Is golf a sport?

Golf in the United States is a $70 billion annual industry with 24.1 million players. A 2016 poll by Public Policy Polling found that nineteen percent of Americans call themselves golf fans, down from twenty-three percent in 2015. The debate over whether or not golf is a sport wages on the internet, in bars, amongst sportswriters, and even on the golf course.

Proponents say that golf meets the definition of "sport" found in the dictionary, requires physical exertion and coordination, and is recognized as a sport by sporting goods companies, athletic associations, fans, the media, and more. They point to golf's inclusion in the Olympics starting in 2016 as further evidence of its qualification as a sport.

Opponents say that golf better meets the definition of "game" than "sport," does not require rigorous physical activity, and can be played professionally by people who are overweight, injured, or non-athletic. They argue that golf is a game or leisure activity, and they cite golf's 112-year absence from the Olympics as proof that it is not a sport.

eddie wrote:Okay I’m taking the opposite view, just for the heck of it, don’t have an opinion either way, but here goes:

By your reckoning then Ben, gardening is a sport. We have competitions.

Why does a sport have to include agility and strength?

eddie wrote:Gardening does require agility and strength. People carry paving slabs, heavy foliage, and various other equipment. It requires agility to plant in awkward places (okay that’s a weak point but still) and it requires knowledge and time and care.

Anyway, let’s take a different “sport” as gardening isn’t a great example, admittedly.
What about swimming? That just requires you to be fast...surely?

eddie wrote:What about weightlifting? That’s heavy lifting, it requires agility and strength too.

Ben Mothafuckin' Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:What about weightlifting? That’s heavy lifting, it requires agility and strength too.

Weightlifting is a sport. There are rules (like weight classes, no steroids, have to lift in different ways, etc.), it requires athleticism obviously, and whoever lifts the most weight wins, so it's objective (i.e. not subject to interpretation by judges).

eddie wrote:

Ben Mothafuckin' Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:What about weightlifting? That’s heavy lifting, it requires agility and strength too.

Weightlifting is a sport. There are rules (like weight classes, no steroids, have to lift in different ways, etc.), it requires athleticism obviously, and whoever lifts the most weight wins, so it's objective (i.e. not subject to interpretation by judges).

Pfffffff. Okay so weightlifting is a sport.

Then my next question is, how can you judge what a “sport” is?  

eddie wrote:I counteract that photo with a vision of sumo wrestlers - who are far heavier than the guy in that picture.
And! Heavy weight boxers?

eddie wrote:Okay so back to golf, there’s this point:

Golfers burn more calories than gymnasts. Golfing without a cart burns an average of 360 calories per hour (306 with a caddie), compared to about 345 doing gymnastics and 273 bowling playing table tennis or doing yoga. [11] [29] Golfers who play a nine-hole course (2-2.5 miles [8]) without a cart while carrying their own clubs burn 721 calories (613 calories if a caddie carries the bag of clubs which weighs 30-50 pounds on average). [9] [10] Professional tournaments have four rounds of 18 holes, which would be 4,904 calories burned over four days.

eddie wrote:Snail racing?

135 snails competed in the 2017 World Snail Racing Championships in Congham, England on July 15. The snails were placed in a circle and timed to see how quickly they could slither past the finish line 13 inches away. Snails of all sizes, sporting vibrant shell decals, were brought out to the competition, including a snail named Uslime Bolt.

nicko wrote:Golf is a nice walk wasted !

veya_victaous wrote:game and sport is the same thing
a game is a single instance of a sport (e.g. a person plays in a game of Soccer)

And eSports are a thing now so all the arguments around physical are dead.      
http://www.espn.com.au/esports/

Anyway I am Totally for Competitive Gardening as a sport (it's significantly more athletic than football). it is no different than synchronized Swimming or Diving, that by inclusion in the Olympics are more of a sport than Gridiron.

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

There are competitive aspects to gardening for the more serious athletes among them,  viz. Carrying heavy bags of potatoes over a marked course, Hay bale tossing (with pitchforks, nonetheless !),  Cowpat tossing, Gumboot tossing...

Consider the following sports, and compare them with Ben's suggested definitions :
Baseball
Cricket
Archery
Shooting
Lawn Bowls
Dressage
Pub Darts        
Synchronised Drowning
Table Tennis
Rhythmic Gymnastics --  "floor exercises"
Racing --  cars, motorbikes, boats, planes;   horses, camels, dogs, snails..    

Ben Mothafuckin' Reilly wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:game and sport is the same thing
a game is a single instance of a sport (e.g. a person plays in a game of Soccer)

And eSports are a thing now so all the arguments around physical are dead.      
http://www.espn.com.au/esports/

Anyway I am Totally for Competitive Gardening as a sport (it's significantly more athletic than football). it is no different than synchronized Swimming or Diving, that by inclusion in the Olympics are more of a sport than Gridiron.

eSports are the out-of-shape and socially maladjusted trying desperately to use the one thing that has sapped their lives of all meaning to give meaning to their lives.

... not to be too harsh

eddie wrote:Thought I’d do a different kind of topic.

Is golf a sport?

Golf in the United States is a $70 billion annual industry with 24.1 million players. A 2016 poll by Public Policy Polling found that nineteen percent of Americans call themselves golf fans, down from twenty-three percent in 2015. The debate over whether or not golf is a sport wages on the internet, in bars, amongst sportswriters, and even on the golf course.

Proponents say that golf meets the definition of "sport" found in the dictionary, requires physical exertion and coordination, and is recognized as a sport by sporting goods companies, athletic associations, fans, the media, and more. They point to golf's inclusion in the Olympics starting in 2016 as further evidence of its qualification as a sport.

Opponents say that golf better meets the definition of "game" than "sport," does not require rigorous physical activity, and can be played professionally by people who are overweight, injured, or non-athletic. They argue that golf is a game or leisure activity, and they cite golf's 112-year absence from the Olympics as proof that it is not a sport.

On this link you will find all pro and con arguments listed clearly for easy reading.
Have a read, and see what you think....
https://golf.procon.org

HoratioTarr wrote:I'll tell you what it is.  Boring as fuck.  At least to watch.   Second only to cricket, that is.

Ben Mothafuckin' Reilly wrote:I think it's not. Most sports meet these requirements:

* They require physical exertion, at least at times.

* They require physical agility and/or strength, at least at times.

* They're scored objectively.

* They are governed by an official rulebook.

That excludes golf along with other things often considered sports, such as figure skating and gymnastics. In fact, boxing just barely qualifies as a sport by my definition.

But the competitions that do fit those criteria, nobody ever says they're not sports -- all types of football, along with tennis, hockey, basketball, cricket, baseball and others.

nicko wrote:Golf is a nice walk wasted !

eddie wrote:Okay so back to golf, there’s this point:

Golfers burn more calories than gymnasts. Golfing without a cart burns an average of 360 calories per hour (306 with a caddie), compared to about 345 doing gymnastics and 273 bowling playing table tennis or doing yoga. [11] [29] Golfers who play a nine-hole course (2-2.5 miles [8]) without a cart while carrying their own clubs burn 721 calories (613 calories if a caddie carries the bag of clubs which weighs 30-50 pounds on average). [9] [10] Professional tournaments have four rounds of 18 holes, which would be 4,904 calories burned over four days.

nicko wrote:Golf is a nice walk wasted !