If our best Women athletes played Golf would they dominate!

[Mark_UK]

You don’t know who the Korda sisters are? WTH!!! They both went undefeated in the Solheim Cup! Nelly won like 2 times last year on the LPGA tour and is ranked in the top 5 in the world and she is only 21. Her sister Jessica is about mid twenties and ranked top 20 in the world. There father is Peter Korda a former professional tennis player.

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I believe Tiger would have been playing MLB, if not for golf. Would he be Mike Trout, probably not, but I believe he had the ability to play MLB. But, back to my OP....this is about US women not dominating the LPGA tour, because our best women athletes are not playing golf.

Ah. I should probably take an interest and start watching women’s golf then LOL.


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[NoGoal]

I did not play D1 sports, my friend did however. Did you play D1 sports? One of my other friends played D1 soccer, he still struggles with golf. I stand by my comment.

Im pretty sure your friend who played D1 soccer didn’t start playing golf at a young age. If he did with professional coaching. I bet he wouldn’t be struggling.

I didn’t play D1 sport, I grew up in a single parent household. My father passed away when I was 4. I have no doubt that if, I played golf at a tender age of 8-10 years old with professional coaching. I could have played college golf. Would it be at a Power 5 conference who knows, but I know I would have a lower handicap than my current 4 I have now. Last year got as low as a 2.6 and like I posted prior. I have NEVER taken a lesson.

My daughter is not the most athletic soccer player, but she is skilled with ball that’s what got her recruited to play D1 soccer. All it took was professional skills training with the ball at her feet, hard work, and many hours of practice on her own getting better. It would have been no different than if she wanted to play golf instead of soccer at a young age, I would have gotten her a PGA professional to train her and develop her into the best golfer she could have become and very confident she would have played college golf.

Many, many other parents I know who’s daughters play collegiate women’s soccer would have done the same. These are athletic girls built in the mold of the Korda sisters and Lexi Thompson. They just happen to play soccer instead of golf. It’s why I say....our most athletic women players do not play womens golf and why South Koreans and Asian’s dominate the LPGA tour.

 

[swark]

I think the more important question is whether South Korea would dominate the LPGA even more if their best athletes weren’t focussed on Taekwondo, soccer and speed skating ...

 

[NoGoal]

I think the more important question is whether South Korea would dominate the LPGA even more if their best athletes weren’t focussed on Taekwondo, soccer and speed skating ...

Could be since, our best women athletes don’t play golf. U.S culture loves team sports over individual sports.

 

[ddstanford]

Looking at the time one must put in to excel at athletics, studies etc., I just don't see US kids wanting to put in the effort these days. I hope they surprise me.

 

[Mark_UK]

I don’t need to watch the LPGA to realize if the likes of Megan Rapinoe, Serena Williams, or Simone Biles has taken up golf instead of their respective sports, they wouldn’t be the worlds best golfers. The argument is, quite frankly, ludicrous, as I think has been agreed by the vast majority in this thread so far. Surely by saying that’s possible, your comparing sports like for like and they aren’t. If your argument was if more young female athletes concentrated on golf at a young age would American golfers dominate the LPGA Tour, then yes, I could very easily buy that.


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[RetiredBoomer]

If they're not playing tennis, golf is the only sport when very athletic American women are going to make any money.

Where was the last WNBA game that you attended?
How many Rhonda Rouseys are distributing bloody noses today?

If not golf, where? I'm afraid that some of our best women athletes ARE playing golf and the Asian ladies are dominating them.
A more likely reason, though, is that our country club social class that doesn't have to are the ones trying to play pro golf and some of our more athletic young ladies will spend their lives and never touch a golf club.

Some of our great athletes like Oscar DeLaHoya and Tom Brady pick up a golf club and find themselves to be seven handicappers in a year.
We may not know how many potentially great MALE players don't start the game before making a good living somewhere else.

