Move over Brooks - young gun enters the tour

[bladehunter]

??. Nail meet head.

[straightshot7]

?

Brooks and Tiger don't have long drive swings. And just about any golfer would kill for their careers.

"I'll stick with the philosophy of 20 years ago where if you hit a drive 300 yards you were the longest guy out there." - - sorry but what does that even mean? Your philosophy is to deny reality?

[milesgiles]

Remind me to ignore every single thing you post on absolutely any subject from now on

[Sean2]

I read somewhere there IS more to it than that, lol.

[QuigleyDU]

Yeah... sadly me too...

[Sean2]

Lol!

[1Mordrid1]

Yeah, but is Koepka's knee injury from his swing? Because maybe it is from that huge ego that he is lugging around that has gotten bigger and bigger each year.

[Golfjack]

Of course, every athlete trains for their specific sport. But in sports athletic talent matters, and the best athletes are definitely not playing golf. Part of the reason why Tiger was dominating (mental game matters across all sports) was because of his physicality and talent. He brought golfers to another level. He also brought more gifted athletes to golf. But on the whole, golfers are not the same level as other sports.

So you're saying you think Brooks Koepka would have made the NFL if he trained specifically for it? Would he have even made the MLB (his favorite sport)? He can train to look like one, but his performance level won't even be close.

[Strömsborg]

Metric land, we do distances in meters like normal people but clubhead speed/ballspeed in mph like golfers.

[Irishman1979]

Watch the stress they put on their knees at impact compared to the way the swing was being taught 30 years ago. I'm not a fan of it and it will cause players to have shorter careers than in the past. I remember back in 2001 my coach predicted all the physical problems Tiger ended up having due to the way he swung the golf club.

P.S. The pro game sucks now its like professional wrestling when you compare it to 30 years ago.

 

[milesgiles]

Piffle.

your argument is based on an incredibly narrow definition of the word ‘athlete’. How do you ‘know’ they aren’t playing golf anyway? There are thousands of ex athletes who reached the very top of their chosen sport who then took up golf, and despite limitless money and time to practise, not to mention their innate competitive drive, i can barely think of one who even got near scratch.

[mosesgolf]

Well until he wins 4 majors doesn't matter how long he hits it. And please no one chime in and say wow that's "scary". Pahleese. Linebacker comparisons omg lmao. In the history of the PGA Tour no one has had the physique of an NFL safety or linebacker. Geesh where do people come up with this stuff?

[bscinstnct]

You could argue that the vast majority of the most talented athletes in the MLB, NBA, and NFL did not play golf as young children.

 

There is a vast difference between learning a sport in youth vs. after 30 or 40 years old. Even 20 years old.

 

So, the current pro tours are not compromised of the most elite athletic talent pools.

 

Most top athletes excel in 2 or 3 sports in youth. Football and baseball. Basketball and Track. Etc. But they don’t play golf for a few reasons.

 

Not to say that the majority of MLB players would be tour pros if they picked up the game young. But if golf was as prevalent to elite athletes who played the “big 3” American sports....

 

Augusta would be talking about making the 13th like 600 yards ; )

[Steele47]

Can't wait to take my new shiny word, 'piffle' out for a test drive.

[milesgiles]

Twaddle

youre saying this from an American perspective, in the U.K. a large proportion of ‘athletes’ have at least some experience of golf, and they didn’t wait til they were retired either.

besides, look at the long drive guys, who are the type of athletes being referred to, who swing at 140 plus. Snap hooks and 100 yard blocks galore. Distance is a bigger part of the game now, but only up to a point. The idea that there’s a genetic pool of big, strong athletes ready to dominate golf is absurd. Leadbettwr always said height was a disadvantage for a start.

[Sean2]

I used to beat myself up over playing poor golf, now when it happens it slides off my back, more or less. It took me a long while to realize how difficult this game really is, and I need to cut myself some slack.

[bscinstnct]

 

"Nuts"-

General Anthony Clement McAuliffe, United States Army officer, acting commander of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division troops defending Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

 

You would be correct if I was only referring to distance. But it goes far beyond just power and speed and, since you are not American, you are not familiar with the level of body/hand coordination at high speeds in real time required in our "big 3 sports".

 

Take an MLB pitcher. He can throw a ball 90mph (145 km/h ; ) from 90 feet and hit the "corner" of the plate, a target the size of an apple.

 

 

Or, he can manipulate the ball the curve like 2 feet (.61 meters).

