What's the difference?

So which sport is the hardest? Some will tell you anyone can put a ball in a basket or run a football into the end zone. Tennis? You can easily return a lob back over the Net without really trying. Driving a race car is tough but if you have the nerve, the skills are not needed if you just rolling along the track at 180 mph by yourself.

Which brings us to golf and baseball. The baseball crowd will tell you that hitting a major-league curve ball is the hardest thing to do and having playing a lot of baseball in my younger years, I would agree that's one tough puppy to knock out of the park (or down the line or into the outfield). You not only have to have the eye to catch the spin on the ball, but you have to guess how that spin is going to carry the orb across the plate and swing according. Still, it's done every day by Little Leaguers to big-legauers.

Now golf is a different matter and I pick that as the hardest sport because it involves the most unnatural movement of the body to come in contact with the ball. Your entire body plays a part in hitting a golf ball straight, let alone 275 yards out. And you have to adjust your stance, your grip, the degree in which you turn your hips and break your wrists.

That's why you don't find many non-golfers watching the sport as you would, say, a pro basketball game. They just don't understand the game and how difficult it really can be. To top it all, your mental attitude is critical in golf. It's quiet, there's just you and the ball, and that swing. If you think it will push off to the right, it likely will. Confidence is another big key to game.

So there you have it. For my money, golf is the toughest sport to master on the planet. You can be a track star just by running and working your body into peak condition. Yes, that takes willpower and confidence as well as ability. But not as much as golf.

So the next time someone turns on a golf game and you're in a sports bar, watch them swing those sticks and move all those body parts just to get a shot off so they can get yet another try at putting the ball closer to the hole.

Trust me, folks. It's a lot harder than it looks.