Is pool or golf tougher??

[Shortside K]

shouldn't even be considered together...

In your opinion,which game is tougher to "master" or get extremely good at? I am very curious about other people's viewpoints on this.Thanks...P.S.---Don't hesitate to explain the reasons for your answer

I think it is silly to even try to compare the two...

Golf is SOOOOOOO much more difficult I cannot even find the words.
You obviously do not golf much or you would never have posed this question.

Shake your head.

Now I'm getting upset..... to even consider pool as difficult as golf is preposterous!!!

 

[BPG24]

Yeah, but you had to shell out $ for a decent table, and a good cue can easily cost as much as an entire set of clubs.

Golf cart = Pool Table in price.

You can spend 10k on 1 club if you want to, just like you can on 1 stick.

Golf is definitely more expensive overall, but you can spend too much on either game...

I won't get into the argument over which is harder to master, anyone who knows both games well will call it a no contest

 

[smashmouth]

pool by a mile, it's a precision game with very little luck

if you're gonna make apples to oranges comparisons you need some basic criteria from which to judge

someone mentioned the average joe can take a few games from Efren in a race to 100, that means nothing, about as little as the same joe pitching to Barry Bonds 10 times, striking him out once and giving up 9 home runs, does that mean baseball is easy because said joe struck out Barry Bonds?

any amatuer can beat Tiger if they play enough, he shoots over par like anyone else from time to time but there's not an amatuer in the world that could beat Efren in a race to 100, you could play all the matches you like for years, it ain't gonna happen, same with any other top pro

ALL SPORTS, ALL GAMES, EVERY ART, GAME, TRADE AND PROFESSION IN LIFE IS A COMBINATION OF SKILL AND HAPPENSTANCE

figure out which game has requires more skill than chance and you can start to rank things accordingly

Golf is 65/35 imo, I'll concede that the skill portion is rising as time goes by, but pool is more like 90/10, there are sports that exceed pool and close in on that perfect ratio of 100/0 but golf ain't one of them

this is also why carom ranks below pool and snooker

 

[TATE]

In your opinion,which game is tougher to "master" or get extremely good at? I am very curious about other people's viewpoints on this.Thanks...P.S.---Don't hesitate to explain the reasons for your answer

I've done both and got a lot better at pool than at golf. I got to a 7 handicap on my home course and played to maybe a 10 on the difficult courses at my best, this after an intense two year practice regimen in an effort to improve. Every joint in my body hurt and I could only turn my neck about 30 degrees to the left.

The championship level at golf is almost unattainable. It's simply amazing the level of play on the PGA tours. The local club pro level at golf won't win you 2 cents on the PGA tour.

Some of the courses I played in Hawaii, like the Kapalua Plantation Course on Maui, I thought were difficult. The pros just eat it right up from beyond the championship tees in 30 mph winds in the Mercedes.

Golf is a lot more complicated than it looks. The conditions are never the same and no two courses are alike. It takes uncanny ability to aim a tiny golf ball within a few yards from such great distances, in the wind, off imperfect lies, traveling over uneven terrain.

Chris

 

[memikey]

pool by a mile, it's a precision game with very little luck.......

.....figure out which game has requires more skill than chance and you can start to rank things accordingly

Setting aside for the moment any debate over whether your percentage luck estimations are accurate and concentrating only on the principle of what you are saying.......why would the percentage luck content in any given sport necessarily always make it "harder to master" than another given sport with a higher percentage luck content?

Some would say that on the contrary, the more you can remove luck from the equation the easier the sport might become to master and the more likely it would be for the more accomplished and more accurate player to rise to the top in that sport.

 

[BPG24]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pool by a mile, it's a precision game with very little luck

if you're gonna make apples to oranges comparisons you need some basic criteria from which to judge

someone mentioned the average joe can take a few games from Efren in a race to 100, that means nothing, about as little as the same joe pitching to Barry Bonds 10 times, striking him out once and giving up 9 home runs, does that mean baseball is easy because said joe struck out Barry Bonds?

any amatuer can beat Tiger if they play enough, he shoots over par like anyone else from time to time but there's not an amatuer in the world that could beat Efren in a race to 100, you could play all the matches you like for years, it ain't gonna happen, same with any other top pro

ALL SPORTS, ALL GAMES, EVERY ART, GAME, TRADE AND PROFESSION IN LIFE IS A COMBINATION OF SKILL AND HAPPENSTANCE

figure out which game has requires more skill than chance and you can start to rank things accordingly

Golf is 65/35 imo, I'll concede that the skill portion is rising as time goes by, but pool is more like 90/10, there are sports that exceed pool and close in on that perfect ratio of 100/0 but golf ain't one of them

this is also why carom ranks below pool and snooker

I can't help but laugh at your post. You talk about comparing apples to oranges and then you do exactly that...

