Games that get boring when you get good at them

[Maninblack4612]

One of the things I like about golf is that you never play the same course twice, even if it's one you play regularly. The wind is in a different direction, the fairways are hard or soft, the pins in different positions etc. A while ago I played one season in a tenpin bowling league. There were some very good players in the league, me not included. Scores approaching & including 300 were not unusual & I thought to myself what a tedious, one dimensional game this must be for anyone who is really good at it. In this game & in snooker you can score a maximum, so what then? I couldn't wait for the season to end & have never been back. The "experts" irritated me for no good reason. The way they behaved & congratulated each other after every strike jus got on my nerves, although they were very nice to me on the one occasion when I got over 200.

Do any other sports fall into this category? Are any Forum members bowlers? An occasional game is fun but I couldn't do it regularly.

 

[IanM]

"Get good at them" is a significant thing in golf.... if you shoot 62 every week, you'll still want to shoot 59!

I can think of a fishery where the fish practically jump in to your net... that's boring!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I don't think you can beat 10 pin bowling in this category but I will throw pool into the mix for second place. I was once visiting a cousin who played in a pool league and they were having an internal, team comp. I joined in, briefly , then watched. Most were clearing up within a few visits. The best needed to move up to snooker but I think their ego liked being this good at pool. Pool is too easy for good players, size of the table, size of the pockets.

 

[Crow]

The better you get at a sport the more its nuances become apparent, but 10 pin bowling might not be too high on nuances.

I've not played it other than occasional games with friends but as a family we did get into Wi bowling a while back which is much more skillful than actual bowling I'm sure everyone will agree.

I used to really like the spin element, which must be higher in Wi than actual bowling, and the spin challenges were enjoyable. But again you don't get walls across the lane in actual bowling!

 

[ADB]

In a similar vein, is a 9 dart finish special anymore - really? Sure, its exiting, but i bet the pros have these everyday in practice

 

[Yorkshire Hacker]

A good friend of mine has two fishing lakes. I went along one day to watch a competition. Never been so bored in all my life.
My other sport is motor cycle trials riding. It's impossible to be bored riding in a competition, and I have ridden since I was 15, and still compete. However, it's generally not quite so good to watch, though there are exceptions.
I agree with Maninblack, golf is never boring, if you're having a good round, can you keep it up? A bad round, can you recover? There's always an opportunity to improve. Whoever worked out handicapping in golf helped transform the game. I didn't take it up until I was over 50, and I'll never know what I could have got down to if I had started as a young man. I blame motor cycles!!

 

[timd77]

Not a sport, but I never really got into computer games for the same reason. I’m talking 30-35 years ago with sega mega drives and Nintendo whatsits. After completing a few levels and just going back round again, found it really boring.

Would love to find golf a bit easier though!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Know this isn’t quite the sort of ‘boring’ meant. But back then when I was fit and fast, my county badminton playing chum must still have found it dead boring playing me an, at best, ‘adequate’ fun club player. He was county standard squash player as well, and at that I am awful, I couldn’t even play an occasional shot that might stretch him even a little…at least in badminton I could sometimes get him running, though the only points I would ever win would be when he tried an outrageous shot and failed.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I guess it’s any sport or game where the individual’s performance is the only factor that can affect the outcome. And in that category such as darts and ten pin bowling do seem to sit, I’ll add skittles ?

That said I have never played any properly competitive darts or ten pin so I don’t know what the level of pressure to perform is like when you are faced with a bowl or dart that has to score a ten or specific score to win. I can see how in darts a player could be under huge pressure with a 3rd dart if his first two are blocking an easy throw to what he must get, or even if he has to get a specific score with three darts to win or avoid defeat. But ten pin…? Maybe the skill in clearing the ten is hugely greater than any other score, and if ten is needed? I don’t know.

 

[sjw]

Darts is hardly easy. Just watch any competitive match (we've just had the world championships) and see. The way you guys make it sound, they'd hit 180 every time. I'd wager they hit a maximum way less often than a pro golfer hits a GIR

 

[fenwayrich]

I enjoy watching the best darts players in big competitions,, but why do they have to throw from exactly the same distance every time? If the oche was moveable, so instead of 7'9 it could become 8'6 or 9' (or even closer to the board) that might involve a new skill set. Not to mention creating a slight breeze to test them even more. At present it is certainly skilful but rather formulaic. Bit like playing exactly the same par 3 again and again in perfect weather.

 

[Imurg]

Personally I find darts boring without being very good at it.......

 

[jim8flog]

I sometimes think you reach a level and cannot get better and then it can become boring (or at least to be beaten by the same players every time) I played snooker from the age of 8 to the age of 38 and virtually stopped playing it. I reached the level of 50 breaks but never got better and regularly used to be beaten by the guys who could make 100 breaks.

 

[Teebs]

Cycling falls into this category.
And it hurts, alot.
And you have a pretty good chance at being flattened
And everyone hates you

 

[Voyager EMH]

Weight lifting.
In particular the deadlift and bench press.

Clean and jerk has a bit more to it than mere strength - timing and agility.

Weightlifting is very popular in our prisons - Embrace The Boredom.

 

[The Fader]

These comments are based on watching as well as participating.

What makes sport more entertaining is the variables in play.

Golf has so many! Formats, hazards,the weather, the distances, the ground conditions, the terrain, cherub of the green etc.etc.

10 pin has no variables. Fixed target, fixed size playing area, every playing area identical.

I don't think snooker deserves a mention alongside bowling. After the break shot no frame is ever the same and you have both the cue ball and the object balls moving on every shot. It also has strategy involved.

Pool is similar - only the ridiculous size of the pockets make it a lesser challenge than snooker.

Darts has similar characteristics to bowling but to me is a much more enjoyable spectacle to watch. Game ebbs and flows very quickly with different ways to make a particular. score and some strategy as you start to reach the end double.

I'll doubtless get flack for this - but to me the most boring sport on the planet is soccer!!

 

[Mel Smooth]

Skiing, is better than golfing.

Don’t think I’d ever get bored of the mountains on a crisp sunny day.

 

[BiMGuy]

I'll doubtless get flack for this - but to me the most boring sport on the planet is soccer!!

You’ve clearly never watched Rugby or cricket then! ?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

In a similar vein, is a 9 dart finish special anymore - really? Sure, its exiting, but i bet the pros have these everyday in practice

But sport doesn’t happen on the practice pitch/court/board etc
Doing it under pressure is where it counts.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Used to be a Master Bowman, enjoyed archery for quite a while, different bows, different styles of shoot etc

Just got a bit boring after a while, same old same old