You should be able to find several indispensable facts about Golfing Sport in the following paragraphs. If there's at least one fact you didn't know before, imagine the difference it might make.
The best time to learn about Golfing Sport is before you're in the thick of things. Wise readers will keep reading to earn some valuable Golfing Sport experience while it's still free.
As a golfer I often find myself having discussions with non golfers about the legitimacy of calling golfing a sport. These ignorant individuals like to point to the lack of physicality, as they see it, in the sport of golf. They claim that golf lacks many of the qualities that make football, basketball and even baseball true physical recreation. They don't want to argue about the semantics, they just want to belittle an activity I thoroughly enjoy. The collared shirts, golfing carts, caddies and slacks blind them from the truth of golf. It makes them believe that golf is an activity reserved for country club gentleman and not the real man. Even the primal screams and fist pumping we sometimes see on the pro tour isn't enough to persuade them otherwise.
For anyone who has spent time on a golf course the truth is very apparent. Golf is a challenging sport both physically and mentally. And what it may lose in the physical department it surely makes up for in the mental.
Physically golf may not appear to be much of a challenge. There's no running or tackling involved, and typically golfers do not have the chiseled physic associated with pro athletes. That doesn't mean that they are all out of shape. We know that Tiger Woods is an avid runner and lifts weights as I'm sure many golfers do. However, most golfers tend to be on the softer side of physical fitness. But don't let this fool you into thinking that golfing isn't hard on the body. Golfing requires a different kind of corporeal discipline than some of the other sports.
If you've ever hit a bucket of balls then you know what I'm referring to. There are muscles in our bodies that lay dormant until that first awkward swing. Muscles in the neck, back, arms and even legs seem to come grudgingly out of atrophy, and the next morning as you get up, the soreness hits you like it would with any other sport you've played for the first time. Things get even worse when you step out on to a golf course to play 18 long holes in the sun. Not every course allows for golf carts. So most golfers find themselves standing, walking and swinging away for sometimes 4 hours or more. There are small breaks in between holes, but for the most part the golfer suffers in the elements for an extended period of time. So while it's not the same as running a kick off back to the end zone, or playing 42 minutes of basketball I would say it's at least as physically challenging as baseball.
However, the physicality alone isn't what qualifies golfing as a sport. The mental toughness demanded by the sport may be one of it's most overlooked challenges. Trying to place that tiny ball into a hole just under 4 inches in diameter can be frustrating from only a couple feet. But the skill required to bring it to that point from over 400 yards can be daunting. On top of all that, getting it past the many hazards that exist including the weather makes the task seem almost impossible to some.
Just image the pressure on a pro golfer lining up his put. He checks out his line which covers many feet of undulating ground. Somehow he has to navigate it with only the help of that cold unsympathetic metal putter. It's comes down to only him. There's no team to support him or give him encouragement. He stands alone on that green, fairway, bunker, rough and tee box alone. If he hits a bad shot he can't cry to a referee or teammate. He has to pull himself together because he has many more shots to take and he cant unravel now. That requires mental toughness at a level most sports don't call for.
So next time some one tells you golfing isn't a sport, invite him to play 18 holes. I can almost guarantee he will be singing a different tune by the time you get done. Because, it's not just the blisters on the hand that give us the right to call golfing a sport.
Those who only know one or two facts about Golfing Sport can be confused by misleading information. The best way to help those who are misled is to gently correct them with the truths you're learning here.