Since you didn't play golf long I'll mention some stuff you probably don't know.
"I shot 88" is kinda like saying, "I won five games of one pocket in a row." In other words, "On what course?" would be as important as "Against whom" in 1P.
I shot 65 a couple of times on a pretty easy par 70, and I've had trouble breaking 90 on a couple of courses set up for a PGA tour event.
Most of the people who routinely shoot in the high 80s on their home course would have trouble breaking 100 on some PGA tour courses, 110 on others, and 120 on courses set up for the US OPEN.
The guys I gambled with would lose all their money shooting 88 on the course where I shot 65, and win all the money on a PGA Tour course.
A "shortstop" in golf would average mid-70s on most country club courses, and most of those courses are more difficult than most public courses.
Talking about "hard to master" as Jeff phrased it initially (which is a little different question than becoming top 10 in the world because of the much larger number of people trying in golf) I'd say that if you put a golf club in the hands of one typical 16-year-old and a pool cue in the hands of another, they'd have about an equal chance to "master" their game... One in a thousand? too close to call, IMO.
You nailed it well. Mid 70's is a shortstop, actually par. My buddy was a club pro, minus 2 handicap...but could not even think about the tour, let alone top 10. Pool is what it is and should not be compared to anything else. 1P is the most difficult game, maybe 3C the hardest consistent shots. However, that is more of a query as I know nothing about 3C, and need help in 1P.
I think you're saying that a shortstop is around par rather than mid-70s. My thinking is mid-70s will be the best player at a lot of clubs, but again, course difficulty has a lot to do with the strength of any score.
Jeez, they give you five tries to get the ball in the hole! In pool you only get one !!
There are quite a few players out there who are excellent at golf and pool. I've personally known a few. They would have an informed answer to the question. One who comes to mind was a grand champion at pool including One Pocket and also the club pro at a private golf course near where I live. In his prime he was a top 10er in pool but probably not golf. I don't think he'd mind his name being mentioned but I could see some slim possibility of it knocking him out of a golf score sometime so I won't.
Another who lived around here was a jam up pool player and also played on the pro golf tour, with not much success. Neither sport got him, it was a stroke during a poker game (that I had nothing to do with).
The two sports do seem to have much in common. Golf didn't pick up its other name 'Pasture Pool' by accident.
Yeah but you don't have to shoot your 1 shot from 8 tables over.
i don t think its even close
both are brutal games....
but they are 300 million golfers in the world and only 130 of them get to keep their card...let alone be in the top 10.....
To make it into the top ten? I'm not sure that one-pocket would even be in the top ten of difficulty.
Golf would win this comparison, hands down. There are hundreds of thousands of good golfers in the world. There are truck loads of money in golf; and to even scratch the surface is brutal. Are there even a thousand good 1P players?
~Doc
I'm not sure why we chose One Pocket over Golf as being the toughest and not Pool in general. Maybe I'm misreading the intro to this thread. This debate has gone on for years in pool rooms everywhere. It goes on in my pool room all the time. I can say that in pool you start your inning where your opponent leaves you and in golf you start your inning where you leave yourself. Aside from the physicality, and I believe pool is just as physically taxing, golf may be a bit more difficult. However after a few hours of golf you are done. Sometimes great pool matches last many hours and even days. So you tell me which is tougher?
legitimately break 85 on almost any 6500 yard course, and run a rack of 9 ball, or 8 and out playing one pocket.