Are golfers really athletes?

And you can be 40 years old with a beer gut and still have one of the best pitching records in the majors...

(Freddie is 52 BTW)

Face it runners (and I am one of you...), you are not athletes any more than the guy who can down 45 hotdogs is. Prcatice anything enough and you can get REALLY good at it, maybe world-class.

And I don't buy into the "top" sports in the world. Oh, you mean the most televised sports in the world? The ones that fat couch potatoes watch on Sunday? Why didn't you include Nascar in there?

Here's a stat....

Most participated in "sports" in the world

1. Soccer

2. Golf

3. Bowling

Weak wrote:

Think of the main five sports in the world. Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, Football, and Soccer.

Football is not one of the main five sports in the world. I'm not sure Hockey and baseball qualify either but football is definitely out. Cricket is higher. Athletics is higher.

quatrocento wrote:

4) you can't drink beer and perform as well or better

During the event or anytime? I don't think every pro runner is as straightedge as you want think they are.

How did this get to page 5 before someone actually posted the term in question.

Definition of ATHLETE

: a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina

Are runners athletes? They are certainly TRAINED in an EXERCISE that requires stamina (sprinting takes strength, so still counts) so yes, they are athletes.

Are golfers athletes? They are TRAINED for a game (Definition of GOLF

: a game in which a player using special clubs attempts to sink a ball with as few strokes as possible into each of the 9 or 18 successive holes on a course) so that part could be true. But does that game REQUIRE strength, agility or stamina?

The average professional golfer makes a good amount of money.

Plus, golfers are beginning to become the new hockey players when it comes to getting hot women. Have you seen some of the wives? It used to be the hockey players got the really hot babes.

As for the debate about them being athletes, remember, dart throwers are getting sponsored. Bowling is on ESPN. A person can be just a long jumper and get sponsorship.

We seem to call just about everybody an athletes.

Are the curling participants in the Olympics athletes?

They participate in the Olympics. The Olympics are athletic competitions.

What about weight lifters? Are they athletes?

Golf is a sport. Pro golfers are the same as pro bowlers.

The difference is, that more people and sponsors are interested in golf than will ever be interested in bowling.

The 90th ranked pro golfer makes more than the top 3 pro bowlers.