would you rather two-hand dunk a hoop, run sub 15min 5k, or drive a golf ball 250yds

coach d wrote:

I know of one guy who can do the two-hand dunk and run 9.58. I understand that he's also pretty good at cricket.

That same guy could also easily drive a ball 250 if he practised for even a week.

The sub 15min 5000 is the best feat. I think a golf equivalent would be a USGA handicap of four or so. I think I could take 90% of US males between 15 and 60 and have them hitting a 250 yard drive with one season of effort. Scoring is another matter though.

Dunking is more a matter of height and genetics than anything else. All kids jump in playing games so I think everyone has an idea of what they could do at their life's athletic peak.

There is no one in the world who can go from sedentary to sub 15 minutes without a lot of effort. You hear about someone running fast sometimes without "training". But that person has always played a lot of soccer, been a serious swimmer or something in that vein.

For the record, my 5k pr is 17:08, I describe (past tense) my dunks as polite, not chocolate thunder, and I've had my handicap to six. I never competed in track, but it would have been my best sport if I had. The 5k was a road race with about a month of training when I was 21. I'm 49 now. My leaping got better in my 20's when I lifted and played club level basketball - I'm 5'11. I play golf about once a year now and feel lucky to be under 100.

Change the drive length to a round of sub par golf, dunk and run a 14:xx 5000 all in the same week and we can honor that feat with a fete!

I can already drive a golf ball 250 yds. In play, not just the driving range like some.

Can not dunk to save my life, and have run a few sub 15's.

So I guess dunk baby dunk.

AthleteX wrote:

Im 6'4...ran track/xc for a d1 college that frequents NCAA's, played guard in high school for a large public high school, and have grown up at the country club (currently hold a .4 Handicap in golf)....I can do all 3.

Wow athletex you are really special.

cheap seats wrote:

NESCACalum wrote:

This is awful.

I SUCK at golf and I average over 250 yards with my driver.

AVERAGE over 250. Maybe, I doubt it. And I can drive the ball over 250 on any day. But average?

Yes. Average. With the new gear and the new balls, it's just not that hard. I am surprised when my driver doesn't go over 250. There's a range near me with the back fence at 250 (yes, that's a very short back fence). My driver is useless there as the vast majority just bounce off the netting. So no idea how far it's going but well over 250. I can also do it with my 3-wood pretty routinely, and I have done it a couple of times with my 5-wood if I catch it just right and have no headwind.

Now, how straight is it? Well, that's why I suck at golf.

I am the OP, and forgot to clarify that 250yards, was down the middle, consistently in real rounds, not just hammering it at the range. Same applies to dunking and 5ks, all done in some form of competition (pick-up, or fun-runs).

250 still isn't that hard ... when I played a lot I could normally get it 300 yards on a flat straight hole, with the occasional 320-330 yard drive. My best in a round was 357, confirmed by yardage plates and multiple witnesses.

I think the number should be 320 to make it roughly equal.

Ok, I'll play along...

Driving a golf ball 250 yards is not difficult, in fact I'd say it can be technologically driven these days. Get the right combination of driver and ball, learn how to hook a golf ball (to get extra roll), get the wind at your back, and land the ball on a firm fairway and I suspect most people could do it. I've played with a lot of senior citizens and women who could drive a ball that far. If you had used 300 yards as your benchmark I'd give you a different answer.

Dunking 2-handed, while it does depend on having an ability to jump, obviously the taller you are the easier it is. If you're 5'0" I would say it can't be done. If you're 6'5" or greater and not too old to have lost the ability to jump I can't think it would be too difficult. For people between say 5'6" and 6"4" it comes down to how high you can jump. I played inturmurals in college with a 5'10" guy who could dunk fairly easily. On the other hand I'm 5'8" and I couldn't get within 6" of the rim on my best day.

A sub 15 5k depends on the combination of talent and training. You need both. I trained consistently for almost 10 years and never came close, in fact never even broke 17:30. I lack the talent part of the equation.

This is a running board so as far as my answer to which I would rather do, of course I say a sub 15 5k.

The sub 15 will make you more money than either of the other two feats. At sub 15 a guy can make a bit of money on the roads by cherry picking cash races.

Alistair Cragg can do all three

I am 5'9 and 136 pounds. 5k PR is 14:24, I can drive the ball 250. That isn't nearly as hard as the other 2. On average I go about 240. And my older brother can dunk 2 handed all day! He is 6'2... I got the wrong genes.

kartelite wrote:

AMC - I've posted on here under the same screenname since June 2002, and if you really wanted to find out my name, where I went to school, and my 5k PR it wouldn't be too hard to, so I'm not sure why I would lie about that.

I was curious to see if I could do this...and you're right, I did find a sub-15 from a Washington and Lee guy a few years back if that's you. Yes?

cheap seats wrote:

NESCACalum wrote:

This is awful.

I SUCK at golf and I average over 250 yards with my driver.

AVERAGE over 250. Maybe, I doubt it. And I can drive the ball over 250 on any day. But average?

Averaging 250 yards with a driver is not impressive. That's like doubting someone can run a 16:45 5k. The originial premise should have been something like 320 yards, that would have made it more comparable.

I'm 6'-0" 145 lbs, 15:42 5k, can touch the rim with one hand only, and can drive the ball 300 yards. And I am not good at golf.

that's like a 4:20 miler saying "i was close to sub4"...touching the rim is lightyears from throwing it down with one hand, let alone two.

another canuck wrote:

In hs I could touch the rim.

I've done #s 2 and 3...I could barely one-handed dunk women's bball in HS, it was weak.

i think #3 is by far the weakest on the list.

whereyoufrom wrote:

that's like a 4:20 miler saying "i was close to sub4"...touching the rim is lightyears from throwing it down with one hand, let alone two.

Touching the rim is not light years away from a one hand dunk. It's only about 6 inches or so of a difference.

Interesting apples to oranges debate here. I think it's obvious that the 5k is the only one that takes any real commitment to get. A taller person who's terrible at basketball can jump and dunk, and a hack golfer who baseball swings will catch one straight for 250 at least 1 out of 10 times... but you won't find anyone who can just go run a sub 15 out of the gate.

I think the better analogy would be drop step dunk in games, sub 15 5k, or hit 250 60% FIR (fairways in regulation to the non golfer).

I've got a 14:58 under my belt (early 20's, now 33), I'm averaging about 265 off the tee's with pretty decent accuracy, still play ball, but I'm luck to get half the net.

The sub 15 is hardest, the dunking is the most recognized as being awesome, and the golf is just good for networking and business.

Does the sub 15 really require more work than the dunk? Is it not possible that people put just as much work into dunking as running sub 15? Some of you act like people are born with dunking ability. They aren't. They've been playing jumping sports their whole life so they don't need to explicitly focus on training to jump. Similar to how Geb had already accumulated so much mileage before he even started running competitively. Sub 15 was just as easy for him as it was for the guy that's played basketball his whole life.

Well, since I spent many years and tens of thousands of miles trying to break 15 and only ran 15:19, I would choose sub-15 in a heartbeat.

I agree I think a sub 15:00 is by far the hardest. I don't think a 250 yard shot is that difficult. I live in the Metro Detroit area and a lot of kids can dunk around here. In five recent holiday 5K's in my area, not one person broke 15:00. The winning times were 17:21, 17:34, 16:10, 16:35, and 15:55 that I looked up. These races had anywhere from 425 to 1000 finishers.