Compared to the major sports, how many golf professionals actually love/enjoy the sport vs just are really good at it?

[Ironman_32]

I know there are some pros (such as Brooks) who have basically said they play golf because its the thing they are best at that makes a lot of money. I know they say in other sports there are simliar players, for example, I know they say sometimes pro basketball players don't really love basketball, they are just tall and fast. 

 

Made me think, where do you think golf falls on the specturm. I'd almost say a sport like NASCAR probably most of, if not all the drivers really like/love the sport. Just strikes me as sport you don't keep doing if you don't like it. Maybe the low end would be basketball, but I'm just guessing. What does everyone else think?

[Dutch1008]

1 hour ago, Ironman_32 said:

I know there are some pros (such as Brooks) who have basically said they play golf because its the thing they are best at that makes a lot of money. I know they say in other sports there are simliar players, for example, I know they say sometimes pro basketball players don't really love basketball, they are just tall and fast. 

 

Made me think, where do you think golf falls on the specturm. I'd almost say a sport like NASCAR probably most of, if not all the drivers really like/love the sport. Just strikes me as sport you don't keep doing if you don't like it. Maybe the low end would be basketball, but I'm just guessing. What does everyone else think?

 

I don't think anyone is so talented that they can excel at the professional level w/o loving a sport. Brooks does love golf. I don't think you can grind through rehab and put in hours of putting and short game work w/o a passion for the craft. I just think his 1st love or true love was baseball.

 

I don't think its rare for a professional athlete to love a different sport or activity more than the sport he's actually best at. But, I don't think that is the same thing as not loving the sport they make their living in.  

[bscinstnct]

You know why they call it “golf” right?

 

For pros it’s 100x worse 🤣
 

Well in pro tournaments that is. Thats the catch 22. They excelled because they love the game, but being a tour pro is just lose lose lose some more. It’s crazy

Edited February 29 by bscinstnct

[bladehunter]

You have to be a self starter , driven person who loves a challenge.  You have to love hitting balls.  Doesn’t have to be hitting a ton of balls. That like  competitive runners. Some require 8-10 miles a day to be sharp. Others would stay injured if they ran more than 4-5 a day.  But all of them love to run on some level.  

[TiScape]

I think it has nothing to do with the sport and everything to do with the individual. If that makes sense. 
 

*as with everything, once a fun activity/hobby becomes a job. I’m sure it’s gonna lose some of its appeal

Edited March 1 by TiScape

[PJE]

It probably has to with the stage of their career and what type of obligations the player has outside of golf. 
A young guy, who doesn’t have kids or a wife , and who’s trying to make his mark might like it a whole lot more than a guy with a family. The travel has got to be a drag if you’ve got kids. 

[mizunoMP14]

They might not love the sport, but they love to compete and they are just the best at their sport. 

 

All pros no matter what the sport are highly driven and dont do anything in life with out competing or having something on the line.   Its why alot of pro athletes are big gamblers.

[Ferguson]

When did NASCAR become a sport? 

 

 

[Maine Golfer]

I love Nascar and yes, they all adore it basically. Both golf and Nascar in many cases have an overlap of young boy's getting into it growing up and adoring it the rest of their lives. 

 

 

 

 

[Ironman_32]

17 hours ago, Dutch1008 said:

 

I don't think anyone is so talented that they can excel at the professional level w/o loving a sport. Brooks does love golf. I don't think you can grind through rehab and put in hours of putting and short game work w/o a passion for the craft. I just think his 1st love or true love was baseball.

 

I don't think its rare for a professional athlete to love a different sport or activity more than the sport he's actually best at. But, I don't think that is the same thing as not loving the sport they make their living in.  

True, guess I was thinking more of the Pat Beverly comments where he said ~50% of the NBA doesnt love basketball. Somewhat on a tangent, I watched "Last Chance U Basketball" on Netflix, the coach (John Mosley) talked about how some kids get into basketball basically because (paraphrasing) they are tall and its their way out of situations. 

 

When I think of golf, I don't think a ton or close to any really get into the sport as a "way out" as its very expensive. However, just thinking as the game develops into more of a power/drive game, you might have people who can bust the cover off the ball who are just there because of that. Just as an example, last week it seems a guy like Jake Knapp really loves the sport or he probably won't have made the career comeback he did; flip that to a guy like Cam Champ, a lot of people have mentioned he doesn't truly love the game but just enough to stay out there (nothing against Cam). 

[Ferguson]

58 minutes ago, Maine Golfer said:

I love Nascar and yes, they all adore it basically. Both golf and Nascar in many cases have an overlap of young boy's getting into it growing up and adoring it the rest of their lives. 

 

 

 

 

 

I appreciate your adoration for both golf and NASCAR.   

 

I was just curious when NASCAR was officially coined, "a sport." 

