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Thread: Golf

  1. #16
    Deity Bellhorn04's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by a700hitter View Post
    I don't think professional golfers are any different from other professional athletes when it comes to handling pressure. Golf may be the toughest game of all. If you don't start young, you can just never be a big tour player. World class athletes from other sports have tried to get on the tour. I can't think of any that have succeeded to any significant extent. The number of golfers on the PGA Tour is a lot smaller than the number of MLB players. Golfers have been tested through high pressure situations just as much as MLB players and there is no reason to think that they aren't just as mentally tough as athletes in other sports.

    Golf may be the most robotic of all sports, because the ball is not moving like in other sports. The golf stroke is one honed through repetition more so than other sports, because the stroke is the whole sport. There is no defense, no base running, no fielding skills that have to be mastered.

    The fact that in baseball you are competing against a pitcher and not a stationary ball does muddy the waters on this issue. Both competitors (pitcher and batter) might be completely calm and performing up to his abilities. Both might be choking, but it would be hard for an observer to tell, because they are still really good even when choking. Rest assured the player who is choking knows it, but they will never admit it and give their opponent an edge.
    All you have to do is listen to Johnny Miller on NBC. He talks about players choking, or making bad shots because of nerves, all the time. And he's a pretty good authority considering he won a US Open and a British Open and was probably the #2 player after Nicklaus for a stretch of a few years.

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by a700hitter View Post
    I don't think professional golfers are any different from other professional athletes when it comes to handling pressure. Golf may be the toughest game of all. If you don't start young, you can just never be a big tour player. World class athletes from other sports have tried to get on the tour. I can't think of any that have succeeded to any significant extent. The number of golfers on the PGA Tour is a lot smaller than the number of MLB players. Golfers have been tested through high pressure situations just as much as MLB players and there is no reason to think that they aren't just as mentally tough as athletes in other sports.



    Golf may be the most robotic of all sports, because the ball is not moving like in other sports. The golf stroke is one honed through repetition more so than other sports, because the stroke is the whole sport. There is no defense, no base running, no fielding skills that have to be mastered.

    The fact that in baseball you are competing against a pitcher and not a stationary ball does muddy the waters on this issue. Both competitors (pitcher and batter) might be completely calm and performing up to his abilities. Both might be choking, but it would be hard for an observer to tell, because they are still really good even when choking. Rest assured the player who is choking knows it, but they will never admit it and give their opponent an edge.
    Very good post. If anyone has had the good fortune to be a low handicapper here you know the difficulties and complexities of this game. I know a little bit about the game and I can say with certainty that I know 12 handicappers that I would much prefer to stand over a meaningful putt than me. I might be better than them day to day but when the larger money is on the line there are those that deal with it better. It doesn't make them better just better in certain situations. I can only speak for amateur athletics but there are them that can get it done under the gun better than others. Maybe they are clutch maybe they choke less, I don't know, but it happens and I have to say that sometimes it really pisses me off. Over and out on this subject for me. I can only speak for what I personally have and do experience.

  3. #18
    Deity Bellhorn04's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by a700hitter View Post
    Golf may be the most robotic of all sports, because the ball is not moving like in other sports. The golf stroke is one honed through repetition more so than other sports, because the stroke is the whole sport. There is no defense, no base running, no fielding skills that have to be mastered.
    I agree with that. To me this is what makes golf similar to baseball: the golf swing, the hitting stroke and the pitching motion are all skills that require a huge amount of repetition. It's like training the body to be a machine, to do the same thing correctly over and over. It might take only one small thing wrong with the mechanics to cause bad results. Most golfers, hitters and pitchers are constantly finding it and losing it and finding it again. They get red hot for a while, then they go into deep slumps for a while.

    None of that has anything to do with clutch. I just find some of the similarities between the two sports interesting.

  4. #19
    Deity Bellhorn04's Avatar
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    There's a sports celebrity golf tournament every year. It can be interesting to see some of the guys from other sports who are elite golfers, like Tony Romo and John Smoltz.

    Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice both had notions of trying for the PGA tour. Both got a rude awakening when they played against other pro-level players on pro-level courses. They were way over their heads.

