Pool vs. Golf (again)

Johnnyt said:
Most of the top players in any sport had a lot of natual talent in that sport to start with. A few players could have reached the top in two or three sports. When I first came down to Florida in 1980 I lived in a complex where eight Tampa Bay Buc's and six Tampa Bay Bandits lived. There was a pool table in the clubhouse. All these players were pretty good at basketball, vollyball, golf, and racket ball. None were any good at pool. In fact they were horribe. A few asked me to teach them pool for free tickets to their games. I don't think anyone of them could ever become an "A" player no less a top pro in pool. The best of the bunch was Jerry Carter, a wide reciever for the Buc's and he was a "C+" after hours of lessons by me. To be fair, I'm not an instructor, but I have helped a lot of "D" players to become "B" players over the years. Johnnyt
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Jerry might have had great success at teaching others to two hand reverse dunk, and thought you lacking in this area...?
Hours of lessons mean nothing; it's what you do with those lessons when the coach isn't there....I'm guessing his plate was pretty full in other areas - distractions some of your other D to B students may not have had.;)
 
RRfireblade said:
Golf is not inherently more expensive to play than pool. Like anything else you just have to now when and where to play both.
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Ask Lee Trevino - he became an OK golfer without "spending" a bunch of money on the game (he had NONE growing up). Actually he did it much in the same fashion as many pool players have - hustling.
 
memikey said:
Contrary to popular perception lots of budding golf tour pros sleep in cars during tournaments and eat very little.
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VERY true. I wonder why people think all golf pro tour players are rich? Yeah - a lot of the PGA Tour guys are very well to do. The Nationwide Tour guys... that's a different story. I knew a guy who was playing on that who had to do "trick shot exhibitions" on driving ranges to pay his way across the U.S.

Honestly though... this golf versus pool thing is SERIOUSLY BEAT UP! BEAAAAAT UP.

Whoever thinks pool is harder, you better be shooting under par on real courses all the time to even make such a comment. Until you play pool in 20 mph wind gusts, rain, mud, and have to use your shorty gimmick jump cue to hop the CB over a lake to the OB... it's not even close.

You can make arguments the other way, but there are a LOT more strong points that argue golf as being the harder of the two.

Let's face it--- regardless of the sport-- it's the player that makes it easy/hard. I bet if you stuck Tiger Woods in a pool hall for a year with top pool instructors 24/7, he'd come out pretty strong and probably few would want any. He's a quick learner, athletic, and he's a WINNER. If you take Schmidt, Corey, Archer or whoever and stick them with Butch Harmon and David Leadbetter for a year non-stop every day--- they're likely play pretty sporty as well.
 
I think pool/golf & bowling are very similar in that there is a lot of eye hand coordination involved as well as being an individual sport. It seems if you play one of these sports, you are more likely to be drawn to the others. Each pits the player against an object first and an opponent second. That is to say its you against the alley or course or table. You should block out your opponent as much as possible & concentrate on your own game. All the games require a repeatitive motion & calm nerves. A golfer never goes after the ball full bore, rather he stays in control & swings at 70% of his power to gain consistancy & control over distance & direction. Likewise with pool & bowling. Know your limits & stay within them. Don't go for the crazy shot. Use your mental advantage to analize the situations as they arise & decide when to take a risk & when to play safe.
As for your opponent...sure it can be unnerving to play a Tiger Woods or a Ralf Souquet, but try to block them out and concentate on your game. Not alway easy but the better you can concentrate on the task at hand, stay in rythum & make good decisions the more sucessful you will be at the end of the day.

Another thing I have found very helpful is try to play with better players as often as you can. If you pay attention, you're bound to learn something from them.

Keep your head down,

Dave
 
Love to play both, and played both at a decent level(APA 7 and handicap was at 1-2 last time I kept one. Married with young child now and don't really play either now though. No doubt in my mind golf is much harder than pool. Not trying to take anything away from pool, but it is what it is. In golf the swing is a much more complicated beast(more moving parts/planes/angles)not to mention the wide variety of conditions to factor in.
 
A lot like The Man, I've been a decent pool player and decent golfer....both have challenges and are great games, but golf is simply a harder game....

Speaking to the OP's discussion of what is valid, the only people that can give you a valid response on the subject are people that are or have been avid golfers AND pool players.....people that are just pool players, or even those that are just golfers, cannot provide a valid opinion on the topic.....it's like someone that has never smoked a cigarrette telling another person that has smoked two packs a day for the last thirty years that it's easy to quit smoking.....:D
 
trustyrusty said:
Jerry might have had great success at teaching others to two hand reverse dunk, and thought you lacking in this area...?
Hours of lessons mean nothing; it's what you do with those lessons when the coach isn't there....I'm guessing his plate was pretty full in other areas - distractions some of your other D to B students may not have had.;)
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Tampa Bay Buc's are football team...no dunking allowed. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Tampa Bay Buc's are football team...no dunking allowed. Johnnyt
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Yeah...I know the Bucs are a football team, and know Carter's athletic ability. Since I figured you might be able to catch a football, I went with the dunking (which Mr. Carter CAN do very well as well). Guess I shoulda went with reading DBs, running routes against 4.3 40 guys, bumping 6'3" 200 lbs guys off the line to make space doing a slant, etc.

Just because an athlete is known for one thing doesn't mean they can't do other sporting feats well. Take Dave Winfield for instance...known for a GREAT MLB career including over 3000 hits etc....also drafted for the NBA, and NFL. I know my sports, but thanks for pointing out what team goes with what sport. lol ;) :D

Here, I'll give another example... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwaan_Randle_El
this guy though known for being a multi-purpose player in the NFL was arguably the best point guard in the state of IL in high school (scoring 69 points in one game), was drafted by the Cubs, etc. etc. etc. I've seen him play all 3 sports, and wouldn't assume I could hang with him in ANY of them even though he plays in the NFL (football).
 
