I don’t play golf but alot of my buddies do. I’ve never met a triathlete that was a committed golfer nor met a golfer that knew much about triathlons. Are these two sports diametrically opposed? They both require a good amount of time and money. what do you say?
I don’t play golf but alot of my buddies do. I’ve never met a triathlete that was a committed golfer nor met a golfer that knew much about triathlons. Are these two sports diametrically opposed? They both require a good amount of time and money. what do you say?
Depends on what you mean by fast and good. I am generally in the top 10% of my AG, and I have an 8 handicap (Shoot 75 on a good day, 95 on a bad.)
ETA - I don’t think the sports are necessarily diametrically opposed, but the personality of a golfer is typically different than a triathlete, at least in my experience with both (I played in a mens club for a few years).
John
I don’t play golf but alot of my buddies do. I’ve never met a triathlete that was a committed golfer nor met a golfer that knew much about triathlons. Are these two sports diametrically opposed? They both require a good amount of time and money. what do you say?
Not if you have a family, or want to keep them. 
I used to be a sub-10 handicap, I might still be, not sure as I’ve played about 15 rounds in the 10+ years I’ve been doing tri’s.
Time isn’t unlimited and daylight time is even more limited when you work during the day. If you could ride or play golf after dark it woul dbe easier.
You have to pick and choose where you are going to spend your free time. It seems like I have said I’m playing more golf this year every year for the last 5, kind of did this year as I got three round in the week my whole extended family went on vacation. Also got a buttload of training in that week. Maybe that is the solution, permanent vacation, wonder if the wife will go for it.
I don’t play golf but alot of my buddies do. I’ve never met a triathlete that was a committed golfer nor met a golfer that knew much about triathlons. Are these two sports diametrically opposed? They both require a good amount of time and money. what do you say?
I say that one could be a committed golfer and successful triathlete given the following:
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No children or spouse
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Significant discretionary income
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A job that has great flexibility or wealthy enough not to need to work (which then satisfies #2 above).
I’ve known triathletes that have moved out of the sport and taken up golf (and gained lots of weight), but I’ve never known a hard core golfer who took up triathlon and did both successfully.
can be a good golfer if your job involves smoozing clients, etc… My definition of good golfer is 5 handicap or lower. Tough to do both if have family, kids, etc.
golf is great during taper and recovery. can you be good at both ? as someone said it depends what you mean by good. my handicap and ironman times are about the same. 10.
Pretty much completely unrelated but interesting. A couple years ago a major publication (I can’t remember what one) did a story about company CEO’s golf handicap and the value of their company’s stock.
In almost every situation as the golf game improved the company’s stock value went down.
FORE!!!
Travis
can be a good golfer if your job involves smoozing clients, etc… My definition of good golfer is 5 handicap or lower. Tough to do both if have family, kids, etc.
That’s in the 96th percentile range. Pretty strict standards. Only about 8% of active golfers break 80 on a regular basis, and that’s about a 9-10 handicap.
John
I used to play to a 10 handicap 15 years ago - I played only 9 holes last year and shot 1 under par for the 9 holes, In my only round for 2008 I broke 80.
I am top 10% AG in bigger races, and more competitive than that in local races.
It would be difficult to develop as a golfer and triathlete at the same time unless you have unlimited time, and even then, it would be difficult to go to the driving range on the same day as a long run, so even with unlimited time - - it would probably be difficult. My guess is most people who are reasonably good at both sports probably developed their prowess at each sport individually.
“Can you be a fast triathlete and a good golfer?”
**
No, but…
You can be a **FAT triathlete and a good golfer. **
I had a handicap of +1 the summer I got into triathlons. Since then I have picked up my clubs only a handful of times, and don’t even want to know what I would shoot at the moment. Both sports require a lot of time and dedication.
Probably depends on whether you train for tri’s year round, or maybe peak for the 2nd time in july/august then take some time off, in which case would leave you with time and good whether to play golf.
Not quite golf, but Georgie Hincapie plays tennis every day during the pro cycling off season, and starts playing the day after his last race.
-Physiojoe
There’s only so many hours in a weekend, so one must make a choice…
As another poster said, both take time and dedication (if you want to be good at golf).
I used to be fast enough to win my share of races and age group awards. I still place well in my age group with mostly podium finishes when I race, about 8-10 times per year, but I’m getting older (55 and been racing for 21 years)…I’m also a 4 handicapp golfer. I started playing golf about 2 years ago when my banker asked me to play. I play once or twice a week and practice at the range once per week.
Yes, they are both expensive. They both require alot of practice/training. As in cycling/triathlons get a “fit” to your golf clubs…it makes a huge difference. My Ping G10s are 1 inch long, over size grips, and 4 1/2 degree upright. Golf club fit is extremely important to your game, as much or more then the correct bike fit.
I also have lots of time, as in, I only work a few hours a day at the most and whenever those hours are.
If you don’t have a job, then yes. Unfortunately, performance falls off quite a bit in each with a lack of practice.
Back in HS, I used to try to play golf and run track at the same time, and though I was OK at both, I never even got close to my potential at either (golf took care of any aerobic base miles I would have been doing, and it was a struggle each week just to make the Varsity squad for the next golf tournament when your shaking on the tee box from the leg burning, lung bursting set of 300’s you just ran).
Now I’m doing it right, and sticking with one. And overall, I think my blood pressure agrees with the choice…
Think you have to define “good” and “fast”. Then do you have a family or job to add in to the mix? I think you need to play golf twice a week and pick clubs a couple more days so that is a minimum of 10-12 hours a week to maintain “good” golf skills. To get “good” me thinks you need to play a lot more than that. The tri varies, but most “fast” triathletes for short course probably train 10-15 hours a week. Between a job/no kids, I don’t see me having anywhere near that amount of time to spare to do both. If I could get rid of the job maybe.
I used to be a 3.6 Handicap Index and you can definitely NOT be a good golfer and a good triathlete. The two sports are altogether too time-consuming.
Ya gotta wait til you get rid of the kids : ) At about 18 when they are gone to college…you can play more golf and bike/run/swim more miles. Oh, and have a wonderful wife that lets you buy all the needed toys and lets you have time to play with them.
about a decade ago, a fellow in ATL was both an excellent triathlete and pretty good golfer (never saw him play).
His name was Jay Marschall who went about 9:20 in Kona i think as 35 year old…
He worked some with Billy Andrade and probably other golfers on fitness as Jay was a coach. I remember him talking about playing speedgolf with Billy…and I think they shot pretty good…don’t remember the score.
Jay played hs golf and I believe he was on team at Purdue before he took up tris for better conditioning; his father was good golfer too.
Jay I think is still a coach in Billings, MT and his website was CoachJay…maybe he could give you his views