 

[NoGoal]

I don’t need to watch the LPGA to realize if the likes of Megan Rapinoe, Serena Williams, or Simone Biles has taken up golf instead of their respective sports, they wouldn’t be the worlds best golfers. The argument is, quite frankly, ludicrous, as I think has been agreed by the vast majority in this thread so far. Surely by saying that’s possible, your comparing sports like for like and they aren’t. If your argument was if more young female athletes concentrated on golf at a young age would American golfers dominate the LPGA Tour, then yes, I could very easily buy that.


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That is my argument, if our best young female athletes concentrated aka played golf at a young age instead of another collegiate sport. American women would dominate the LPGA tour.
Why do you think I was referring to the Korda sisters!!!

 

[NoGoal]

If they're not playing tennis, golf is the only sport when very athletic American women are going to make any money.

Where was the last WNBA game that you attended?
How many Rhonda Rouseys are distributing bloody noses today?

If not golf, where? I'm afraid that some of our best women athletes ARE playing golf and the Asian ladies are dominating them.
A more likely reason, though, is that our country club social class that doesn't have to are the ones trying to play pro golf and some of our more athletic young ladies will spend their lives and never touch a golf club.

Some of our great athletes like Oscar DeLaHoya and Tom Brady pick up a golf club and find themselves to be seven handicappers in a year.
We may not know how many potentially great MALE players don't start the game before making a good living somewhere else.

If we had more of our youth athletic girls playing golf. You would see more Korda sisters and Lexi Thompson type players on the LPGA tour.

 

[NoGoal]

I don’t need to watch the LPGA to realize if the likes of Megan Rapinoe, Serena Williams, or Simone Biles has taken up golf instead of their respective sports, they wouldn’t be the worlds best golfers. The argument is, quite frankly, ludicrous, as I think has been agreed by the vast majority in this thread so far. Surely by saying that’s possible, your comparing sports like for like and they aren’t. If your argument was if more young female athletes concentrated on golf at a young age would American golfers dominate the LPGA Tour, then yes, I could very easily buy that.


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You contradict yourself by saying if more of our young female athletes played golf instead of another sport. We would dominate the LPGA.

Yet, Serena, Misty May, and these other type of elite women athletes couldn’t make the LPGA, even if they played golf at a young age. Got it

 

[Snickerdog]

If we had more of our youth athletic girls playing golf. You would see more Korda sisters and Lexi Thompson type players on the LPGA tour.

5 Americans in the top 20. 1 Aussie, the rest are Asians.
Americas young girls don't want to golf, they want gymnastics and cheer or soccer. It won't change IMO. Yes they are trying to grow the game but it just isn't going to happen.
The time is takes to get Pro level at golf is crazy, you can get pro level at other sports easier and have a better chance of succeeding at it IMO.

 

[NoGoal]

5 Americans in the top 20. 1 Aussie, the rest are Asians.
Americas young girls don't want to golf, they want gymnastics and cheer or soccer. It won't change IMO. Yes they are trying to grow the game but it just isn't going to happen.
The time is takes to get Pro level at golf is crazy, you can get pro level at other sports easier and have a better chance of succeeding at it IMO.

I agree it won’t change, because our culture favors team sports. Im saying, if more of our best women athletes played golf at a young age. Would they dominate the LPGA tour? I say they would! Is our culture going to change over night and these girls start favoring golf as their preferred youth sport...Unfortunately the answer is NO.

I grew up in an Asian household. The way my mom raised me is very different than how my wife and I raised our kids. Having a Tiger type mom growing up. It was I say you are gonna play the piano, no if or buts. Me and my brothers played the piano. We are not allowed to talk back or express our own opinions. We just did as we were told. I can see how this translates to Asian girls playing golf. There parents tell them you are going to play golf. There is no ifs and buts about it. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of female asian players become great at it through professional training. Thus the boom for Asian dominating the LPGA tour.

 

[InTheRough]

Do you think a Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Misty May, Keri Walsh, Jennie Finch elite type women athletes wouldn’t have been great women golfers? If they fell in love with golf, they would have dedicated themselves to the game as they did in their sport at a very young age?

They would have been great LPGA players.

