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what sport is the most difficult to master skillwise?

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what sport is the most difficult to master skillwise?

  • baseball

  • basketball

  • football

  • hockey

  • soccer

  • ping pong

  • tennis

  • golf

  • rugby

  • car racing (not crappy drag or nascar, think formula 1 or WEC)

Results are only viewable after voting.
Golf. Growing up I played soccer, basketball, wrestling, baseball, was even on swim team, and played golf. Its not the most physically demanding but its the hardest.
 
You're asking ATOT this question? You might get a better answer in ATH&F. ATOT is just going to give you arm chair responses based on what they saw on ESPN while they struggle to breathe. Go on, ATOT, show the people your happy dance.
 
As an all-around I would say Golf, but looking at individual positions...

Quarterback in football. When we watch the game on TV it is easy to see the field and receivers. To accurately throw the ball over guys bigger and taller than you while watching for pressure and coverage is insane. The needle they thread with a funny-shaped ball is nothing short of amazing.
 
Golf, certain aspects of baseball ... ie: hitting a major-league curveball.

F1 certainly deserves consideration as well.
 
norseamd said:
probably

the question is how do you think going through a chicane at over 100 miles per hour is easy
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Eh, a lot of that is memorizing the tracks, knowing how your car performs exactly and in every condition, and then doing 100+ laps over and over to shave off a few hundredth of a second.

Fencing is a constantly changing mind game with your opponent as well as a physical activity that requires immense speed and precision.

They are obviously very different though and difficult in their own ways.
 
Golf is not a sport because it lacks one of the fundamentals of a sport, namely defense.

Racing is also not a sport. Unlike golf there is a semblance of "defense" in racing, but any fatass can get in a car and drive fast. I am proof of that. Also most drivers have been able to do ~70% of what a race car driver does since they were 16. Note- I am not saying that racing is not fun to watch. It is. And I am not saying that drivers are in bad shape, or that racing is easy. I'm just saying that it is hard to call racing a sport when 80% of the people in this country perform the basic acts of racing every day.

IMO the hardest skill sports (of those listed in the poll) are, in order: 1) Ping Pong; 2) tennis; and 3) baseball. A professional ping pong player must have insane hand eye and reflexes to even strike the ball after return of service. Tennis requires much of the same skill set as ping pong. It is a bit slower, but it has the added component of requiring the participant to run wind sprints for up to 5 hours. So maybe tennis and ping pong are a washout. I listed baseball as number three because seeing a 93 MPH fastball is difficult. Reacting to it and hitting it are extremely difficult, and hitting becomes even more difficult once off speed pitches are introduced. Everyone points to the fatasses at first base, pitcher and DH as evidence that baseball is accessible to overweight people, but that is missing the forest for the trees. Most of the skill positions require great agility and arm strength, and are mastered only after taking literally thousands or even hundreds of thousands of reps. Pitching is a tremendous skill as well. Homeruns are routinely hit off pitches that miss their intended target by only a few inches. So extreme control over all pitches is required. That is very, very hard when you consider that a pitcher's mechanics, the weather, moisture, and myriad other factors affect the flight of the ball.

FWIW I was a pitcher on a DIV IA baseball team (eons ago), so I have some idea of what I am talking about as far as baseball goes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGtZ7ul4jRY (nuff said re: ping pong)
 
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mnewsham said:
Eh, a lot of that is memorizing the tracks, knowing how your car performs exactly and in every condition, and then doing 100+ laps over and over to shave off a few hundredth of a second.

Fencing is a constantly changing mind game with your opponent as well as a physical activity that requires immense speed and precision.

They are obviously very different though and difficult in their own ways.
Click to expand...

sorry

that was not directed at you personally but a question concerning how some think golf is tougher
 
Sho'Nuff said:
Golf is not a sport because it lacks one of the fundamentals of a sport, namely defense.

Racing is also not a sport. Unlike golf there is a semblance of "defense" in racing, but any fatass can get in a car and drive fast. I am proof of that. Also most drivers have been able to do ~70% of what a race car driver does since they were 16. Note- I am not saying that racing is not fun to watch. It is. And I am not saying that drivers are in bad shape, or that racing is easy. I'm just saying that it is hard to call racing a sport when 80% of the people in this country perform the basic acts of racing every day.

IMO the hardest skill sports listed are, in order: 1) Ping Pong; 2) tennis; and 3) baseball. A professional ping pong player must have insane hand eye and reflexes to even strike the ball after return of service. Tennis requires much of the same skill set as ping pong. It is a bit slower, but it has the added component of requiring the participant to run wind sprints for up to 5 hours. So maybe tennis and ping pong are a washout. I listed baseball as number three because seeing a 93 MPH fastball is difficult. Reacting to it and hitting it are extremely difficult, and hitting becomes even more difficult once off speed pitches are introduced. Everyone points to the fatasses at first base, pitcher and DH as evidence that baseball is accessible to overweight people, but that is missing the forest for the trees. Most of the skill positions require great agility and arm strength, and are mastered only after taking literally thousands or even hundreds of thousands of reps. Pitching is a tremendous skill as well. Homeruns are routinely hit off pitches that miss their intended target by only a few inches. So extreme control over all pitches is required. That is very, very hard when you consider that a pitcher's mechanics, the weather, moisture, and myriad other factors affect the flight of the ball.

