Athletics is not just running. It is hand eye coordination, muscle memory, balance, psychological acuity, mental and physical stamina, heart and the will to win.
The ability to put all of the elements of the complex golf swing into a repeatable motion and adapt it to hundreds of different shots and conditions is much much harder than casual observers think. Then, to do it under extreme pressure conditions in hot, cold, wet or windy conditions where every shot is in a different lie and no two courses are the same while maintaining total concentration for five hours at a time over four days straight is far removed from running where you can when you can and relying on teammates to hold you up.
To all of that is the added difficulty of initiating the shot from a fixed position. There is nothing reactionary or involuntary in golf. Every time a pro golfer tees it up they are playing for their payday. They succeed or go home without a check. No cut contracts and guaranteed salaries don't happen in golf. There is no union and no pension. Any tournament, any injury can be a career ender. Players who do not finish in the top 125 on the money list at the end of the season lose their playing status and must earn their way back via the minor leagues if they want to continue to earn a living.
Every single shot and every putt a tournament player stands over is like 2 out, bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, or 2 points down with two free throws to shoot and no clock left.
On top of it all, it is a game of honor where the player is responsible for protecting the field and must enforce their own penalties.
Good comments - I agree.
So I guess any musician is an athlete using your definition. Puhleese!
I've got to side with JohnG45.
Golf is a skill. Shooting is a skill. Archery is a skill.
Athletics is defined as requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina . Golf has the skill, but stamina? Not so much.
All I know is that there is a p___ in the WH with some BO who could play 100 days a year and still not be any better than a 16 hdcp.
Yep. It's much harder than hitting a slider, curveball, or a changeup.
If you can't appreciate the pure beauty of the violin after hearing this, something's wrong with your ears.
Or you can get raw with these strings.
How about this gamechanger from America's Got Talent (which they SHOULD have won).
And finally, this, dedicated to the one and only rdb2, whose eyes are growing dim.
Either way, the violin is sweet yet LETHAL.
Do it!