Tell me none of these Pac12 women soccer players at Colorado or USC wouldn’t have been great collegiate golfers and some of them wouldn’t have made it to the LPGA?

Perhaps. If they had started at a young enough age; learned the golf swing motion at a young enough age; had quality instruction from a top professional instructor of the caliber of Butch Harmon, Robin Symes (Korea), Jim McLean; had the discipline to hit 1000 balls a day at the driving range; played 3 rounds of golf per week... I will say this: 1) if they took their qualifying tests they would have been able to become members of the LPGA; 2) there is a high probability that they would have been good enough to play on the tour; 3) would they have been great? That is an entirely different question.

 

[OITW]

Im pretty sure your friend who played D1 soccer didn’t start playing golf at a young age. If he did with professional coaching. I bet he wouldn’t be struggling.

I didn’t play D1 sport, I grew up in a single parent household. My father passed away when I was 4. I have no doubt that if, I played golf at a tender age of 8-10 years old with professional coaching. I could have played college golf. Would it be at a Power 5 conference who knows, but I know I would have a lower handicap than my current 4 I have now. Last year got as low as a 2.6 and like I posted prior. I have NEVER taken a lesson.

My daughter is not the most athletic soccer player, but she is skilled with ball that’s what got her recruited to play D1 soccer. All it took was professional skills training with the ball at her feet, hard work, and many hours of practice on her own getting better. It would have been no different than if she wanted to play golf instead of soccer at a young age, I would have gotten her a PGA professional to train her and develop her into the best golfer she could have become and very confident she would have played college golf.

Many, many other parents I know who’s daughters play collegiate women’s soccer would have done the same. These are athletic girls built in the mold of the Korda sisters and Lexi Thompson. They just happen to play soccer instead of golf. It’s why I say....our most athletic women players do not play womens golf and why South Koreans and Asian’s dominate the LPGA tour.

So this is really about you, your childhood and buyers remorse that your daughter is one of the special ones who are able to get an education while playing a game they love. Got it.

On that note, I will bid adieu to this thread.

 

[NoGoal]

So this is really about you, your childhood and buyers remorse that your daughter is one of the special ones who are able to get an education while playing a game they love. Got it.

On that note, I will bid adieu to this thread.

What you ask me if I played D1 golf and I simply replied. WOW got to love posters who assume

 

[tahoebum]

If we had more females learning golf at a young age then yes we should have a larger pool of top tier female golfers.

Would we dominate....no. I will take this in a whole different direction. The age of the Instagram model will continue to diminish the female athlete because of the money. Why would someone spend hours a day practicing when they can get up to $30,000 a post on Instagram. We see it in multiple sports including golf that if you have a look then you will make way more money "modeling" than you will in sports.

Of course there are examples of athletes that do both and excel at their sport (Alex Morgan comes to mind) but the pay disparity in athletics means most of the money for female athletes is not on court, field, course. I have no problem with females making their money.

Yep, why would parents set their girls up with hopes of being a pro athlete when the odds of making any money are astronomically low.

So you don’t think there could have been 30 LPGA tour top 50 players among the 3000+ Power 5 women college athletes? If they played golf at a young age. Hard to believe statistically speaking.

I don't. To be one of the top 100 at anything in the world is tough whether you are a surgeon or golfer. Think of the NFL - the top 100 would be just the NFL Pro bowlers. Or think of MLB that has 68 All-Star players each year. The PGA Tour is like only the Pro Bowlers or All-Star players competing with no guaranteed contracts and the possibility that a one year slump means you're no longer get to play.

Over the years I've been fortunate enough to have played thousands of rounds with scratch or better golfers and have seen my fair share of great athletes from other sports try to just become a single-digit golfer. BTW, the only ones I've seen do it very often without lots of time and effort were hockey players. I played many rounds in the last decade with top high school players at my old club that went on to play D1 golf and I currently play a dozen times a year with one of my son's friends who is a current D1 golfer. He first shot even par when he was 12 and he won our club championship when he was age 18 by 6 shots(-7 for two days at 7,000 yards) but struggles to do well at the college level with his +2 index. His index is likely about a +3.5 or better if you only counted his non-tournament rounds where the pin positions and golf course are set up tough. The mini-tour players are another level up from him and the PGA Tour is another HUGE leap up in talent from the mini-tours.

