this guy deserves the "Earl Strickland, im oblivious to the world around me award"![]()
Ok sideshow - you're right....and since you're smarter than everyone else here and only your opinion is valid you can have the award all to yourself.JO! :angry:
this guy deserves the "Earl Strickland, im oblivious to the world around me award"![]()
Ok sideshow - you're right....and since you're smarter than everyone else here and only your opinion is valid you can have the award all to yourself.JO! :angry:
im still waiting for your opinion? it seems your the only one that came into this discussion that's 150+ posts deep and post "whats so absurd about it" don't be dusting off that award just yet friend its staying at your place for a while yet :thumbup:
Good one.....I'll keep it on the shelf for now but once I figure it out.....it's all yours.:grin-square:
This is so far off base when it comes to comparing the two games it's hard to respond.
If putting were the same as hitting a pool ball into a pocket with your cue, everyone on the PGA Tour would average 1 putt per hole all the time
Let's put it into another perspective:
In golf, on average you get to touch the golf ball 4 times in order to get it to fall into a small cup that's over 400 yards away. While doing so, you're contending with weather (wind, rain, etc), uneven lies, rough, trees, water, bunkers and a ton of other things that can cause your score to sky rocket in 2 seconds.
The pool math-guys love to say how accurate one's stroke must be to make a 8' cut shot. Hitting just a millimeter or two off center should make you miss without adjustment. Now, if you're swinging the golf club 90-100mph and you make a SLIGHT MICRO-FLINCH in any direction, you're either:
- Flubbing/chunking the ball to the point where it's not going past the womens' tee
- Blading the ball to the point where you can kill a goose sitting by the pond near the tee
- Slicing the ball into the rough/sand/trees/water
- Hooking the ball into the rough/sand/trees/water
Now, if you pair the above with the fact that every golf course is TOTALLY different and each individual course plays TOTALLY different on a day-to-day basis based on the weather --- you have a super tough game. For the most part, all pool tables are the same (twice as long as is wide, cloth, round balls, etc). Most equipment is fairly standardized. Golf courses aren't.
I've played golf and pool my entire life and there's no way anyone can convince me that pool is harder. I can beat "almost" anyone in 1 set of most games in pool. There's NO WAY a hobby / amateur-level golfer of the same level can beat a tour player in 1 round on any course.
If Earl thinks pool is so much harder than golf, then why isn't he on the PGA Tour? It's crazy.
Golf is the harder sport to play and there's no question about it.
Make no mistake about it. They WOULD go win the US Open if the pockets were just smaller so it would be worth their while.
It's pointless to try to compare one to the other. Attempts are made to compare them because of jealousy. Golf is successful and pool isn't.
In any case, getting back to where the thread kind of veered off to after the Earl-kicking was played out- as I recall, Earl didn't say one was harder than the other. He said that he, as a pool player, had attained a respectable level at golf whereas there weren't any examples of golfers who had reached a respectable level at pool. If someone wants to contradict Earl all they have to do is produce some names but they haven't.
This is so far off base when it comes to comparing the two games it's hard to respond.
If putting were the same as hitting a pool ball into a pocket with your cue, everyone on the PGA Tour would average 1 putt per hole all the time
Let's put it into another perspective:
In golf, on average you get to touch the golf ball 4 times in order to get it to fall into a small cup that's over 400 yards away. While doing so, you're contending with weather (wind, rain, etc), uneven lies, rough, trees, water, bunkers and a ton of other things that can cause your score to sky rocket in 2 seconds.
The pool math-guys love to say how accurate one's stroke must be to make a 8' cut shot. Hitting just a millimeter or two off center should make you miss without adjustment. Now, if you're swinging the golf club 90-100mph and you make a SLIGHT MICRO-FLINCH in any direction, you're either:
- Flubbing/chunking the ball to the point where it's not going past the womens' tee
- Blading the ball to the point where you can kill a goose sitting by the pond near the tee
- Slicing the ball into the rough/sand/trees/water
- Hooking the ball into the rough/sand/trees/water
Now, if you pair the above with the fact that every golf course is TOTALLY different and each individual course plays TOTALLY different on a day-to-day basis based on the weather --- you have a super tough game. For the most part, all pool tables are the same (twice as long as is wide, cloth, round balls, etc). Most equipment is fairly standardized. Golf courses aren't.
I've played golf and pool my entire life and there's no way anyone can convince me that pool is harder. I can beat "almost" anyone in 1 set of most games in pool. There's NO WAY a hobby / amateur-level golfer of the same level can beat a tour player in 1 round on any course.
