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Is Golf a Sport or a Game?

Is Golf a Sport or a Game?

  • Total voters
    90
  • Poll closed .
Both.........
 
Both IMO
 
Do you ever ask anyone how there golf sport is doing? You ask them about there golf game. Just like you play a baseball game, a football game, etc.
 
It's a game
 
cnosil said:
Do you ever ask anyone how there golf sport is doing? You ask them about there golf game. Just like you play a baseball game, a football game, etc.
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So baseball and football are not sports either?
 
It's both.
 
It's life
 
I voted game and I'll add another reason I consider it a game. When I'm playing a sport my heart rate at least occasionally gets above 100 bpm, during a walking round of golf it rarely if ever does. When I'm riding in a cart my heart rate during a 3.5 hour round certainly averages less than 80 bpm and walking a fairly flat course it would be no different. Bowling, darts, croquet, curling, and bocce ball are similar to golf in this respect.

Baseball pitchers can certainly go an entire game without raising their heart rate much as can most of the other players 90% of their time on the field but I also think of baseball as more of a game than a sport. Certainly baseball players have great skill but don't need to be in great cardio shape. Darts, billiards, and bowling are the same way. Football, soccer, hockey, and basketball are different and definitely sports to me.
 
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Fourputt said:
So baseball and football are not sports either?
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It is an impossible question. It is both a sport and a game; just like the others. No right or wrong answer.
 
To me, golf is primarily exercise, a way to keep the doctor away. But I voted game, because I find it fun.
 
I'm in the camp that golf is a game that is treated like a sport. At its roots it a game leisure but has evolved into something much greater. Thanks to Palmer I believe the gap was bridged when he came on the scene. Building tangible rivalries, bringing in sponsors and helping to usher in TV coverage that meant something.
 
I think it's a game of skill, there is some endurance involved but most of it's mental.
 
I did not check a box on the poll because I think it is both and neither depending on the level of play and the participants.

At the highest level it is certainly a sport. Those guys/girls have to be in shape and be strong as well as very skilled.

At my level it is a game. I compete as hard as I can but I am not going to put in hours at the range and gym to improve my game.

And there are those who just use golf to pass some time. I even know people who do not keep score.

This is some of the beauty of our sport/game/pass-time.
 
amsmith61 said:
I think every sport starts out as a game. How competitive and how serious an individual makes it, determines whether it becomes a sport for them.
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why would how competitive one makes it and the seriousness of it be what determines if its a sport? Just doesn't make sense to me. Others have also mentioned that it depends how one treats it and that also doesn't make any sense imo.

If I went out and shot some hoops at the park with a friend or just had a baseball catch or tossed a football around all with no intent at wining anything but just for fun and kicks......what is all that? Its not a game because there was no competition yet according to your logic it cant be a sport because it isn't serious. Well then....what would I be doing? Neither?

The seriousness of competition is what imo actually makes it a game more than anything. That's what people do in games. They compete. One plays a football "game" because they try to seriously compete and win it.

Golf is a game that we play. There is just no such thing of becoming a sport. Its a sport and a game. There are board games and there are sport games. Its a sport game. Chess is a board game, backgammon is a board game....darts is a sport game, golf is a sport game. The Olympics are filled with all the "Olympic games" and the 2014 winter Olympic games were played in Sochi.

This whole thing is just kind of pointless and some of the logic has no ground to stand on imo. Its a sport game and there really isn't imo any way of justifying anything less.
 
Yes, it is both. In fact Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "sport" as "a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other." Words have meaning and it's not our individual opinion that defines them. Also to those (mostly outside our sport) who claim golf is not a sport, because it is not physically taxing enough. They would do well to consider the examples given in Merriam-Webster's definition, which states "a physical activity (such as hunting, fishing, running, swimming, etc.) that is done for enjoyment." The first two examples are not generally known for a high level of physical exertion. In fact, unless you are in the midst of landing a world record catch, fishing is usually only marginally more exerting than napping...and sometimes are one and the same.
 
Can't answer the question.

All Sports are Games. It is both.
 
To me, it's a sport....which is defined as : an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

Though the definition of game isn't much different, I just feel that the "physical exertion and skill" part of the definition really leans towards what golf is, as a whole.
 
IMO it is both. However, the outcome of a 'game' "may" be determined by luck. Some will argue that luck has a lot to do with golf, but luck in golf, more times than not, comes into play after a poor swing. Regardless, I say golf is a sport and a game, even so by definition.
 
Agent Jay said:
To me, it's a sport....which is defined as : an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

Though the definition of game isn't much different, I just feel that the "physical exertion and skill" part of the definition really leans towards what golf is, as a whole.
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This is how I look at it too. Something that takes a level of physical ability and competition. The 100m dash in the Olympics is a sport. The US Open is a sporting event. Going for a run in the morning is exercise, regardless of how much sweat is pouring off of you. Playing a round of golf by myself is a game.
 
Most consider it to be a game because its not dynamic like football or baseball is, in that other players try to stop you from doing what you want to do.
 
OP did not include an option of "Yes", so I struggled to answer.
:alien:

I put sport, but it is truly both.
 
why does the word "sport" seem to generate egotistical feelings? It just seems that there is a common feeling of insult among many if they are told that the game they play (golf) is not a sport. They seem to have the need to defend themselves against those who don't think of it as a sport. Golf is a "sport type of game"
But with that said.......The first thing it is (before anything else) is actually a game. Its a game we play in which we keep score and have to physically display a skill in order to do it and so its a sport type of game.

There seems to also be this nonsense of a general feeling displayed by quite a few that it only becomes a sport if taken more seriously or played a certain way. Almost as to say that "its not a sport but it is a sport the way I play it." Hence the ego generated feeling I started this post with because of the word sport. To be honest....when one doesn't keep score, nor follow rules, and just plays a casual fun round for nothing but enjoyment he is playing a sport because he is not playing the game of golf. Those taking golf more seriously are actually emphasizing the fact that golf is a game. So this goes against your entire logic that golf is only a sport if played more seriously. By playing it more seriously your actually playing more the game of golf than the person who doesn't take it as seriously.

If I just fooled around with my son and spent a half hour having a baseball catch just for fun we would be enjoying the sport of throwing a ball around. We are not playing baseball but are still performing a sport activity by playing catch. Yet if we partake in a more serious type of thing where as we get involved in a baseball game we are then "playing a game." Playing a "sports game" but none the less still a game.

Golf is a game too and is one in which is a sport type of game and it doesn't matter how you play it nor how serious one takes it. There is no such thing as to say....."golf is only a sport when you play it the way I do" .....sorry but that doesn't work. For those who say that....Playing it the way you do only means your playing it more as a game. Its a sport type of game and there is no other way to label it.
 
I went with sport simply because there is a physical aspect to it. To get better you train on the course and the gym. Now monopoly is a game, unless fetching a beer from the fridge can be trained for.
 
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