FWIW I was a pitcher on a DIV IA baseball team (eons ago), so I have some idea of what I am talking about as far as baseball goes.
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If I knew anything about Ping Pong then I might agree with this. I have watched some of those Chinese PP players and it is crazy. However, I am struggling with the idea that Tennis is anywhere near as difficult to master as Baseball. Just about anyone can pick up a tennis racket and master the fundamentals of Tennis inside of a week or two. They may not be going on tour, but they will be serving overhand and able to use most of the basic strokes in competitive play. Hitting in baseball is often considered by people around the sports world as the most difficult thing to do in sports.

Golf is not a sport. It is in the same arena as sporting activities like Figure Skating, Auto Racing and Hunting, Billiards, Bowling, Darts, etc.
 
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GagHalfrunt said:
Golf. Anyone even moderately athletic can become competent at almost any other sport very quickly.
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He said "master" as in turn professional, make millions, Hall of Fame, etc... not "competent" like driving around the golf course chugging cocktails :biggrin:
 
edro said:
You don't know the definition of a sport.
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i dont care how some book defines it

i define it as not a sport, for the same reason Sho'nuff does. Auto racing is more of a sport because the other people kind of have a direct impact on you, in golf no so much
 
Going with hockey as it adds a layer of complexity to any other ball handling sport. Golf is at a disadvantage because of the lack of taxing the body. If my fat ass can get out there and perform as well as a physically fit person who has the same skillset as me, then it should not be "the most difficult". Since competitive chess is a sport, I think that is MUCH more difficult than golf.
 
It's really hard to compare. I think if you look at the list of "hardest" sports to master, boxing is among the top, with hockey being in the top 5 or so as well.

I believe though this took into account the actual physical nature of the sport...

It's really hard to debate this because in each case, success is measured differently.
 
Sho'Nuff said:
Golf is not a sport because it lacks one of the fundamentals of a sport, namely defense.

Racing is also not a sport. Unlike golf there is a semblance of "defense" in racing, but any fatass can get in a car and drive fast. I am proof of that. Also most drivers have been able to do ~70% of what a race car driver does since they were 16. Note- I am not saying that racing is not fun to watch. It is. And I am not saying that drivers are in bad shape, or that racing is easy. I'm just saying that it is hard to call racing a sport when 80% of the people in this country perform the basic acts of racing every day.

IMO the hardest skill sports listed are, in order: 1) Ping Pong; 2) tennis; and 3) baseball. A professional ping pong player must have insane hand eye and reflexes to even strike the ball after return of service. Tennis requires much of the same skill set as ping pong. It is a bit slower, but it has the added component of requiring the participant to run wind sprints for up to 5 hours. So maybe tennis and ping pong are a washout. I listed baseball as number three because seeing a 93 MPH fastball is difficult. Reacting to it and hitting it are extremely difficult, and hitting becomes even more difficult once off speed pitches are introduced. Everyone points to the fatasses at first base, pitcher and DH as evidence that baseball is accessible to overweight people, but that is missing the forest for the trees. Most of the skill positions require great agility and arm strength, and are mastered only after taking literally thousands or even hundreds of thousands of reps. Pitching is a tremendous skill as well. Homeruns are routinely hit off pitches that miss their intended target by only a few inches. So extreme control over all pitches is required. That is very, very hard when you consider that a pitcher's mechanics, the weather, moisture, and myriad other factors affect the flight of the ball.

FWIW I was a pitcher on a DIV IA baseball team (eons ago), so I have some idea of what I am talking about as far as baseball goes.
Click to expand...

Racing a NASCAR race isn't as easy as it looks, the cars get VERY hot, there is no power assist in steering or brakes plus your running 200MPH 3-4 inches from other cars, then you've got to deal with breathing in all that C02 and carbon monoxide on the track as race engines lack any emissions control..
 
smitbret said:
If I knew anything about Ping Pong then I might agree with this. I have watched some of those Chinese PP players and it is crazy. However, I am struggling with the idea that Tennis is anywhere near as difficult to master as Baseball. Just about anyone can pick up a tennis racket and master the fundamentals of Tennis inside of a week or two. They may not be going on tour, but they will be serving overhand and able to use most of the basic strokes in competitive play. Hitting in baseball is often considered by people around the sports world as the most difficult thing to do in sports.
Click to expand...

Tennis isn't that easy. My 6 year old nephew can hit a baseball. He can't hit a tennis ball. I'd say the same is true for most people. Kids play pickup games of baseball/softball all the time. Returning a 120 mph serve is probably as hard as hitting a fast ball.
 
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