BPG24 said:
I don't think that running 150 balls is comparable to playing scratch golf. Running 150 balls would be tougher but you are missing the point. If you play scratch golf on a mini tour you will get murdered by the competition. I know College golfers with +3 or +4 handicaps and they are not even top amateurs. Those guys would have no chance on the Nationwide Tour without alot of seasoning, forget the PGA Tour. In case you don't know par is not the object in golf, it is simply a way to judge your score. A + handicap means that you consistently break par and give strokes back to the course.
Back to the running 150 balls - again in pool you can easily get in a rhythm and once someone with the knowledge and skills gets going it is much easier to continue making balls. I didn't compare running 2-3 racks of nine ball to 18 holes of golf, so I am not sure what your comment was about.
Visualization is much easier in pool... You have tangent lines and the diamonds on the table to guide you. Let's not forget that the great players are shooting the same shots over and over again because of their knowledge of pattern play. Half ball hits, stop shots etc. None of that is possible in golf, predicting how a ball will react of of certain side hill lies, with a certain type of turf conditions, wind, rain, spin rates, trajectory, landing on another side hill lie that may be elevated 25 feet etc. Again, I can go on and on because in golf the possibilities are infinite. You don't hit the same shots over and over again. Every shot requires precise calculations of 100's of factors before you ever take your stance, that is something no billiard game requires.
It is possible to play perfect pool, it is not possible to play perfect golf. There is a HUGE difference in the difficulty levels of the two games.
The smallest little glitch in a golf swing can cause anyone to shank a ball or hook a ball out of bounds. Yesterday was a perfect example, Tiger gets up on #1 tee and dead blocks a ball out of bounds. He is the best golfer in the world by far, mainly because his mental game is so far superior to everyone else's but also because he practices the right way more than everyone else. Even he can make a very small mistake and it cost him in a huge way. Not only did it make him lose that hole, but it affected the way he played for many holes afterward.
I appreciate the detailed response, not a smug type of "Denial is not just a blah, blah, blah."
It's worth nothing that if your lifetime highrun is 150, you probably will get killed in world-class straight pool competition. Maybe not today, since the talent pool is not what it was, but in its in heyday, it stands to reason a player who has "only" run 150 would have little chance of competiting with the Mosconi's, Miz's, Hopkins's, etc... Blackjack has run over 200. Put up an 8 or 9 pack in 9 ball competition, and I remember reading a post of his where he say he considers himself a middle of the road pro.
What is perfect pool? An Accustats rating of a 1000? What is perfect golf? A hole in one on every hole? Again, I don't think it's a fair comparison, because Par 4 and 5's were purposely designed to take more than one stroke to play, so it's impossible to acheive perfection based on a score.
However, I think it's impossible to objectively define the "difficulty" of any game. Memikey had it right. Anything performed at its highest level will take a great amount of intelligence or agility or athleticism. So it all kind of evens out. First we have to determine what constitues proficiency at any given game. In pool, is a B player considered profecient? A high C? In Golf, is it a 10 Handicap, 15? Then we have to measure the number of players who have reached profeciency against how people play the game as whole and find out a percentage.
But we can't do this, cause proficiency is a matter of opinion. Compared with the general population, a C player is pretty good, but there's a lot who think a C rated player isn't very good.
I'm not informed enough to really argue this point, but how does every shot besides putting require precise calculations when you have such large targets as the fairway and green? When I watch Golf, I'll see a player slump, knowing he hit a shot badly, but it still winds up on the green, just not as close to the cup as he would've liked. I understand the ultimate goal is to get the ball into the cup as quickly as possible, but you can still recover if you "miss".
However, I would be a fool not to admit that the intellectual requirement to hole out from long distances is far greater, but this is beyond the ability of human intelligence to precisely figure out, you would need a computer, thus the reason for the designated landing areas of the fairway and green. If we go by that standard, no game is more difficult than Golf. But I think it would be silly to do so.
If you're comparing the intelligence and ability needed to play "ideal" golf, which for me is an Eagle on every Par 3 and 4, and an albatross on every 5 or more simply, to make every possible shot on the first try, to the intelligence and ability needed to shoot an Accustats 1000 in a race to 11, I can't argue with you. There's no comparison.
Hope you reply, as I've put some thought into this. Anyway, how's your poker game?
lol
