Had a golf mates conversation recently about the younger generation of men who we see playing pro-golf on TV. The main thread was that they aren’t just golfers any more, they are now athletes who have chosen to play golf instead of some other athletic or sporting activity.
Thoughts?
Atb
I respectfully disagree. I played college athletics and went on to coach college football. While the players maybe better athletes today, the sports that golfers could have played as an alternative to golf are pretty limited. They aren't muscular guys, if anything they are lanky and somewhat toned. What golf doesn't measure if movement. In almost any other sport you have to run, move with agility and body control. Who the heck knows if these golfers have this ability. Forget other professional sports, let's just look to see if they could even play major college sports in an alternative sport. You see it in perhaps tennis, soccer or maybe baseball.
Do they look more athletic and work out much more than in the past? Yes. However we can say this about all pro sports without any exception. Could they play other sports at a D1 college level? I think there will be very few.
Don't mistake mandatory size(such as required for D-1 football) with athleticism.
Jordan Spieth may not be a offensive guard but I'm pretty sure he could've been an outfielder or shortstop in college-or a gymnast, soccer player,tennis player or one of other dozens of college sports.
Golfers don't have body control?
320 yard drives, followed by a finesse chip, flop shot, putting touch, or controlled curving shot.
Most PGA Tour players played other sports in high school, and I wouldn't challenge many to a game of ping-pong or another hand eye sport.
Put another way, I'd venture a guess that a reasonable # of PGA Tour players could learn the skills in 6 months to sub in at cornerback in a college game without the entire defense crumbling, but there's no chance a 300 pound tackle could be taught in 6 months to successfully play one hole in a D-1 college golf event.
What's next? Federer's not a good athlete because he's not big enough to be a lineman?
Jeff I just disagree with you that golfers would "reasonably" learn the skills in 6 months to be a college cornerback. You are VASTLY overrating their talent for skills with which there is no evidence of transference of golf to CB skills. Cornerbacks have to be the most agile and athletic on the football field, not to mention to play football (even as a CB)you have to be tough and actually tackle people and be explosive. Again no possible way professionally, major college no way, perhaps HS. But is that the bar we are talking about? Be able to be a good HS player at another sport?
We aren't asking if golfers are good athletes, we are talking what sports could they maybe potentially do other than golf. I mentioned tennis, soccer, maybe baseball already myself. Golfers don't run, they don't move their bodies in any direction, they are stationary. I would say Roger Federer is a great athlete with much better proven athletic ability to have a chance to play another dynamic sport than golfers.
To suggest golfers could do "one of a dozen other sports" is simply wishful thinking and discounting the talents those athletes have. Golfers have hand eye coordination and your example of ping pong is a good one, but is that a professional sport, much less a college one? What else croquet, horseshoes, lawn jarts? Because golf doesn't require dynamic movement the best players don't have predicable ability to almost all other sports. The fact some athletes in hockey, baseball, football are good golfers speaks to their ability to do multiple sports, but that is no evidence that since Tony Romo is a good golfer that DJ can play QB for the Cowboys.
Could there be an instance where Brooks Koepka could play fullback or maybe safety in football? Perhaps, but at a major college I would need to see him doing combine type skills first. Then that is only athletic ability, then you have to see if the guy is a pu**y and will hit someone and be tough and preserve through injuries and then buy into the team concept and play unselfishly their responsibilities within the scheme. There are just so many factors the chances are extremely low in that instance.
Golf is hard for what it demands as we see great athletes that are absolutely terrible at it. It isn't hard to find great athletes in other sports who are terrible golfers. It is a unique skill set for sure, but those skills don't translate to athletic prowess in other sports sorry but I just don't agree for reasons stated above.
Jeff,
because you've never seen a PGA Tour player run , or tackle, you're assuming they can't.
I'm not saying their skills transfer, I'm saying they may have more than one skill set you're unaware of.
I'm sure if I was allowed to hold a combine of the top 300 PGA Tour players around, I could find 10 that in 6 months could be trained to play college cornerback, Not an SEC corner, but an average D-1 program and maybe not even a starter.
Chances are I'd find 30-40 who already played well in High School, or could've but gave it up to avoid injury.
That said, you can't teach speed or quickness but who's to say they don't already have that.
If you gave me 300 NFL players I seriously doubt I could find 10 who could play golf in a D-1 college, and 6 months would do very little good., certainly not in the size disqualifying positions which eliminate PGA Tour players ) Lineman,Linebackers etc.
don't forget there are 74000 college football players-those aren't the worst odds I ever heard of
We may be saying the same thing but in my opinion many football players are (usually)simply born and refine those skills, golfers are also born but often are made be sheer skill development.
Using myself as an example I played golf or practiced nearly every day from age 11.
In basketball I only went to varsity practice and games(never played pickup,travel or summer ball and led our team in scoring (we played against some future NBA and college talent)
In football, at the request of a new coach, I came out my senior year, didn't go to spring or summer practice and ended up being a two way starter in a program that had few that did.
I know that's simply high school but you'd never have seen a football player new to golf EVER play in a match for our high school team.Ironically HS teammate Scott Parel, who finished third on The PGA Tour Champions money list last year was an incredible athlete who at 5'5 was a great HS slot back and basketball player-but he struggled to make our golf team until he was a junior/senior.Scott's size might eliminate him from D-1 consideration but when a ball was thrown into traffic he always emerged with the ball-and with his grit and hands I can see him playing at a smaller D-1 program (then)
Funny thing was, I remember playing some of the teams in our region tournament(good basketball and football programs but no socioeconomic opportunities in golf) We would be teaching ,coaching and helping out our opponents all the way around the course(trying to bring them in under 200)-for many it was their second or third time in their lives playing golf and they just wanted a day off from school.