 

 

 

This requires not only great speed of snapping the kinetic chain but enormous precision and coordination. And this is just the pitchers! The hitters have to react in real time to this. Either of these skill sets at this talent level, if applied to golf in youth, would deliver excellent results long term.

You have to realize that a very small percentage of a huge talent pool of young athletes in the US plays golf. Again, I'm not saying that the all, or even most of them, would be golf tour pros, but it would change the game quite a bit.

[d1bound]

What I’m saying is that this comparison/argument is tiring and childish. It deals in hypotheticals. And it reminds me of 8th graders arguing who’s sports are the best.

The fact remains that Brooks didn’t try for the MLB or NFL or NHL or WNBA. So we do not know if he would be able to have the skills to succeed. Just like we don’t have any idea if Deshaun Watson would be dominating the PGA Tour because he never tried it.

[c7015]

Whenever this argument of talent vs hard work (practice) comes up I have to insist people read this book

The Gold Mine Effect: Rasmus Ankersen: 9781443420570: Books - Amazon.ca

Amazing insight into what makes greatness (lots of different disciplines explored) one common theme ...

 

Why are 137 of the world’s 500 best female golfers from South Korea? How did one athletic club in Jamaica produce most of the world’s best sprinters? What’s the reason that the world’s best marathon runners grew up in the same village in Ethiopia? What is the secret behind Brazil’s mass production of soccer superstars? How has one tennis club in Moscow managed to develop more top tennis players in ten years than the whole of the United States?

For six months, Rasmus Ankersen travelled around the world visiting these talent gold mines. He talked, trained and lived with the athletes in order to discover what, if anything, they have in common and to attempt to crack the code of developing world-class talent. The result is The Gold Mine Effect, a book that questions all the misconceptions, conventional wisdom and popular theories about talent, hard work, parenting and motivation and looks at how we can apply this knowledge to our own lives.

[ferrispgm]

None of the tour guys are big in person...they look waaaay bigger on tv. The only exceptions are Ernie, VJ, Phil maybe a few others. BK is just a solid frame at 6ft and not really that intimidating. TV makes it look more so because he wears shirts that are tailored to him and have tighter sleeves. Tiger did the same thing some years ago and he wasn't built...good shape yes but not built or imposing.

[Bad9]

100% agree on tv making them look bigger. VJ is not near as big in person as he seems on tv. He's big in comparison to the other pros but he's not a particularly big guy. The form fitting shirts they are wear also "bulks" them up. Essentially they do what a prison guard friend told me is SOP for them, wear shirts that are really a size or two too small to looking more buff and intimidating.

[ferrispgm]

BK is one of the few smashers that has a great resume on tour. I said it last year when Champ came out and one a smaller event....everyone was all gung ho on him because he hits it sooo far and has won already blah blah blah...i said he most likely won't pan out as most of the super long guys don't. DJ, Brooks, Bubba, JB, Woodland...they are exceptions...there have been far more that haven't done anything on tour.

[drbonesvt]

I cringe when the utilize this on TV, good friend Of mine was a free safety in the NFL, at his wedding with many players I was the smallest dude at 6’3 250.

PGA on grid iron Sunday???, I’m sorry but water boys at best . Great athletes in their own right , but a rory belongs no where on an “American football field “

[Valtiel]

Complete tangent, but I LOVE filthy slider gifs. I can't see the name on the jersey, but based on his motion and the amount of filth on that slider, it has to be Chaz Roe.

[tacklingdummy]

Also, Sladlowski would be on tour. He is trying to make it, though.

[milesgiles]

For your baseball, I’ll raise you cricket, because it’s all of that with deliveries ranging from 50mph to 100mph, curving in the air AND off the ground, and the ball is harder and heavier. The talent pool is enormous as it’s the third most played game in the world. And almost every test cricketer(the best of the best) plays golf, since there is little else to do on tour when not actually playing.

Of those thousands I know of two who are reportedly at or near scratch (Ponting and deVilliers).

Point being, the best athletes are playing golf and they aren’t very good.

[JEN36]

Time will tell. It is about the long haul and can he last.

[Wooderson]

Ain't this the truth. I thought Stenson was some mammoth 6'5" dude. He's 6'1"

[molecularman]

Sam Bradford has played golf his entire life. He was a better football player.

 

[Bingone]

I'd put baseball and cricket on a par (apart from the silly gloves they wear in the outfield)

Craig Kieswetter played cricket for England until he got injured and has had some success as a pro golfer since his early retirement.