You are also not giving much credit to the 79,781 high school girl golfers in the U.S.(2018) or the additional tens of thousands outside the U.S. Many of them like my daughter have been at it since they were under 10, have natural ability, and start to shoot it the 80's shortly after taking up the game. Many of them also take lessons and practice 20 hours a week. The best of them are seasoned tournament players by the time they get to a college team that usually will have some international players as well. Most of them realize that there is no money/future in golf and will pursue a career in something else. A few talented and dedicated few will make it on the LPGA Tour. I've been fortunate the last decade to have always had at least one ex LPGA player at my club and even with far from their peak skills, I marvel at how much talent they have both physical and especially mental, for the game.

The math is super daunting for PGA or LPGA golf but I'll try to break it down. Think about the fact that only 125 players get their PGA Tour cards each year and the age range for those players is from about age 21 to 50. If you break that down it means you need to be one of the 5 best golfers on the planet from your birth year to play on Tour. There are about 600 D1 male golfers graduating each year and more stud players from other smaller schools. Then you have the guys that don't go to college but grind it out on the mini-tours right out of high school. Then add hundreds of more top international players from places like Australia and Europe coming on the scene each year competing for one of those 125 spots on the Tour. It basically means that of about 2,000 new each year 22-year-olds that are amazingly talented and driven get their PGA Tour card, 1,995 of them won't get it. Those who do are unlikely to ever win or keep their card for more than a few years due to injury, a small slump in their confidence, or the fact that they aged a bit and someone younger like Brooks K. or Jordan Spieth just took their spot! There are no guaranteed contracts in golf

 

[NoGoal]

Perhaps. If they had started at a young enough age; learned the golf swing motion at a young enough age; had quality instruction from a top professional instructor of the caliber of Butch Harmon, Robin Symes (Korea), Jim McLean; had the discipline to hit 1000 balls a day at the driving range; played 3 rounds of golf per week... I will say this: 1) if they took their qualifying tests they would have been able to become members of the LPGA; 2) there is a high probability that they would have been good enough to play on the tour; 3) would they have been great? That is an entirely different question.

I agree whole heartedly!

 

[OITW]

What you ask me if I played D1 golf and I simply replied. WOW got to love posters who assume

You wrote two paragraphs on it.

Says the guy that made plenty of assumptions in his previous posts.

Plenty of great discussion and content here, hope you find what you’re looking for.

 

[NoGoal]

Yep, why would parents set their girls up with hopes of being a pro athlete when the odds of making any money are astronomically low.


I don't. To be one of the top 100 at anything in the world is tough whether you are a surgeon or golfer. Think of the NFL - the top 100 would be just the NFL Pro bowlers. Or think of MLB that has 68 All-Star players each year. The PGA Tour is like only the Pro Bowlers or All-Star players competing with no guaranteed contracts and the possibility that a one year slump means you're no longer get to play.

Over the years I've been fortunate enough to have played thousands of rounds with scratch or better golfers and have seen my fair share of great athletes from other sports try to just become a single-digit golfer. BTW, the only ones I've seen do it very often without lots of time and effort were hockey players. I played many rounds in the last decade with top high school players at my old club that went on to play D1 golf and I currently play a dozen times a year with one of my son's friends who is a current D1 golfer. He first shot even par when he was 12 and he won our club championship when he was age 18 by 6 shots(-7 for two days at 7,000 yards) but struggles to do well at the college level with his +2 index. His index is likely about a +3.5 or better if you only counted his non-tournament rounds where the pin positions and golf course are set up tough. The mini-tour players are another level up from him and the PGA Tour is another HUGE leap up in talent from the mini-tours.