Pool does require much precision.. no doubt. but it doesn't even compare to the amount of precision needed to play golf at a similar level.

there is no pro or amateur that can beat Tiger in a race to 100 holes. He has won 8 of the last 10 tournaments he entered and he plays the all of the best players in the world at one time. So your logic there is WAY OFF. Head to head match play to 100, Tiger would need to spot anyone in the world at least 20 holes to make it fair

Your 65/35 skill/luck analysis of golf proves that you don't understand the game at all. The skill level in golf is 10 times higher than that in pool. Putting alone is harder than the most difficult cut or bank shot in pool. i won't even get into the massive physical differences in a full swing. or battling the elements and the varying changes in how your ball sits on different angles on every shot. etc etc etc


I challenge you to take up golf seriously for at least 3 years so you will understand what makes it so much more difficult. think about this... This is a billiards forum, look at the voting in this poll. Golf is harder by a landslide.
imagine the same poll on a golf forum. I am not sure pool would even get a vote at all.

 

[JDB]

pool by a mile...sigh, are you kidding?

if you're gonna make apples to oranges...

any amatuer can beat Tiger if they play enough, he shoots over par like anyone else from time to time but there's not an amatuer in the world that could beat Efren in a race to 100, you could play all the matches you like for years, it ain't gonna happen, same with any other top pro

SNIP

LMAO, you have to be kidding, right? If not, that last paragraph is probably the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard. I think a better analogy would be that an amateur could beat Tiger in a true golf event; having a lower score over (4) days of 18 holes and I believe that would be impossible. Just like your example above about Efren losing to an Amateur in a race to 100. Neither will ever happen.

Your analogy is more like that an amateur can beat Efren in a race to 7, which I am pretty sure has happened.

 

[hippiepool]

Very good answers from all .....................

 

[trustyrusty]

I'll state again....getting to the HIGHEST level of ANY sport is insanely difficult. I know guys who have played golf their whole lives (say starting at 10 yrs old - now in their 50s) who have played on average 72 holes a week, spent $10s of thousands on lessons, and the latest and greatest, most "forgiving" equipment available and have never broken 80. Let's say they play and practice and take lessons on average of 20 hours a week - remember, lesson from pros....put that time into pool - you'll most assuredly better the equivalent of breaking 80. Now breaking 80 in golf isn't winning you a club championship in most cases much less being considered world class, but you could probably do well playing local/regional tourneys in pool after that kinda dedication. Sure you might not become a world beater, but putting in that much time into your pool game (with instruction) will most likely pay off for you much more than it would in golf.

 

[Onepocket73]

I think it is silly to even try to compare the two...

Golf is SOOOOOOO much more difficult I cannot even find the words.
You obviously do not golf much or you would never have posed this question.

Shake your head.

Now I'm getting upset..... to even consider pool as difficult as golf is preposterous!!!

I think your comments here are rude sir.I have played golf for 10 years now and have had my handicap as low as 6.
I am simply asking others for their opinion on the question.I am curious.....OK? I appreciate your opinion that golf is tougher,but I don't appreciate your condescending statements.And for what it's worth,just because you think that golf is tougher doesn't mean that others think that.Or wait a minute,the world does revolve around you.I stand corrected,you are right because whatever your opinion is must be truth!! Please forgive me......

 

[smashmouth]

Setting aside for the moment any debate over whether your percentage luck estimations are accurate and concentrating only on the principle of what you are saying.......why would the percentage luck content in any given sport necessarily always make it "harder to master" than another given sport with a higher percentage luck content?

Some would say that on the contrary, the more you can remove luck from the equation the easier the sport might become to master and the more likely it would be for the more accomplished and more accurate player to rise to the top in that sport.

because if there is a fair amount of luck within a certain game, then victories will always contain a certain element of luck also, statistically speaking

Tiger is really a bad example to use on this thread as he's the exception to the norm

 

[Hail Mary Shot]

more than a decade ago, me and some colleagues of mine decided to play some golf. it was our first crack at the game but atleast me and some of them didn't completely sucked at it. but one certain individual was and couldn't seem to put the golfball in 3-4 feet away from the putt. tired of falling behind from the rest of us, he got down, lied on the grass and tried aiming the golfball with the putter backwards, using it's handle like if it were a cuestick's tip and started shooting (which made us wondering WTF was he doing). he made the shot, however one of us shouted "FOUL", which made everyone laugh. Why is Golf has to be that tough?

 

[PROG8R]

I don?t know man. Golf is a ***** to become very strong at. Pool is also very tough to learn. I have seen shots crapped in all over the pool table and I have seen Hole-outs and Hole-in-ones that should have never gone in (jealous because I don?t have one and I am a very strong player). I just think there are too many changing variables in golf, and the courses you play are just one of them. I was listening to Johnny Miller the other day and he said one thing that stuck with me. "The distance between a 18 handicap and a scratch golfer and the same as the distance between a scratch golfer and a guy who can win on the PGA tour". I can?t tell you how many people I have had the pleasure of embarrassing on the course after they told me they were 1-6 handicap. I guess they never had to play to the USGA rules or they never left their local goat farm.
Pool has changing variables as well, but I don?t see that many crooked tables or spike marks (that you are not allowed to tap down) on a pool table at a national or pro level event. For the most part the tables are set to play the exact same (personally the faster the better) I once saw a funny table roll in an event and between matched they came over and leveled it. The Masters is on this weekend, you want to see some cool stuff, watch what happens when these guys (World Class players not the average so, so) do not hit the correct spot on these greens (which maybe large, but there is a very small place that the ball will stay on).

 

[craigmac]

ever shot an 18 under? golf hands down