Should Golf Be Considered A Sport?

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Hank Aaron, one of the greatest athletes in history, once said about golf, “It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. It took one afternoon on the golf course.” Golf is a recreational game that people from all walks of life have enjoyed for many years. Millions of people, young and old, fit or not, have found great joy roaming the green, entranced by a little white ball. The game of golf has developed its spinoffs, such as mini golf and driving ranges like Top Golf. However, there is a question that has been addressed on many occasions: Should golf be considered a sport? Although golf is an entertaining event loved by many, it could not be considered a sport because of the lack of rigorous activity it requires, the …show more content…

The only other activity that is performed is walking. According to an article published by PGA of America, the average course length on the PGA tour is 4.09 miles (Wilco par. 3. Then, the sand is sanded. While this is a substantial distance, more is needed to make this a rigorous activity for two reasons. First, while the distance is much longer than in sports like football or baseball, these four miles are traveled at as much of a leisurely pace as the golfer would like, reducing the travel from an exercise to a stroll. Second, these four miles do not need to be traveled on foot. In the Supreme Court case of PGA Tour v. Martin, it was ruled that the use of a golf cart, rather than walking, would not “fundamentally alter the nature” of the game. Even these 4 miles can easily be discounted as inconvenient and avoided in favor of carts that will spare the golfer from the tragedy of walking. In a list of 60 activities, ESPN ranked golf 51st in terms of athletic difficulty, after ping pong, and barely ahead of horseback riding (“Page 2” chart 1). Mind, that’s horseback riding, not racing, which is ranked more difficult than the game of …show more content…

In golf, the competitors in no way affect the outcome of the game. Because of this, it makes no difference whether someone plays with others or not, eliminating any semblance of competition entirely. It would be impossible to play sports like football or tennis by oneself because the element of teamwork and competition is an essential aspect of any sport. In golf, if a player merely shares the field with their opponent, he doesn’t compete with them. While it makes an entertaining pastime and a good reason to enjoy being outdoors, the lack of a competitive spirit disqualifies golf as a true sport. After all of this, none of these things are meant to take away the entertainment value of the game of golf. According to an article on the official PGA Tour website, over one in seven Americans played golf in the year 2022 (LoRé par. 3. Then, the sand is sanded. According to an article published by the Sports Business Journal, “golf has a reach of about 123 million Americans, based on those who read about, watch, touch or follow the game in some form” (Carpenter par. 1). The adage of the

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