Is golf a sport and are golfers athletes?
IMHO…
Yes. No.
Although there are athletes that also happen to be golfers. Tiger Woods is a fine example. I understand that he can bench press 350 pounds. There are also excellent athletes that also happen to be enthusiastic but lousy golfers. Charles Barkley is an example of the latter.
Walking 18 holes is not as easy as one might imagine. So I’d say professional golfers are definately athletes. As to the weekend duffer with an electric cart…
Seems like people are just pulling definitions of athlete out of thin air. From dictionary.com:
If you assume golf is a sport, then golfers must be athletes.
If golf is a sport, certainly fishing qualifies as well. They are essentially the same thing: you stand there with a long skinny thing in your hand while nothing happens for days at a time.
So, are anglers considered athletes too?
Naah, that’s what happens in the shower.
I dunno, Golf really doesn’t require strength, agility, or endurance - at least not at the amateur level. All three help, of course, but golf is really a game of accuracy. (Actually, strength - or at least the tendency to use it - often gets in the way.)
I always walk the course (unless they’re making us use a cart), but I really don’t see the ability to comfortably walk approximately four miles in four hours as requiring all that much endurance.
And yes, I also think that fishing is a sport - but fisherman aren’t athletes (at least not as a result of fishing being a sport).
See this thread.
Hmm, upon reflection, if strength, agility and endurance are the qualifications for athletes, then there are plenty of athletes in every PGA event. I’m not thinking about the golfers, though - I’m thinking about the caddies.
After all, every time Tiger Woods had to trek across a golf course in 1999, Fluff had to trek across the very same course - except that Fluff had to carry a 70 pound golf bag on his back while doing so.
I’m not sure why it wouldn’t be…let’s ask Merriam Webster
Main Entry: 2sport
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
1 a : a source of diversion : RECREATION b : sexual play c (1) : physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2) : a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in
2 a : PLEASANTRY, JEST b : often mean-spirited jesting : MOCKERY, DERISION
3 a : something tossed or driven about in or as if in play b : LAUGHINGSTOCK
4 a : SPORTSMAN b : a person considered with respect to living up to the ideals of sportsmanship <a good sport> <a poor sport> c : a companionable person
5 : an individual exhibiting a sudden deviation from type beyond the normal limits of individual variation usually as a result of mutation especially of somatic tissue
synonym see FUN
Main Entry: ath·lete
Pronunciation: 'ath-"lEt, ÷’a-th&-"lEt
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin athleta, from Greek athlEtEs, from athlein to contend for a prize, from athlon prize, contest
Date: 15th century
: a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina
I don’t see anywhere to disqualify golf as a sport…or golfers as athletes. It seems that golf requires physical strength and agility.
I’m not sure why this is an issue. Just because the participants don’t run around really fast…and just because the participants don’t smack each other around or club each other over the head…doesn’t mean its not a sport. Is figure skating? How 'bout diving? Nice sports but at least golf is decided in an objective way. Tiger Woods never lost a tournament because the Russian judge docked him one style/artistic point.
EOM