 

 

[Maine Golfer]

Just raw stats, I don't think most kids in America playing HS sports have a "way out". I mean I adore story's of people coming from little or nothing to pro sports, but its always a small amount. 

 

 

Edit: Its all in good fun. Its a mostly an engineering game , Nascar and F1. Ive been amused since my childhood at NASCAR IS NOT A REAL SPORT. lol 

Edited March 1 by Maine Golfer

[TiScape]

6 hours ago, Ferguson said:

When did NASCAR become a sport? 

 

 

NASCAR isn’t a sport, it’s a lifestyle 😉 

[PedronNiall]

I think loving a motorsport is pretty much a necessity given that, even with all the improvements, there's a real chance of being maimed or killed if something goes wrong. It's also absurdly expensive to get started in and a parent is going to figure out very quickly if their kid isn't motivated enough to stick it out. Same for sponsors helping 20-somethings who take up racing. 

 

There are plenty of players in other sports who are able to motivate themselves to deal with not being enthusiastic about what they're doing. Same as any other job, if the pay is high enough it's easy enough to get through the grind. One win or one really consistent season in golf can set someone with good financial management up for life. There are very few other sports with so few barriers to getting to the top if your ability is there relatively speaking. If you fall in the right spot you become a millionaire that most people wouldn't recognize on the street. You can live a luxury life while getting to spend most of your work hours in the fresh air, so not a hard sell even on the days it's feeling like work. 

 

No doubt there are plenty of actual Koepkas, though Brooks himself wasn't, who don't care one way or another about the game and just enjoy the paychecks, but I doubt they'll ever be those who truly excel at the game. No one's going to be able to ride high over the competition when they're hanging around just for the paycheck. No one who's just phoning it in is going to have the fire to compete when the pressure is on.  

 

There are also plenty of lifestyle kids who grew up having it implied that they come from great stock and them getting it done on Tour is just a given. I don't think many of them rise to the top, but there are certainty enough anecdotes & stories about guys in the middle that suggest that. Also not uncommon to meet guys who were or are on that trajectory when you play better courses. I rarely get a sense of loving the game when I come across or hear about those types. 

[Dutch1008]

5 hours ago, Ironman_32 said:

True, guess I was thinking more of the Pat Beverly comments where he said ~50% of the NBA doesnt love basketball. Somewhat on a tangent, I watched "Last Chance U Basketball" on Netflix, the coach (John Mosley) talked about how some kids get into basketball basically because (paraphrasing) they are tall and its their way out of situations. 

 

When I think of golf, I don't think a ton or close to any really get into the sport as a "way out" as its very expensive. However, just thinking as the game develops into more of a power/drive game, you might have people who can bust the cover off the ball who are just there because of that. Just as an example, last week it seems a guy like Jake Knapp really loves the sport or he probably won't have made the career comeback he did; flip that to a guy like Cam Champ, a lot of people have mentioned he doesn't truly love the game but just enough to stay out there (nothing against Cam). 

 

Perhaps I've read too many books like Talent is Overrated and Outliers that preach the importance of dedicated practice as the path to excellence. I think you can be good at something w/o really loving it. I'd argue that describes most people's relationship with their career. You may like your job or hate your job, but very few truly love their job. However, I think there is a world of difference between being good at something and being world class at something. 

 

To be world class requires putting in the time and I don't think anybody has the discipline to grind that much on something they don't love. It's easy to grind when you actually enjoy it. You could probably convince me that when someone turns pro, that love may get whittled away as you come to the conclusion that reality isn't as glamorous as expectations. I wouldn't push back on that but still believe that joy/passion/love contributed to getting them there in the first place. 

 

You know the saying, "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard"? I think that's Wooden, and I think that's right. You are going to rise to the level of your talent + work ethic. There may be guys in the NFL, NBA, PGAT, etc that no longer love the game or don't love the game at the level of their competitors. I'd argue those folks eventually get washed out.  

[BrianMcG]

Fred Couples wanted to be a baseball player. 

[jdl]

21 hours ago, PJE said:

It probably has to with the stage of their career and what type of obligations the player has outside of golf. 
A young guy, who doesn’t have kids or a wife , and who’s trying to make his mark might like it a whole lot more than a guy with a family. The travel has got to be a drag if you’ve got kids. 

Yah, I would guess most of them loved it at some point, but many probably lost a lot of that when it became their "job".

[byerxa]

As others have said, professional athletes above else tend to love to compete and hate to lose such that it drives them to work and train at the level required. I think many who did multiple sports growing up would be just as happy in one of the other sports but ended up in the one they were the best at. I had the privilege to play a round of golf with an ex-NHLer who is in the top 20 in all time scoring and said baseball was actually his first love.

