Is snooker harder than golf?

[chrisd]

Golf is way harder.

I know, I've seen you play it. ??

 

[clubchamp98]

OK, what's your proposed method for an objective comparison?

Put bunkers and water hazards on a snooker table see how good they are then.

 

[clubchamp98]

This thread will continue ad-infinitum, but lets throw a few more variables in the mix.

You can't compare snooker scores and golf scores directly and as percentages, because in snooker your opponent can dictate your score by how they leave the table. Also in snooker, you can pull off amazing shots, but depending what colour they are on they are assigned a different value for the same skill. E.g by comparing score a simple tap in on a black is worth more than a long pot off the cushion at a complicated angle on the red.

How do you define difficulty, just purely on ability to score or how you score? On an easy, wide open short course with a caddy to make them play sensibly, most reasonable golfers could get close to or beat par, even if they only ever hit a mid iron. So if purely on score achievable golf seems easier, but what happens when you lengthen the course and put in forced carries, island greens and all that nonsense?

This is where I have an interesting hypothesis, at snooker to get a high score you also have to be very skilful, you have to be able to hit all the shots. In golf because of the variability, there are different ways to do things, on non-elite set ups, you can shoot par being a deadly accurate short hitter, or being wild with good recovery skills, etc... So we end up with a situation where there can be lots of people who score well, but can't do all of the skills that would make them elite, like bomb the ball 350 yards.

One last thing to mull over - people are trying to compare snooker and golf, so lets put a hypothetical out there. You've been wrongly accused of some misbehaviour, you will be put to death unless you beat the current top ranked player in the world at either golf or snooker at least 1 time in 50 attempts. Which game do you choose?

Dosnt matter your going to die!

 

[clubchamp98]

If you get chalk on your balls the ref will clean it off for you.
Mud on your balls is a totally different matter!

 

[jimbob.someroo]

no. snooker is not harder than golf.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Putting probably is a closer similarity to cueing, but there's so much more to golf than just putting of course. And more balls also gives you more options - one red is snookered, pot a different one. If your golf ball is snookered behind a tree, well that's you stuffed. Admittedly your opponent can't smack your ball over there though!

All good points other than that, I have nothing more to add, as you correctly state, there's no correct answer to arrive at after all.

I think you are oversimplifying cuing - it’s actually very technical and not at all easy to do perfectly straight. Much more like the golf full swing, you have to be able to do it perfectly without putting unintended spin on the ball.

 

[sunshine]

I think you are oversimplifying cuing - it’s actually very technical and not at all easy to do perfectly straight. Much more like the golf full swing, you have to be able to do it perfectly without putting unintended spin on the ball.

Cueing action is a simple backward and forward motion while most of the body remains still - a lot of people comparing it to putting which I thought was pretty good.

Full golf swing, is much harder as involves so many muscles and parts of the body. The club is moving on a long path which increases the chance of going off track, much faster too compared to a cue.

 

[Orikoru]

I think you are oversimplifying cuing - it’s actually very technical and not at all easy to do perfectly straight. Much more like the golf full swing, you have to be able to do it perfectly without putting unintended spin on the ball.

Surely you can see that from a basic human mechanics level there is a lot more movement in the golf swing, right? It's big turning motion involving the arms, shoulders, back, lower body as well. In a cueing action you keep most of your body as still as possible and just send the right arm back and through. I didn't say cueing is easy, just that it involves far less movement.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Surely you can see that from a basic human mechanics level there is a lot more movement in the golf swing, right? It's big turning motion involving the arms, shoulders, back, lower body as well. In a cueing action you keep most of your body as still as possible and just send the right arm back and through. I didn't say cueing is easy, just that it involves far less movement.

Yes, of course. My point was just that it’s difficulty shouldn’t be trivialised.

I think they’re both ludicrously hard games - on a personal level I think I find snooker to be harder, but I’m sure there are plenty of others that find golf harder.

Impossible to directly compare, both too hard.

 

[howbow88]

Golf - aim at the middle of the fairway and hit the ball with a slight unintended fade, and it will still hit the fairway.

Snooker - aim the cue ball at the object ball with the correct angle for the pot (easier said than done), impart some small unintended spin on the ball, and you probably won't make the pot. And even if you do, the cue ball will now be out of position.

'bUt GoLf Is LoNgEr'

 

[howbow88]

A better question when comparing snooker to another 'sport'...

What is harder - a 9 dart finish, or a 147?

I think 147, but I will admit that there is some margin for error there. For the 9 darter, you need 9 basically perfect darts.

 

[Dibby]

Golf - aim at the middle of the fairway and hit the ball with a slight unintended fade, and it will still hit the fairway.

Snooker - aim the cue ball at the object ball with the correct angle for the pot (easier said than done), impart some small unintended spin on the ball, and you probably won't make the pot. And even if you do, the cue ball will now be out of position.