You are also not giving much credit to the 79,781 high school girl golfers in the U.S.(2018) or the additional tens of thousands outside the U.S. Many of them like my daughter have been at it since they were under 10, have natural ability, and start to shoot it the 80's shortly after taking up the game. Many of them also take lessons and practice 20 hours a week. The best of them are seasoned tournament players by the time they get to a college team that usually will have some international players as well. Most of them realize that there is no money/future in golf and will pursue a career in something else. A few talented and dedicated few will make it on the LPGA Tour. I've been fortunate the last decade to have always had at least one ex LPGA player at my club and even with far from their peak skills, I marvel at how much talent they have both physical and especially mental, for the game.

The math is super daunting for PGA or LPGA golf but I'll try to break it down. Think about the fact that only 125 players get their PGA Tour cards each year and the age range for those players is from about age 21 to 50. If you break that down it means you need to be one of the 5 best golfers on the planet from your birth year to play on Tour. There are about 600 D1 male golfers graduating each year and more stud players from other smaller schools. Then you have the guys that don't go to college but grind it out on the mini-tours right out of high school. Then add hundreds of more top international players from places like Australia and Europe coming on the scene each year competing for one of those 125 spots on the Tour. It basically means that of about 2,000 new each year 22-year-olds that are amazingly talented and driven get their PGA Tour card, 1,995 of them won't get it. Those who do are unlikely to ever win or keep their card for more than a few years due to injury, a small slump in their confidence, or the fact that they aged a bit and someone younger like Brooks K. or Jordan Spieth just took their spot! There are no guaranteed contracts in golf

We are just gonna have to agree to disagree. I just don’t buy into the theory that a smaller country like South Korea along with their smaller population can produce more top 50 LPGA players. It tells me our best young girls/women athletes are playing another sport.

I know all to well that there is no money in professional womens sports, except for golf and tennis. If you think LPGA players don’t make a lot of money. Research NWSL salaries!

 

[NoGoal]

You wrote two paragraphs on it.

Says the guy that made plenty of assumptions in his previous posts.

Plenty of great discussion and content here, hope you find what you’re looking for.

I thought you were out? Assumptions maybe to you, but I know it would be fact!

Golf is a game/sport that favors families with disposable income to be great at. Disposable income provides professional coaching. Parlay that with hard work, practicing and determination. You do know there are hundreds of schools that have mens golf teams right? It’s wouldn’t be that hard for a scratch player to play college. 0 or plus 1 probably wouldn’t be D1 Power 5, but I bet it would be enough for a D2/D3 school, maybe even a D1 mid major university.

My wife’s co-worker has a daughter who was recruited to play D2 college golf. Her average score low 80’s.

 

[InTheRough]

I agree it won’t change, because our culture favors team sports. Im saying, if more of our best women athletes played golf at a young age. Would they dominate the LPGA tour? I say they would! Is our culture going to change over night and these girls start favoring golf as their preferred youth sport...Unfortunately the answer is NO.

I grew up in an Asian household. The way my mom raised me is very different than how my wife and I raised our kids. Having a Tiger type mom growing up. It was I say you are gonna play the piano, no if or buts. Me and my brothers played the piano. We are not allowed to talk back or express our own opinions. We just did as we were told. I can see how this translates to Asian girls playing golf. There parents tell them you are going to play golf. There is no ifs and buts about it. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of female asian players become great at it through professional training. Thus the boom for Asian dominating the LPGA tour.

But one of the problems here is that golf instruction costs a lot of money. Driving range time costs a lot of money. Playing rounds of golf costs a lot of money.

One can learn how to play soccer with a ball, a net and a pair of shoes and some friends. That's the way kids learn how to play the game elsewhere in the world.

In America, we have a disappearing middle class and evermore stratification of the wealth. I didn't want to go here, but that's reality. It's to the point where they're offering 7 year loans for a middle class item like a new car - which used to be able to be financed with a 3 year loan 50 years ago. Most families are in debt. So if their kid shows an interest in say golf and soccer, soccer it is.

 

[tahoebum]

We are just gonna have to agree to disagree. I just don’t buy into the theory that a smaller country like South Korea along with their smaller population can produce more top 50 LPGA players. It tells me our best young girls/women athletes are playing another sport.

