Golfers aren't "athletes".Golfing requires skill but so does chess.
BS. Professional, tournament golf requires strength, stamina, and skill. You walk 4-5 miles during a professional round, often up and down very hilly courses (like the current U.S. Open). Both before and after your round, you go to the range to hit balls and work on your swing. A good repeatable swing requires balance, timing and strength, the same qualities a good baseball player possesses. A ball hit into deep rough requires extra strength to extract and put back into play.
Those who think that golfers are not athletes know nothing about the rigors of tournament play. Your weekend golfer, smoking a cigar and swilling beer may not be athletic, but neither is the overweight, middle-aged softball player. And both compare to the professional in the same manner -- they don't.
“Golfers aren’t “athletes”.Golfing requires skill but so does chess.”
Try walking Southern Hills in Tulsa in June for 4 rounds while playing the Open and see if you still think that statement is true.
Look at all the famous athletes of the last 20 years . . . Jordan, Gretzky, Lemieux, Elway, Marino, etc. All of them would love to be the ‘non-athlete’ Woods is/was. Because they are all golf fanatics when not playing their own sport.
Golf is the single most difficult sport to master because of the small margin of error in so many parts of the game. The difference between winning tournaments and losing your Tour privileges is about one stroke per round over the whole year.
Your comment is absurd.