what sport has the smallest "pro" vs. "whoever" specialization gap.

Does competitive eating count? I'm sure I could take that little Japanese dude in a hot dog eating contest...

 

So if you take a pro to your house you can compete with them right? Can you imagine if you take an NBA player to your local YMCA and try to beat him in a one on one game?

The only sports where average joe have a chance are the ones where there are no direct face to face competitions like golf or bowling. Even in sports like tennis where there are no physical contact, average player would get wasted by the pros.

 

How many hotdogs can you eat in two minutes? We are talking about going up against a eating machine here.

 

I disagree with a lot of folks saying golf is the smallest.

I know a couple of "scratch" golfers who could NEVER compete at a pro golf event.

The difference between an average golfer and a pro is HUGE.

Its about 5,000 balls a day at the driving range+2 hours on the putting green+18-36 holes a day for about 10 years.

 

Golf - it's not a team spot. It's individual. You don't have to practice working with a team. It gives the solo guy more of a shot.

 

I think golf and tennis should have been left out...would have been more interesting with all of the top team sports.

 

Yes, but the point is you don't physically compete against a superior human being. Everyone is on equal ground competing against a single course.

Its a heck of a lot easier than returning a Serena Williams serve, avoiding a Ray Lewis tackle, taking Shaq to the hole, or hitting a nasty Randy Johnson fastball!

 

Well, then the poll was flawed to begin with. 99.9% of the country couldn't do any of those things, just like 99.9% of the country would spend an hour trying to chip out of a sand trap on the first hole of Augusta National while Tiger is already sipping martinis with Vijay at the clubhouse...

The difference between golf and other pro sports is that golf actually has certain requirements that must be met before being allowed to compete at the highest level. If you can't prove yourself while you're there, then you're out. How many pro athletes have you watched and asked yourself, "Who's dick did he suck to get a paycheck?"

 

yeah but i guess that is part of the distinction you have to establish because of course if there is athletic activity involved then the average joe is going to have a much harder time.

and yeah i can compete with a pro because i've bowled thousands of games and i've had a lot of experience bowling and i've bowled in a lot of tournaments. i'm not the best bowler in the world but i know what i'm doing.

 

I agree with this totally. Here is my reason:
and

 

If that were true, everyone would win at at golf, but they don't, it's you against Tiger Woods. You're not competing against yourself. You are competing against 100 other guys. And if one of them has a good day everyone else is FUBAR'd.

The only thing I think that helps the golf case is that even if you hit one bad shot, the next shot can make up for it.

 

Bingo.

Actually, it's even easier than that. Carry a 190+ average over at least 66 games in an ABC/WIBC-sanctioned league.

I actually considered this after taking Bowling to satisfy my PE requirement at Sam Houston.

 

I think golf and tennis are some of the hardest because of two things - you are not on a team that can make up for some of your shortcomings, and you have to have a complete game to be able to compete. In tennis, if you don't have a good spin serve, or a solid backhand, you would never beat a good pro regardless of your other talents.

In golf, you have to have complete control of your body on every shot, and if you can't do everything - drive, hit your irons, chip, putt, sand shots, etc at an extremely high level, you won't make it. In addition to this, the score is cumulative, so if you make one mistake, it could haunt you for the next 4 days. Very few sports demand as much consistent excellence as golf.

Finally, in professional golf every position is earned. There are no guaranteed contracts, no signing bonuses, and no guarantees except for the fact that even the best golfer could lose their game tomorrow and never even sniff a paycheck again. See Chip Beck, Ian Baker-Finch, David Duval, etc - all major champions who lost it and have never made it back.

 

I think tennis by far has the biggest gap. For example, the top junior player (H.S.) would get wasted by the best in college. The best of college, which generally has people from all over the world, would get wasted by the "scrub" pros. I saw the #1 player in NCAA just get killed by some "unknown" pro. There just aren't any Lebrons in tennis .

 

One +2 ,on one nine and you have pro dreams. I can't tell you how many low handicap golfers or guys approaching 50 think they are just a little practice time away for the pro circuit. Did you even play the back tees? Realistically you would need to be shooting 65 or 67 with regularity on most 7000 yard courses before you should even think about playing at the mini-tour level. And even at that level there are 1000 guys out there that have to make their living folding sweaters in the pro shop.

That being said, most people can walk 18 holes a day but most people would die trying to keep pace with professional football, basketball, soccer, or hockey.

But baseball... hell, anybody can stand around and scratch their nuts. (but no they couldn't hit a 90 mph splitter)

 

Golf has open events where people qualify and play in pro-events. That means there is zero difference between an amatuer and a pro. Nobody plays in a tournament at the YMCA and then gets to join the Rockets for a game against the Wizards. Really though, golf should be disqualified along with bowling, NASCAR, darts, poker, and pool, because none of them are sports. The Sport with the smallest gap is probably women's tennis because you see 13 year olds that are competitive. The biggest gap is probably pitchers in baseball.

 

[sorry for bringing this back up...havent been here to respond since then]

and that was my point robbie....I also am capable of adjusting to multiple conditions ranging from the easy-as-crap house shots to the demanding requirements of the sport bowling shot and the tourney shots...

I've been doing this for 30 years...along with working for a time as a lane mechanic who also laid down the shot...(back before they started the current shot which is so easy)..so it isnt like Im clueless about how things really work here..

my point remains...I personally know at least 5 guys in every house I have bowled at that are good enough to compete on the pro circuit...these guys can average at least 210+ under any condition you throw at them...easily...

btw...nationals are coming to Corpus next year...wanna get together a team?

 

on the female side
there are a bunch of women below 18 that are competing

Rocket River

 

And there are women below 18 competing in men's pro golf tournaments.