  5. #20
    King of TalkSox a700hitter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bellhorn04 View Post
    There's a sports celebrity golf tournament every year. It can be interesting to see some of the guys from other sports who are elite golfers, like Tony Romo and John Smoltz.

    Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice both had notions of trying for the PGA tour. Both got a rude awakening when they played against other pro-level players on pro-level courses. They were way over their heads.
    Yep. I have talked to some scratch amateur golfers about their experiences being around the pros. They express awe about what the pros can do just in practice. They are a different breed of cat, and the best professional athlete from other sports with eagle-eye vision, great hand-eye coordination and thousands of rounds under his belt can't compete at the professional level of golf.
    The King of TalkSox has Spoken.

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    "Relief pitchers are a crapshoot." No, the truth is "Crapshoot pitchers are relievers."

  6. #21
    "Just one more thing..." Northern Star's Avatar
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    I'm glad Speith won.
    Priorities:
    1. Yankees lose
    2. Red Sox win

    Quote Originally Posted by joeycaps View Post
    So shut up because you have no idea on what you say on anything as evidence of some of your ridiculous posts.

  7. #22
    Deity Bellhorn04's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Northern Star View Post
    I'm glad Speith won.
    Same. What a cool customer for a 21-year old.

  8. #23
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    Speith is a great breath of fresh air in the world of sports today. Whether you golf or even like golf, he represents something good about the sports world.

  9. #24
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    One thing I do like about this game is the lack of guaranteed contracts. You get what you earn.

  10. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by cp176 View Post
    Speith is a great breath of fresh air in the world of sports today. Whether you golf or even like golf, he represents something good about the sports world.
    Twenty-one years old and coolness and confidence like that? I can't remember any athlete that young that was so cool under fire. You said it right CP---what a breath of fresh air. Once he took off on Thursday I was rooting like blazes for him to win. I kept thinking he might fold with all those previous winners breathing down his neck but he only bowed his and finished with a bang. He didn't choke......if I may use that word here.

  11. #26
    Deity Bellhorn04's Avatar
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    Canadian golf fans now have a potential star to root for in the women's game. 17-year old Brooke Henderson finished third in last week's event and is leading after the second round of this week's. Female golfers really seem to mature faster than males do. Much has made been made about 21-year old Jordan Spieth reaching the top of the men's game. But the #1 female player, Lydia Ko, just turned 18.

    I watch a lot of LPGA golf because, well, I'm a golf junkie, but the LPGA tour is really happening, in my opinion.

  12. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bellhorn04 View Post
    I watch a lot of LPGA golf because, well, I'm a golf junkie, but the LPGA tour is really happening, in my opinion.
    I'm not sure that's the real reason you watch the LPGA, but okay. LOL

    You know I had to get that jab in.

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kimmi View Post
    I'm not sure that's the real reason you watch the LPGA, but okay. LOL

    You know I had to get that jab in.
    No you're absolutely right, Kimmi. No sense denying it. Part of the reason I watch is that some of the women players are smokin' hot.

  14. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bellhorn04 View Post
    No you're absolutely right, Kimmi. No sense denying it. Part of the reason I watch is that some of the women players are smokin' hot.
    Just read this thread. I like your enthusiasm for a game I have battled with for 50 years. Canada has produced a great many fine golfers. I am a big Graham DeLaet (sp) fan. I had the same back surgery he had and followed his recovery time-line as well. Tiger would have been better off I think if he had waited longer. If DaLaet could putt like Speith, he would be a multiple major s winner by now. No one strikes the ball better than him in today's game. The Henderson kid can really play by the way.

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by cp176 View Post
    Just read this thread. I like your enthusiasm for a game I have battled with for 50 years. Canada has produced a great many fine golfers. I am a big Graham DeLaet (sp) fan. I had the same back surgery he had and followed his recovery time-line as well. Tiger would have been better off I think if he had waited longer. If DaLaet could putt like Speith, he would be a multiple major s winner by now. No one strikes the ball better than him in today's game. The Henderson kid can really play by the way.
    Another Canadian, David Hearn, is T3 at the Players after 2 rounds.

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