Anonymous wrote:I think they need to limit participants to a few events. Do they really need so many swimming medals that Phelps can get so many in a single Olympics? Soccer players (and golfers!) are only able to get a single medal at best. Swimming is rigged to get the most medals.

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Anonymous wrote:Why oh why did they add golf to the Olympics?!?

I can think of 100s of other sports better than golf...like skateboarding.

Golf is not a sport. It is an activity or hobby...like computer programming.


Heck, even a video game tournament would be better.

Agreed. Golf is a hobby, not a sport. It requires no, or next-to-no athleticism.

Not true.

+1 that was a ridiculous statement.

Golf requires about the same athleticism as sweeping the floor.

+1 It's true.

+2 or, to quiet the golfers, sweeping the floor and cleaning the house with no AC. That's about all the physical strength you need.

To be more specific, gold requires the athleticism of sweeping the floor combined with the hand eye coordination of a typical teenage video game.

How the F did they decide it was an Olympic sport?!?

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Anonymous wrote:If golf is an olympic "sport," then they should make yoga an olympic sport.

I'm wondering how and why dressage is in there. Riding a horse?! Is falconry?

I saw a tweet the other day:

Olympic swimmer: "I am the fastest swimmer in the world."
Dressage: "I made a horsey dance pretty, we are equal."

Anonymous wrote:Actually, most of golf is not spent "walking the course."

Most of golf is spent riding in a cart.

Anything that mostly involves and able bodied person riding around in a cart is not a sport.

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Anonymous wrote:You don't play golf. If you did you would understand what it takes. But that's okay, some people need basic things like stepping up to nowhere, others need a challenge.

In what way does golf require exertion? Athleticism? Physicality?

No one's saying that golf doesn't require some skills (to be good at it, at least). It's more like darts, as one pp noted.

But golf is not a sport. Golfers are not athletes.

Funny. Colleges give out athletic scholarships for golf. But I guess we will go with your analysis.
Go play a full round of golf from the back tees and report back.

I give it a D+ on the question evading.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary a sport is:

An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment


The golf swing definitely involves physical exertion. Many professional players spend time in the gym to increase their power and flexibility because of the movement of the swing so golf certainly fits this part of the definition. Interestingly it is debatable as to whether the putting stroke does fit this definition so if golf just consisted of putting then it may not be a sport.

The skill element of golf definitely meets the definition as demonstrated by the wide range of abilities among golfers. In the UK male handicaps go up to 28 while just to enter the Open Championship a handicap of 0 is required which shows just how much skill is involved in golf.

In terms of competition golf is again definitely a sport. At the professional level there are both individual and team events and even casual amateurs can play in competitions or against friends.

One reason why some people do not consider golf a sport is because of the relatively low intensity of a round. Although the swing is a powerful and explosive motion the majority of the time playing is spent walking. Due to this players often do not get breathless or sweaty as in other sports leading to people thinking golf does not require enough effort to be a sport.

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Anonymous wrote:You don't play golf. If you did you would understand what it takes. But that's okay, some people need basic things like stepping up to nowhere, others need a challenge.

In what way does golf require exertion? Athleticism? Physicality?

No one's saying that golf doesn't require some skills (to be good at it, at least). It's more like darts, as one pp noted.

But golf is not a sport. Golfers are not athletes.

Funny. Colleges give out athletic scholarships for golf. But I guess we will go with your analysis.
Go play a full round of golf from the back tees and report back.

I give it a D+ on the question evading.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary a sport is:

An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment


The golf swing definitely involves physical exertion. Many professional players spend time in the gym to increase their power and flexibility because of the movement of the swing so golf certainly fits this part of the definition. Interestingly it is debatable as to whether the putting stroke does fit this definition so if golf just consisted of putting then it may not be a sport.

The skill element of golf definitely meets the definition as demonstrated by the wide range of abilities among golfers. In the UK male handicaps go up to 28 while just to enter the Open Championship a handicap of 0 is required which shows just how much skill is involved in golf.

In terms of competition golf is again definitely a sport. At the professional level there are both individual and team events and even casual amateurs can play in competitions or against friends.

One reason why some people do not consider golf a sport is because of the relatively low intensity of a round. Although the swing is a powerful and explosive motion the majority of the time playing is spent walking. Due to this players often do not get breathless or sweaty as in other sports leading to people thinking golf does not require enough effort to be a sport.

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Anonymous wrote:You don't play golf. If you did you would understand what it takes. But that's okay, some people need basic things like stepping up to nowhere, others need a challenge.

In what way does golf require exertion? Athleticism? Physicality?

No one's saying that golf doesn't require some skills (to be good at it, at least). It's more like darts, as one pp noted.

But golf is not a sport. Golfers are not athletes.

Anonymous wrote:I think golf requires a lot of skill, but not a lot of athleticism. I can't understand WHY it's an Olympic sport. Maybe to give me time to actually get some stuff done around the house without being glued to my TV watching the real sports?

Anonymous wrote:Any sport that has bigger tournaments than the olympics should be cut.

Soccer, baseball , basketball , hockey , golf ,

The olympics in these sports are a joke.