Trust me I know all to well that there is no money in professional womens sports, except for golf and tennis.

Have you ever spent much time with or do you have any Korean friends? They are incredibly driven by their parents often to the detriment of their mental health but it certainly seems to be working as a whole for women's golf. It's not by accident that Asian Americans are the most educated and have the highest incomes out of any ethnicity in the U.S. It's impressive that so many Korean women play professional golf and I think much of it is self-perpetuating because of all the success starting with Se ri Pak. She is a national hero and it has inspired many Korean girls to take up the game. The number one source of income for the LPGA is the TV rights in Korea, a country with 1/7th the population of the U.S. Girls in Korea don't have nearly as many different sports to choose from as U.S. girls so their numbers are concentrated in junior golfers.

It's no different than a country like Norway with only 5 million people dominating the Winter Olympics medal count in 2018. Germany was in second place with 16 times the population of Norway.

 

[NoGoal]

But one of the problems here is that golf instruction costs a lot of money. Driving range time costs a lot of money. Playing rounds of golf costs a lot of money.

One can learn how to play soccer with a ball, a net and a pair of shoes and some friends. That's the way kids learn how to play the game elsewhere in the world.

In America, we have a disappearing middle class and evermore stratification of the wealth. I didn't want to go here, but that's reality. It's to the point where they're offering 7 year loans for a middle class item like a new car - which used to be able to be financed with a 3 year loan 50 years ago. Most families are in debt. So if their kid shows an interest in say golf and soccer, soccer it is.

Actually club soccer is an expensive US sport also. I can’t imagine youth golf costing a lot more than club soccer.

On the higher level club travel soccer teams. Parents pay annual club fee’s of $3000, private training of $25 a week is another $1300. Additional $2500 travel cost for high school aged college showcase. Total per year to play high level club soccer is over 6K a year.

 

[NoGoal]

Have you ever spent much time with or do you have any Korean friends? They are incredibly driven by their parents often to the detriment of their mental health. It's not by accident that Asian Americans are the most educated and have the highest incomes out of any ethnicity in the U.S. It's impressive that so many Korean women play professional golf and I think much of it is self-perpetuating because of all the success starting with Se ri Pak. She is a national hero and it has inspired many Korean girls to take up the game. The number one source of income for the LPGA is the TV rights in Korea, a country with 1/7th the population of the U.S. Girls in Korea don't have nearly as many different sports to choose from as U.S. girls so their numbers are concentrated in junior golfers.

It's no different than a country like Norway with only 5 million people dominating the Winter Olympics medal count in 2018. Germany was in second place with 16 times the population of Norway.

I have more Chinese and Filipino friends. Similar type of culture though. I also agree with your post above!

 

[Northerner]

Im pretty sure your friend who played D1 soccer didn’t start playing golf at a young age. If he did with professional coaching. I bet he wouldn’t be struggling.

I didn’t play D1 sport, I grew up in a single parent household. My father passed away when I was 4. I have no doubt that if, I played golf at a tender age of 8-10 years old with professional coaching. I could have played college golf. Would it be at a Power 5 conference who knows, but I know I would have a lower handicap than my current 4 I have now. Last year got as low as a 2.6 and like I posted prior. I have NEVER taken a lesson.

My daughter is not the most athletic soccer player, but she is skilled with ball that’s what got her recruited to play D1 soccer. All it took was professional skills training with the ball at her feet, hard work, and many hours of practice on her own getting better. It would have been no different than if she wanted to play golf instead of soccer at a young age, I would have gotten her a PGA professional to train her and develop her into the best golfer she could have become and very confident she would have played college golf.

Many, many other parents I know who’s daughters play collegiate women’s soccer would have done the same. These are athletic girls built in the mold of the Korda sisters and Lexi Thompson. They just happen to play soccer instead of golf. It’s why I say....our most athletic women players do not play womens golf and why South Koreans and Asian’s dominate the LPGA tour.

Could be something to ththis.