Is snooker harder than golf?

[clubchamp98]

...and likewise - I found squash playing against even a quarter-decent club player almost impossible. I might be able to hit the ball and might be able to play the occasional useful shot (hmmm...) - but I rarely, if ever, got the chance.

OK - a different sort of difficulty than individual sports such as golf and snooker.

Is snooker an individual sport?
Like squash you are at the mercy of your opponent.

 

[Jimaroid]

Surely its more simple, would the average person play a more decent game of snooker than golf, given a similar time of learning.

Yeah this is why I think it's interesting as that's a different question. What qualifies as a decent game? Is a frame of snooker equivalent to a round of golf? I don't think they are.

My opinion would be that snooker has a lower bar to learn but a higher one to master, in line with my thought experiment because of 1 ball versus 2 balls.

 

[rudebhoy]

One thing that puzzled me when playing snooker regularly was the lack of coaching.

We joined a club and after a few months I approached the owner, told him I was fed up playing crap, and could he point me in the direction of a coach? He looked at me as if I was daft, it was obvious no-one had ever asked him that before.

 

[clubchamp98]

I just don’t think you can compare them.
Snooker inside in the warm.
Golf outdoor don’t know what your getting.

Snooker 12’ max. For ams and pros
Golf 7400 yds + pros and ams if stupid enough.

Snooker 1 cue.
Golf 14 clubs.

Snooker and for me the biggest difference = your opponent can make it very difficult for you.
Golf your on your own good or bad it’s your own skill that dictates it.

 

[evemccc]

What do you think you’d score at the Old Course, RSG, Birkdale, Troon etc?

I would certainly hope that most of us would, right now, go around in less than 144 - approx double par, so half as good as the pros


Do you think most of us could hit breaks of 40,50,60 (approx half the regular pro level breaks)?

Not a chance

 

[Orikoru]

One thing that puzzled me when playing snooker regularly was the lack of coaching.

We joined a club and after a few months I approached the owner, told him I was fed up playing crap, and could he point me in the direction of a coach? He looked at me as if I was daft, it was obvious no-one had ever asked him that before.

I think this goes back to what I said earlier. The golf swing is a myriad of different movements, whereas a snooker cueing action is very simple by comparison - I think it just comes down to practise. Even golfers at the top of the game have made total changes to their swings at times, do pro snooker players make wholesale changes to their cueing action? Not sure.

 

[sunshine]

Interesting question, just thinking of the simplest way of getting to an equivalent comparison.

Imagine you had the same surface, a full size snooker table you could stand on to use as a putting green...

1. How many 12 foot putts do you think you could 'hole' versus 12 foot pots?
2. Do it again, same single ball for the putts, both a cue and object ball for the snooker shots. How many this time?

By taking every other factor of the game away and comparing them in that type of mental experiment, I think snooker is much harder.

I find this a really uneven argument, what you are comparing shows massively how complicated golf is compared to snooker. I don't understand what you are trying to demonstrate???

1. Standing on a snooker table, I would expect to hole every putt. Straight putt rolling perfectly with no break. Easy, but this never happens because there is slope on the green and weather conditions to factor in.
2. With a snooker cue, it depends on where the balls are. I'd expect to pot every ball if the object ball is close to the pocket. But what does this prove?

But a 12 foot pot is the full length of the playing area. Holing a 12 foot pot is maybe the equivalent of holing a tee shot on a 200 yard par three. Which is easier?

 

[sunshine]

What do you think you’d score at the Old Course, RSG, Birkdale, Troon etc?

I would certainly hope that most of us would, right now, go around in less than 144 - approx double par, so half as good as the pros


Do you think most of us could hit breaks of 40,50,60 (approx half the regular pro level breaks)?

Not a chance

What do you mean by "most of us"? On a golf forum with posters who play golf every week but snooker rarely it's not a good sample

 

[Crow]

I think this goes back to what I said earlier. The golf swing is a myriad of different movements, whereas a snooker cueing action is very simple by comparison - I think it just comes down to practise. Even golfers at the top of the game have made total changes to their swings at times, do pro snooker players make wholesale changes to their cueing action? Not sure.

I bought Joe Davis' book How I Play Snooker, tells you everything you need to know about the cueing action.

 

[rudebhoy]

I think this goes back to what I said earlier. The golf swing is a myriad of different movements, whereas a snooker cueing action is very simple by comparison - I think it just comes down to practise. Even golfers at the top of the game have made total changes to their swings at times, do pro snooker players make wholesale changes to their cueing action? Not sure.

being decent at snooker isn't just down to your cueing action. you need to be able to pot balls while simultaneously putting the white in the right position for the next shot, there are a myriad of different ways of striking the cue ball you need to learn in order to achieve this. Touch/pace is also massively important.

 

[evemccc]

What do you mean by "most of us"? On a golf forum with posters who play golf every week but snooker rarely it's not a good sample

What do you mean by "most of us"? On a golf forum with posters who play golf every week but snooker rarely it's not a good sample

Alright, I’ll say it slowly..

Basically everyone who’s responded who’s played a decent amount of both has said that snooker is harder

Crystal?

 

[Orikoru]

being decent at snooker isn't just down to your cueing action. you need to be able to pot balls while simultaneously putting the white in the right position for the next shot, there are a myriad of different ways of striking the cue ball you need to learn in order to achieve this. Touch/pace is also massively important.

