not sure if you've ever taken I-5 north but Grant's Pass at one point is all down hill through a mountain range -- you don't want to be there at night when most of the driver's are big rigs rushing to make their delivery on roads not designed for semi-trucks.


http://sosp.blogspot.com/2009/06/injury-commercial-truck-crash.html

So, yeah, it was a race against time and endurance. I did it, with no practice, just the will to get there. I'd be more impressed with the Nascar drivers if they had to drive say from San Diego to Seattle, rather than for hours around a circle -- not really impressive. I'm more impressed by your father than the Nascar drivers who seem to be filled with energy after a race compared to a marathon runner.

Sorry -- just don't see the big thing about Nascar -- motorcycle racing on a varied track -- yes, same for scooter, and any Grand Prix, but racing for hours on an oval -- no. If it was about who could win on a single tank of gas so the race was over in about ten to twenty laps (sorry, don't know how far a Nascar can go on a tank) that would be more interesting because it would be about conserving gas, fighting for a position and then making a calculated move before your tank runs dry. 

Hey, this is just my opinion, not some official proclamation on Nascar. Afraid I don't have that kind of power or authority. Some people love it, others don't. I'm not a fan, or do I think it's a sport but an event or spectacle, but don't let that stop you or anyone from enjoying it. It's a free country as they say.

-Wolf

[zombie]

Got your back Wolf! NASCAR is for retards waiting for the next big wrestler to announce... Sorry retards... I meant to say "little people"