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trustyrusty said:
Yeah...I know the Bucs are a football team, and know Carter's athletic ability. Since I figured you might be able to catch a football, I went with the dunking (which Mr. Carter CAN do very well as well). Guess I shoulda went with reading DBs, running routes against 4.3 40 guys, bumping 6'3" 200 lbs guys off the line to make space doing a slant, etc.

Just because an athlete is known for one thing doesn't mean they can't do other sporting feats well. Take Dave Winfield for instance...known for a GREAT MLB career including over 3000 hits etc....also drafted for the NBA, and NFL. I know my sports, but thanks for pointing out what team goes with what sport. lol ;) :D

Here, I'll give another example... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwaan_Randle_El
this guy though known for being a multi-purpose player in the NFL was arguably the best point guard in the state of IL in high school (scoring 69 points in one game), was drafted by the Cubs, etc. etc. etc. I've seen him play all 3 sports, and wouldn't assume I could hang with him in ANY of them even though he plays in the NFL (football).
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Yes, I can catch a football, but dunking is out of the question...I'm only 5' 6" :( Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Yes, I can catch a football, but dunking is out of the question...I'm only 5' 6" :( Johnnyt
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who knows, you might be able to jump like Spud Webb - I think you are taller than him :thumbup:

Back to the golf vs. pool. Both are EXTREMELY difficult to acheive world class speed at...so, the debate goes on. I'd like to hear what John Scmidt would say running 400 in straight pool is equivalent to in golf (since he can/has shot under par in golf)? If running 11 racks of 9ball on an opponent to win a match in a tourney is a perfect set...what's a perfect round of golf? 18 birdies? I know one's happened and one hasn't.....
 
trustyrusty said:
who knows, you might be able to jump like Spud Webb - I think you are taller than him :thumbup:
.....
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Spud was 5'7".....he was incredible in that dunk contest.....that whole era had some of the best....Nique, MJ.....those guys threw it down...
 
Freddie O said:
Ok, I'm getting very tired of these comparisons. Why pool vs golf? Why not pool vs hockey? I'll tell you why. Pool players LOVE golf!
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Um, no. IMO it's actually because pool and golf are not team sports. You really can't compare a solo endeavor to a team sport.

-td
 
Johnnyt said:
And if they have what it takes to make it on the tour it's worth sleeping in the car. But you have pool players that HAVE made it that are still sleeping in their car if they even have one. Johnnyt
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That is not surprise news to me personally Johnny......it also doesn't say much for the wisdom in general of many pool players in bothering to pursue the sport as a pro (unless there is absolutely nothing else they have any real hope of making a comfortable living at)...... but what you say is undoubtedly a very true point.
 
It is not too difficult for most people to figure the major difference between pool and Hockey... Hockey has athletes in great physical condition that have agility talents that require a PHYSICAL conditioning that at a pro level can only be achieved by a very few. ATHLETES.

Pool and golf do not require any special athletic prowess. Old, young, Skinny, fat, short, tall, men and women can play golf and pool and compete at a professional level.



Freddie O said:
Ok, I'm getting very tired of these comparisons. Why pool vs golf? Why not pool vs hockey? I'll tell you why. Pool players LOVE golf! I don't know why this is, but they do. Alot of pool players aspire to be golf pros and since pool is thier first language, golf seems hard difficult to them...NATURALLY.

True story: Mark Calcavecchia came to my friends pool room in Florida. I actually banged some around with him which I thought was pretty cool. He told me "damn, this has gotta be the hardest game I've ever played"! I thought it was pretty funny at the time.

Pool/golf/bowling/poker....blah blah blah. They all seem to have a connection. How many pool players aspire to be hockey pros? NBA players? Not many. If you did, I'd probably seeing Pool vs NHL polls.
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9BallPaul said:
Seems to me I read that pool was developed in England in an attempt to move golf indoors. Thus the original green felt. Both games require individual players to play against a course (or table) with the object of holing a ball.

I know a few golfers who believe pool presents as many challenges as golf, but in a much reduced and more nuanced way. All I know is that I gave up golf after wrapping too many clubs around trees, and I've never broken a stick, or even thrown one, in 40 years.
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Which proves golf is a better game. You never cared enough about pool to get mad.

:)

~rc
 
Pool and Golf

I feel pool and golf are close in the race which is harder.They are the only two sports I know of where you are hitting a stationary ball.The way you have to be able to dissect the ball to gain any proffeciency is similiar.I love them both I think golf has to edge out pool in terms of difficulty by a fair margin.:thumbup:
 
9BallPaul said:
Seems to me I read that pool was developed in England in an attempt to move golf indoors. Thus the original green felt. Both games require individual players to play against a course (or table) with the object of holing a ball.
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Not quite, Billiards was a variation of a croquet type of game. The game was moved in doors on to a table, including the arch and peg, which was done away with by the 18th century. Green cloth was added by 1660, before then it was played on a wooden board. The earliest version was played with two cue balls and each player took his or her turn trying to pot their opponents ball.
 
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You can never say one sport is harder than another. It's all about the competition. I think one can easily argue that golf is competitively harder than pool, just because of its sheer popularity and how many hours people spend on the driving range/course to even dream about reaching the PGA tours. In pool, heck Wu Chia Ching won the most prestigious tournament at the age of 16, holding his first cue at the age of 10.

Now, you ask why people compare pool to golf? Well, they are very similar. Stroke and concentration pretty much make up the whole game(Swing and focus in golf). That is probably why so many pool players enjoy golf, it is easy for them to relate it to their pool knowledge.
 
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