Huh? All of what you said comes from the cueing action doesn't it? That is what you use to strike the ball. Just like how in golf if you want to draw or fade it on demand it comes from your swing and how you strike the ball. I'm just saying that golf lessons are more common because the golf swing is far more complicated. For example, in snooker we all know that to add backspin you strike the cue ball lower. In golf adding backspin to your shot is a bit more difficult.

 

[rudebhoy]

Huh? All of what you said comes from the cueing action doesn't it? That is what you use to strike the ball. Just like how in golf if you want to draw or fade it on demand it comes from your swing and how you strike the ball. I'm just saying that golf lessons are more common because the golf swing is far more complicated. For example, in snooker we all know that to add backspin you strike the cue ball lower. In golf adding backspin to your shot is a bit more difficult.

putting backspin on a cue ball is easy, it's the one shot any idiot can do. putting topspin or side on a ball, potting the object ball, and getting the cue ball where it needs to stop is far harder, in my experience anyway.

most people who play a difficult sport aspire to improve. i think there is an untapped market in snooker clubs for someone to give lessons. might be part time or whatever, but would still be easy money for them.

 

[Jimaroid]

I find this a really uneven argument, what you are comparing shows massively how complicated golf is compared to snooker.

Disagree. I'm trying to compare the basic principals of both games in equal terms. Both games are simple: move a ball into a hole. The mechanics of how that is done are different so really the question is about which of the mechanics are easier for people to master. Because snooker necessitates more than one ball, I think it classes as more difficult in its root mechanics.

But a 12 foot pot is the full length of the playing area. Holing a 12 foot pot is maybe the equivalent of holing a tee shot on a 200 yard par three.

No, that isn't an equivalent comparison, you've changed many constraints. I'm trying to keep the dimensions of the problem the same in both cases, the only variables are the putting vs cueing action and the number of balls required by the rules of the game.

 

[Orikoru]

Disagree. I'm trying to compare the basic principals of both games in equal terms. Both games are simple: move a ball into a hole. The mechanics of how that is done are different so really the question is about which of the mechanics are easier for people to master. Because snooker necessitates more than one ball, I think it classes as more difficult in its root mechanics.

No, that isn't an equivalent comparison, you've changed many constraints. I'm trying to keep the dimensions of the problem the same in both cases, the only variables are the putting vs cueing action and the number of balls required by the rules of the game.

Surely 'root mechanics' in this case is golf swing vs cueing action as I was saying earlier. The golf swing being more complicated with more moving parts and a broader movement. Your putting vs cueing comparison doesn't make sense as putting is only about 30-40% of golf.

 

[Jimaroid]

Surely 'root mechanics' in this case is golf swing vs cueing action as I was saying earlier. The golf swing being more complicated with more moving parts and a broader movement. Your putting vs cueing comparison doesn't make sense as putting is only about 30-40% of golf.

Again, I disagree but for the sake of argument.

Let's make a 200yard long snooker table.

Do my experiment again.

What's harder?

 

[MarkT]

I played snooker once or twice a week for a couple of years, but packed in last year when my pp moved away. Both of us were pretty hopeless, and although we both improved a bit over time, potting 5 or 6 balls in a row was a major achievement.

It wasn't just us, I'd see the same people playing all the time, and 95% were like us.

You can be a great potter, but unless you can master control of the cue ball, you are never going to be any good.

I'd say it's easier to be a mediocre golfer than it is to be a mediocre snooker player.

Agreed, I've played snooker for about 40 years (not very often) and the thought of being mediocre is a long way off, same for nearly everyone I know. One mate just had his first century but he's obsessed with the sport... All of us could clear the table at pool quite often but the prospect of potting four balls on the trot and making a break of 20+ is very remote. Then again I don't suppose many of us have ever had a snooker lesson.

 

[Orikoru]

Again, I disagree but for the sake of argument.

Let's make a 200yard long snooker table.

Do my experiment again.

What's harder?

What are you talking about? That wouldn't be snooker then would it that would be something else you invented!

 

[Imurg]

As Snooker uses two balls colliding in order to progress the game it will appear more difficult than golf.
However, as the game is played on, literally, a level playing field the only influences on the outcome of the shot are pace and angle of contact.
If you play on the same table you will, quite quickly become comfortable with the pace - much like the speed of greens in golf.
Angle of contact can be learnt in much the same way that reading greens is learnt...the principles are broadly similar.
Start the ball on the correct line with the correct pace.
Controlling spin on the cue ball isn't something that golfers do much, except the Pros.
At each level of ability there will be an increase in the level of control over the ball.
Broadly speaking, Snooker is very similar to Golf from 30 yards in. There is no comparison between Snooker and Golf from 500 yards away from the target
So what it all boils down to, in the end, is...
Golf is harder than Snooker because in Golf, sometimes you need to put a jacket on because it gets cold.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Is snooker an individual sport?
Like squash you are at the mercy of your opponent.

I'm thinking the comparison is simply that once you are on the table you are in complete control of what you do. You will be thinking about the risk/reward on any shot and what it would leave your opponent - and that way it is the same as matchplay in golf. But I don't see a huge similarity between 'strokeplay' golf - when your only 'opponent' is the course and the weather conditions - and any form of snooker I know of (other than our internal struggles being the same...).

I've not played much snooker. I went through a short time in my early teens playing a lot of pool with a mate who had a table in his garage - and so when I first found a snooker table at uni I was able to pot a few balls in a row without much difficulty. That said I doubt I have potted more than half a dozen in a row that many times. For me, snooker was definitely a lot easier to get going with than golf - and though both sports gave me satisfaction when I managed to pot a ball or hit a good shot I definitely suffered more frustration and irritation with myself with golf.