'bUt GoLf Is LoNgEr'

Well if we're doing random comparisons:

Snooker - Miscue slightly - miss the pot.

Diving - Get slightly out of position from the high board - get seriously hurt.

Ski Jump - Make a relatively minor misjudgement - enf up in a wheelchair.

Motor racing - react a second too late - dead.

A better question when comparing snooker to another 'sport'...

What is harder - a 9 dart finish, or a 147?

I think 147, but I will admit that there is some margin for error there. For the 9 darter, you need 9 basically perfect darts.

What about a perfect 10 in gymnastics?

 

[howbow88]

Well if we're doing random comparisons:

What about a perfect 10 in gymnastics?

It isn't a random comparison, as the question is which out of golf and snooker is harder

And is dancing a sport? (On a serious note - any 'sport' that relies solely on judges scores, seems like nonsense to me).

 

[Dibby]

It isn't a random comparison, as the question is which out of golf and snooker is harder

And is dancing a sport? (On a serious note - any 'sport' that relies solely on judges scores, seems like nonsense to me).

I was just comparing against the quote that snooker is the hardest single player sport in the world.

It's random in that you're comparing a positional shot in golf to a finishing shot in snooker. Being out of your position with a tee shot may or may not be as impactful depending on the target area, size, hazards etc.. Why not compare at least somewhat like for like?

I'd love to see you dancing on a Friday night if it involves rings, parallel bars, vaulting a horse, uneven bars and all kinds of flips and contortions!

More seriously, all sports involve judgement, the only difference is how the layman understands the rules, gymnastics is judged against an ideal set of positions that most outsiders won't be familiar with, rugby is judged against a set of laws that somewhat make sense to outsiders but can still seem arbitrary to the untrained (or even the trained) eye, and then something like a track event has judging criteria that is obvious to almost anyone. Even golf has judgements like what is planting your feet firmly v buidling a stance.

 

[rudebhoy]

It isn't a random comparison, as the question is which out of golf and snooker is harder

And is dancing a sport? (On a serious note - any 'sport' that relies solely on judges scores, seems like nonsense to me).

like Boxing?

 

[Jimaroid]

I was just comparing against the quote that snooker is the hardest single player sport in the world.

Risk of injury or death isn't the same as difficulty though. One of the most dangerous single participant sports is Wingsuit BASE Jumping. Being completely unregulated it's not difficult to get into, and maybe one of only a few sports where being stupidly daft makes it easier to succeed?

 

[howbow88]

I was just comparing against the quote that snooker is the hardest single player sport in the world.

It's random in that you're comparing a positional shot in golf to a finishing shot in snooker. Being out of your position with a tee shot may or may not be as impactful depending on the target area, size, hazards etc.. Why not compare at least somewhat like for like?

I'd love to see you dancing on a Friday night if it involves rings, parallel bars, vaulting a horse, uneven bars and all kinds of flips and contortions!

More seriously, all sports involve judgement, the only difference is how the layman understands the rules, gymnastics is judged against an ideal set of positions that most outsiders won't be familiar with, rugby is judged against a set of laws that somewhat make sense to outsiders but can still seem arbitrary to the untrained (or even the trained) eye, and then something like a track event has judging criteria that is obvious to almost anyone. Even golf has judgements like what is planting your feet firmly v buidling a stance.

There are lots of comparisons between the 2 sports to be made. The talk of 'a snooker table is 12ft long whereas a golf hole is often 400yards or more' is so utterly brain dead, and that was the point I was highlighting.

Gymnastics, ice skating, riverdance, ballet, etc are all insanely difficult and technical practices. But they're not sports. Break dancing in the Olympics is utterly embarrassing, especially when you consider that squash is not.

Where do you draw the line when it comes to gymnastics and other forms of dance. Why is gymnastics supposedly a sport and not ballet? They're both equally difficult and equally impressive.

Also - judging a score means you're a judge. Judging/interpreting rules, means you're a referee. They're not the same thing.

 

[howbow88]

like Boxing?

Boxing isn't predominantly based on human judgement though. If one bloke A hits the bloke B and it results in him not getting up, bloke A wins. The only time it goes to judges scores is if there isn't a winner after 12 rounds. And that is where you can get some very contentious outcomes - Lewis vs Holyfield, Fury v Wilder.

That is exactly why I put the word solely in my post.

 

[harpo_72]

Never contemplated this, I enjoy golf a lot and I like snooker. I don’t have the time to care, but I will say this, chasing a 3 year old boy around some type of china or glass shop is quite challenging and laden with risks .. or getting to a 2 yr old boy with a nappy full of wet excrement and who finds it highly amusing to bounce on his backside and exploding the excrement up his back whilst in his grandparents lovely cream or beige depending on how you look at it room.. is a high risk sport

 

[JustOne]

Why didn't someone attach a POLL to this thread?