I also agree with one of the posts that there are probably some examples where extreme physical attribute requirements (size) might bring in someone who is not as passionate otherwise, but I bet that is the exception. 

[Chunkitgood]

One aspect may be that many golfers come from affluent families, and may have had other good choices in life, so playing is a matter of affinity, while my (admittedly not too extensive) experience dealing with people from a lower economic stratum who aspire to be professional football players is that they (or their parents) may think of it more as exploiting a rare economic opportunity, so playing is a matter of necessity in escaping straightened circumstances.

 

Another is that the nature of operant conditioning needed to produce a golfer differs from that needed to produce a team athlete.

 

Are amateur golfers happier with their sport than say adult league softball players or bowlers?  No, judging from the angst common on this forum.  I think I read somewhere that the intermittent reinforcement of golf is similar to being in an abusive marriage.
 

If nobody said it before, I just did.

[mizuno player]

I don't think the pros are that far from how most amateurs are. That one good shot or low round keeps them coming back!!! Also the individual aspect of it. 

 

All athletes love other sports and in some cases are talented in them. I don't think they could excel of they weren't passionate about it. Brooks can play the low key only playing for money. I'll bet he's a grinder in his own way. 

 

But the main reason. Chicks dig golfers!!! Have you been to a tour event???!!! Must be the long ball.. 

 

[Carson33]

On 3/1/2024 at 9:59 AM, Ferguson said:

 

I appreciate your adoration for both golf and NASCAR.   

 

I was just curious when NASCAR was officially coined, "a sport." 

 

 

sport

noun

1. 1. 

   an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

[Ferguson]

4 hours ago, Carson33 said:

sport

 

noun

1. 1. 

   an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

I get the meaning.   The question was WHEN. 

 

 

 

Pardon me for being terse.  I am trying to cut back on coffee and Scheffler won. 

Life is a bit challenging presently.

 

 

[caniac6]

I really don’t care if any of love the sport as long as they provide entertainment for me to watch.

[me05501]

Most of us couldn't ride in a stock car without throwing up. 

I read recently that an F1 driver's heart rate stays above 160 bpm for the duration of all green flag racing. 

Racing is incredibly demanding. I'm not sure if that qualifies it as a sport. I'm not sure what else you'd call it. 

Of course the car is doing a lot of the work too. 🙂

 

[Barfolomew]

Worked at a nice golf course during college..... had pros come thru and mini tour guys practiced there.... most seemed miserable specially the mini tour guys.... like bunch of alcoholics and their relationship with booze, couldn't stop playin cause they had skill but now it was nothing but work not a fun sport....

 

I said I would never be like them miserable bastages lol

 

Many let hobbies get ruined when they turn pro at it and turns into a grind.... I'd bet amateurs love playing golf more then pros

[Mrgreen36]

Nascar is a sport?

[golfortennis]

Plenty of guys play a sport because they are good at it.  Nick Kyrgios in tennis is the most obvious.  There is nothing else he can do that would bring in as much money for as little work as his natural tennis talent brings him.  

 

You have to remember, this is a job.  Think about what you are doing now.  Was it what you wanted to do when you were younger?  Now think about the days you hate your job.  Did it ever occur to you that you would have days like that when you were young?  Now apply it to professional sports.  Unless you have been in the arena, so to speak, you don't know what it's like to have a sport you love to play be your job.  People still like to throw out the old "they play a kid's game" trope.  Well I don't recall any of my "kids games" requiring me to get to an airport after the game to go play in the next city tomorrow night, or media availabilities, having guys get traded, and oh yeah, wondering if I can pay my rent if I don't keep this gig.

 

Sure there are guys that "love" golf out there.  But it's disingenuous to make it seem like those who don't are something less than others.  It's a job.  Not everyone loves their job.  

 

 

[PedronNiall]

On 3/11/2024 at 2:38 PM, me05501 said:

Most of us couldn't ride in a stock car without throwing up. 

I read recently that an F1 driver's heart rate stays above 160 bpm for the duration of all green flag racing. 

Racing is incredibly demanding. I'm not sure if that qualifies it as a sport. I'm not sure what else you'd call it. 

Of course the car is doing a lot of the work too. 🙂

 

 

F1 is insane. You're actually lying down driving those cars for all intents and purposes. As light as many of the drivers are they have necks and quads handed down from the gods by the time they get to that level. The average person apparently can't even apply enough physical force to fully depress the brake pedal. I'll let this guy tell it because my words don't do it justice. 

 

 

As to Nascar not being a sport:

 

 

Their engineering is level with or better than much of the sports racing world and the drivers have stepped into F1, Indy, Lemans, and various traditional sports racing vehicles & events without issue. Not even a Nascar fan, but it's undeniable that the guys behind the wheel are athletes. Wish they'd run a full road racing series to round it all out, but they do run limited road events and certainly have real driving chops.