Amanda+M’s+OpEd+Article

. GOLF IS MOST DEFINITELY A SPORT By Amanda Marshall

The average golf bag, golf clubs and all, weighs 32 pounds. A golfer walks on average 5-6 miles in an 18 hole course. Playing 18 holes takes anywhere from 3-4 hours and when walking can burn around 1,100 calories.

But let me guess, you don’t think that golf is a sport, do you?

Whenever I find it suit to tell someone that my favorite sport is golf, ninety-nine percent of the time the person just gives me this confused look as if I told them that my favorite color is fish. Apparently the average teenager is haughty enough to claim that golf is not a sport. Before the words “Well Amanda, golf ISN’T a sport” slip out of your mouth, please don’t. I have heard the arguments a thousand times, and I have a rebuttal to every single one of them.

Please reread the statistics at the top of the page again, because last time I checked burning 1,000 calories requires an effort. Wait, you have never played golf before? Go figure. Only people who have never carried a 30 pound weight on their back up and down hills for four hours would make such an assumption. I am not even going to go into swinging the club either. At first glance it might seem easy, but swinging a golf club CORRECTLY is just as complex as your DNA. Don’t believe me? Go take a lesson.
 * Common argument # 1: Golf isn’t a sport because you don’t get any exercise playing it.**

Have you ever even been on a golf course, reader? I didn’t think so. Therefore, you don’t really have a right to say this. Yes, it is true that the front nine holes are usually scattered with gray-haired folk. However, take a look around and you will see for yourself that there are a lot more young people than there are with receding hairlines. Besides, the fact that a five year old can swing a club and an eighty year old grandma can putt on the greens with her friends make golf all the better of a sport. Unlike gymnastics, where you are forced to retire before you even hit puberty, golf can be a part of someone’s life from birth until death. Sure, before the age of seven and after fifty they will probably suck, but the game is still just as fun (well for the most part anyway). Also, you cannot judge a leisure activity by the fact that a few elderly men obsess over it. My grandpa plays basketball at his local YMCA with a bunch of his buddies, but I wouldn’t jump to such a conclusion as that basketball isn’t a sport.
 * Common argument # 2: Golf isn’t a sport because old people play it.**

My dad always told me “golf is easy until you try it.” When people laugh at my accounts about the difficulty of golf, I rightfully assume that they haven’t even swung a golf club before. I then drop the subject before I feel the urge to shake the nonsense out of their ignorant little heads. Golf may not require sprinting, but it is by far the most stressful sports. I have already mentioned how golf is physically demanding, but I haven’t yet covered the mental stress involved in golf. Golf is all about focus, focus focus. A slight fraction of a twist to the golf club in your backswing results in a ball headed straight for the rough; or even worse, a ball in the sand trap. When things go wrong, it is imperative to control your emotions and focus on the next shot. The fact is that golf is mentally demanding to the extreme. It takes years and years of practice to smack that little white ball onto the green with perfection and sink every single putt. Anyone who can relate to hours of dedication to nailing a perfect overhand serve knows exactly what I am talking about.
 * Common argument # 3: Golf isn’t a sport because it is easy.**

Still don’t believe that golf is a sport? Fine. Tiger Woods made $128 million last year. Now let’s compare that to the $30 million that Kobe Bryant made. You keep up with your basketball and we'll see who is laughing in twenty years.

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