There are certain questions that divide communities, that create rifts in relationships, that lead to screams and tears.
The seemingly innocent inquiry, Is golf a sport? is one of them…
To get to the bottom of this ongoing debate, I interviewed individuals with a range of beliefs across our community.
Nicky Marsh ‘25 opted to remain standing for the duration of this interview — a sure sign that excessive golf playing does, in fact, require athleticism and build strength and endurance. There is a lot of standing in golf, after all.
To the surprise of none, both Marsh and Julian Joseloff ‘25 reject the narrative that golf ’s lack of aerobic exercise invalidates its claim to sport hood. In fact, it is Marsh’s belief that golf is “the hardest sport there is.” He claims to have played every sport out there, give or take, and golf stands out as particularly exhausting and demanding. Joseloff commented that golf is “more of a mental challenge,” requiring “a lot of skill and patience” due to its specific technical demands. Marsh added to Joseloff ’s point, explaining that just because golf is devoid of sprinting doesn’t mean it lacks physical exertion. Marsh told The Insight, “You are generally walking three to four miles in brutal heat, and it messes up your mental state, and you start to get tired after a while.”
According to these golf co-captains, the intensity of golf is under-acknowledged. The rigor contributes to the thrill, making the game worth playing. Marsh shouted out his soccer coach, Warren Salandy, for telling the team that the greatest thing about soccer is “the triumph of victory and the agony of defeat.” Marsh finds this philosophy exemplified in golf, where, unlike basketball, “you’re never gonna have the same shot” and a single one has the power to alter a player’s ranking completely. “The feeling of when you come in second place in a tournament with a hundred people after missing one shot is the most brutal thing in the world,” he said, later adding, “but the feeling of winning a massive tournament is just the greatest feeling in the world.”
To Marsh and Joseloff, golf is a sport of endurance. It’s also, however, a sport of serenity. (Though, as Joseloff articulated, that does not consign it to the category of a “leisure activity” by any stretch.)
When I asked the captains what they wished more people knew about their sport of choice, they dove into a passionate discussion about the beauty of golf’s environment. Joseloff introduced the topic, saying, “At a recreational level it’s just a fun sport to play. You get to be surrounded by nature and beauty.” Marsh then jumped in, offering a window into the psychology of a love for golf. “The reason that I love golf,” he said, “is because of how calming it is when I’m out there. I’ll go walk nine holes at sunset, and it’s a perfect temperature. I’m just hearing the birds chirp, and I’m at peace. And I think that golf can bring many emotions, unlike other sports.” Upon Alex Vebman ‘25 inquiring as to which sports Marsh was envisioning, Marsh replied, “I don’t think when you’re playing football you’re at peace.” (I’d say that’s fair.) “I think you’re filled with passion, but I don’t think that it’s peace.” To Joseloff and Marsh, the remarkableness of golf actually comes from the feeling that it defies the ordinary conventions of sports; they spun its inherent differences into a case for its specialness as opposed to its inferiority.
In fact, in response to my guileful question of whether there’s any widely-accepted-as-a-sport activity out there that they do not consider a sport, Joseloff insisted, “Everything is a sport for a different reason,” and Marsh claimed, “A sport doesn’t need to be world-widely considered a sport for it to be a sport. If you believe that a sport is a sport for yourself, then it’s a sport.”
I guess that explains why sleeping is a sport. Seriously — look it up.
It seems that the captains’ definition of what constitutes a sport is even more open-ended than their parameters of competition, exhaustion, and skill — the rules they felt necessary to justify golf’s athletic status. Apparently, attacks on golf can stimulate a degree of empathy among golfers for other athletes.
Although Marsh claimed “half the people here,” referring to the classmates surrounding him, don’t think golf is a sport, most seemed too uneasy to voice that opinion to his face. Ammad Zuberi ‘25, however, had something to say; “Squash is more of a sport,” he said. “It’s the best sport in the world.” Before I searched up “squash sport,” most of the details I found about squash on Google were pictures of zucchinis. Thus, enough people seem to contest the validity of Zuberi’s statement that the excellence of squash — the sport — could be a whole other article.
While the affirmative side of this ongoing debate is multifaceted, the opposing side, Zuberi, is straightforward in his argumentation: “The most athletic part of golf is driving the cart.” If you have any requests for The Insight’s next controversial topic, feel free to reach out to me at 26belcove@friendsseminary.
