Difference between golf and sailing

[flaming]

But you don't need to buy a boat, for some years I only crewed, some owners giving me 50% of the helming time during racing.
My must pay costs for those years at today's prices were just club membership £100...

You may not recognise it, but you did pay for that sailing. You didn't pay in cash but you paid by having sailing skills that the owners needed. Acquiring those skills meant you spent huge amounts of time sailing, someone was paying for that time... If as a youngster nobody was paying for that time, you couldn't have acquired those skills.

If you don't have those skills, then getting into sailing generally means getting very lucky in your friends being sailors, or paying good money for courses. Which does tend to mean that the majority of people in the sport are the offspring of people who love sailing. That is a way in which golf is more accessible than sailing.... The alternative is to take courses, which is a big investment in time and money for someone just starting out.

And yes, everyone on these forums is now saying "but I take newbies sailing". But, the things is they will be your friends... If you don't know any sailors, then its firstly very unlikely that you'll think of giving it a go, and then it is hard and/or expensive to get started when you have no experience.

On the general point of competing against the top pros, yes this is one of the greatest things that I love about the sport - the way in which the top professionals are accessible in a way that they just aren't in any other sport I'm involved in. I've raced against Olympic gold medalists, in fact one of my greatest claims to fame is shoving an Olympic gold medalist OCS). But I probably shouldn't lose sight of the fact that to be in the position where I was helming a 37 foot race boat in a race against an Olympic gold medalist is in itself an enormously privileged position.

 

[benjenbav]

You may not recognise it, but you did pay for that sailing. You didn't pay in cash but you paid by having sailing skills that the owners needed. Acquiring those skills meant you spent huge amounts of time sailing, someone was paying for that time... If as a youngster nobody was paying for that time, you couldn't have acquired those skills.

If you don't have those skills, then getting into sailing generally means getting very lucky in your friends being sailors, or paying good money for courses. Which does tend to mean that the majority of people in the sport are the offspring of people who love sailing. That is a way in which golf is more accessible than sailing.... The alternative is to take courses, which is a big investment in time and money for someone just starting out.

And yes, everyone on these forums is now saying "but I take newbies sailing". But, the things is they will be your friends... If you don't know any sailors, then its firstly very unlikely that you'll think of giving it a go, and then it is hard and/or expensive to get started when you have no experience.

On the general point of competing against the top pros, yes this is one of the greatest things that I love about the sport - the way in which the top professionals are accessible in a way that they just aren't in any other sport I'm involved in. I've raced against Olympic gold medalists, in fact one of my greatest claims to fame is shoving an Olympic gold medalist OCS). But I probably shouldn't lose sight of the fact that to be in the position where I was helming a 37 foot race boat in a race against an Olympic gold medalist is in itself an enormously privileged position.

And the best way to improve your golf is… lessons from a professional. As a beginner you take lessons. As a moderate player you take lessons. As a good player you take lessons. Teaching pros will see things in your swing that you can’t see yourself; you may be aware that you’re not hitting the ball well but have no idea why. You may want to correct a tendency to hook or slice. You may want to be fitted for clubs that suit you better than the bargain set you bought on eBay after watching the Ryder Cup.

Green fees will set you back £100+ per person each time at an attractive location or yearly membership @ £3,000+ etc. Having owned boats for many years and also been a member of various golf clubs, my experience is that boating is more expensive but golf isn’t cheap.

As for playing with the top competitors in either sport, I remember chatting to a friend of my late father’s, a regular club golfer, who was buzzing, having just played in a Pro-Am event with none other than the great Seve Ballesteros (My father actively disliked golf, but was a keen sailor and earlier in life had been an Olympic trials winning oarsman).

My own view is that sailing and golf, whilst obviously different, can both be enormously enjoyable; both presenting opportunities either for a pleasant outing in a delightful setting in good company or to hone your skills and compete at the highest level you can achieve.

 

[doris]

An unusual article under the title of "Difference between golf and sailing" has some got me thinking about how average golfers could never play against the professional players, whereas amateur sailors can race against top flight sailors in some races. Are we just very lucky in being such an equal opportunities sport where even women can compete with men.

Difference between golf and sailing >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News (sailingscuttlebutt.com)

In my yoof I was a competent golfer and played against some top pros. Anyone could play on the same course that the pros played on, eg The Burma Road the week after the Piccadiily, Walton Heath after the PGA and plenty more.

 

[Slowtack]

If one plays golf during the summer it may be mistakenly assumed that one has no yacht.... Not least in Cork Harbour...

 

[Dellquay13]

At least sailing can lead to a good walk, while golf always spoils one.

In my case, golf is a good walk spoiled from step one. I get about 8 paces in to a good walk sailing before it gets rapidly spoiled with a loud accompanying splash

 

[Blueboatman]

Always thought you played golf against your own self . isn’t that what they all say?

Whereas sailing is to immerse oneself into the wider natural world, the technical side and the floatable device being but a very small part of that, if you wish ?

 

[flaming]

Always thought you played golf against your own self . isn’t that what they all say?

Whereas sailing is to immerse oneself into the wider natural world, the technical side and the floatable device being but a very small part of that, if you wish ?

The thing about sailing is that 2 people who call themselves "sailors" can actually be doing completely different things.

One might be tweaking and turning to get the best possible performance. The other might be slipping along quietly reading a book enjoying being on the water... And sometimes that's just the same person on a different day.

 

[Blueboatman]

The thing about sailing is that 2 people who call themselves "sailors" can actually be doing completely different things.

One might be tweaking and turning to get the best possible performance. The other might be slipping along quietly reading a book enjoying being on the water... And sometimes that's just the same person on a different day.

Isn’t that the truth though ?

I’ve done very very little racing compared to some on here but you don’t half learn a lot by intermingling with others skill sets too

 

[Wansworth]

Isn’t that the truth though ?

I’ve done very very little racing compared to some on here but you don’t half learn a lot by intermingling with others skill sets too

Sailed briefly with a Swiss bloke who had sailed round the world. We where on a nic 32 and he kept tweaking the sails and nudging the tiller Iwas holding,as it was a jolly round the ria I didn’t say anything but later I realized he knew much more than me and I really could benefit from some instruction……on the finer points

 

[DownWest]

Always thought you played golf against your own self . isn’t that what they all say?

Local friends at a dinner here. One, asked another, why on earth do you play golf? Bit sharp, but he came back with , I play against myself, trying to get better each time.
Myself, started at the East Herts course. Quickly gave up because of the obnoxious other people involved.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Always thought you played golf against your own self . isn’t that what they all say?

Whereas sailing is to immerse oneself into the wider natural world, the technical side and the floatable device being but a very small part of that, if you wish ?

I have played golf for the better part of 60 years although not continuously but reached a reasonable level, it's fair to say that I play against myself but always whether in competition or simply playing with my wife or someone that makes up the numbers if I book a tee time I play against them.

 

[DownWest]

Sailing might be a bit like golf. If there is another boat going in the same direction, one naturally gets busy adjusting things to see how one compares with it. i.e. racing..