If Earl thinks pool is so much harder than golf, then why isn't he on the PGA Tour? It's crazy.
Golf is the harder sport to play and there's no question about it.
No, he did say that pool was harder than golf. I don't care one way or the other but still- what high level golfer plays pool at a high level?.
Didnt sports illistrated do an article many years ago saying that pool was the hardes game to master of all non physical sports?
Golf is for pretentious suckers. Most people play it because that game is on the radar. And we know how important it is for followers to "look" like they are living life correctly
Kind of like starbucks...
any links or scan of the article please?
There are just as many variations in pool. They're just different variations. Your cue tip is different every time you hit with it. If it weren't cue tips would last forever. The slightest of variations on the table surface for one shot vs. another. The roundness of one ball vs. another, etc. A long list could be made.
Here's an exercise:
Compare one hole in golf to someone running a nine-ball rack. I'll start it. The nine-ball rack happens a lot faster. A golfer takes all day to play one hole.
I've always agreed with this. Obviously the golf swing is much mire complicated but there is more margin for error in golf. Pool played at the highest level has nearly zero margin for error.
So, while golf may be more complicated it doesn't require quite the precision.
There have been dozens of threads, and minor flare-ups, when comparing the games of Golf and pool, and even bowling. lol
I love golf, and I honestly believe, had I gotten hooked on it, as young in life as I did pool, I would have been on the Pro tour.
All sports rely on muscle memory, hand-eye coordination, and the intangible levels of heart and instinct, in order to excel.
Let me share with you, something that has stuck with me a long time...It was a comparison, of Golf, Pool and Bowling, by someone who was "pro level" at ALL three sports.
He was a guest on Johnny Carson one night, years ago...His name was Don Cherry, if you look up 'over-achiever' the dictionary, you will see a picture of Don, next to the text.
Don Cherry was a guest that night, because he was riding a crest of success, at his 'day job', which was singer/entertainer..It was common knowledge (at the time) that he was also enjoying modest success, as a golfer on the PGA tour...Lesser known, was the fact that he was a 215 average bowler, and even lesser known, that it would take a top, top level pool player...to beat him at any game on a pool table..
Sorry, I spent so much time setting this up..I have to leave for a few hours, and I will finish when I return...Stay tuned Spider Webb, and others who pooh, poohed the comparison of golf and pool..You may learn something !.![]()
As a former competative golf pro, I disagree... to win on tour these days, requires precision, and just as much good fortune as anyt other sport... heck nowadays, if you shoot 68 four days in a row to be at 16 UNDER par, you might lose by 5..or more...the guys on Tour are sick...for the last couple years you cant win unless you shoot four rounds in the 60's and at least 2 of those at 65 or better (except for the Majors where they make the course "next level" difficult that the best players in the world struggle.)
My opinion is its not whether one is harder than the other...in ANY pro sport, individual or team, to succeed at the elite levels requires an extremely small error margin...
I will stay tuned, but you're not going to teach me anything. I have a bunch of golf trophies on my shelves and I've won a fair share of pool tournaments.
Mr. Cherry seemed to give different standards for each game. A 200-average bowler and a scratch golfer are no where near "world class" in their respective games.Well Spidey, it sounds like you know everything there is to know about...well everything. So I hope I won't bore you with completing my little tale. By the way, do you know my level of play, in my prime ?
Here is the start of my story>>>http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=3385682&postcount=171
I doubt you were even born when Don Cherry was prominent..The man was an enigma..Johnny Carson, (as usual) did his homework, and found out, that Don did everything he tried, exceedingly well...He even uncovered his skill at pool and bowling. (and believe me, he could have played Jack Gleason 150 to 50, at 14.1)
Someway, Johnny steered the conversation around, to which game he thought was the most difficult to master...here was his 'very intelligent' response.
Well Johnny, they are all very demanding to learn at a high level...but I would say this, If you took 150 kids, each at their most formative years, and took 50 kids each, and gave them to a highly qualified instructor, at golf, pool and bowling...At maturity, out of those 50 each kids, you would probably get
15-- 200 avg. bowler's...The golf group, Don said..You would probably get 8 or more, scratch golfer's...The pool group..different story, you would be lucky to find even ONE, world class pool player.
Hope you enjoyed this little story, as Mr. Cherry, was no slouch, at any game, and his analysis carried a lot of weight with me.