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Is backgammon like golf?

Posted By: Henrik Bukkjaer
Date: Tuesday, 25 September 2012, at 7:31 a.m.

In Response To: Is backgammon like golf? (Timothy Chow)

I think it depends on the level you play at, and what your objectives are. (for both diciplines). But I think you have the same boxes to fall into.

I feel the same way about playing golf as CMC describes. But maybe, if I were a playing pro, I'd be more focused on my scoring than the beauty of the game. Scrambling home a sub par round would by far be more important than hitting controlled fades and draws, if that's what puts food on the table.

I've played and lost heads up matches (matchplay) where I had a superb feeling afterwards. A feeling of having played my best game but just being beaten by someone who scored so low that I couldn't do anything about it (once when I was playing in a series where you should have at least a handicap of 4, I was 2 under par after 16 holes having lost 3 and 2! There were no way, at that time, I could have beat a player shooting -4 or better, so why get upset).

It's comparable to loosing a backgammon match, having played a sub-2 PR, if your opponent was playing better.

I'd say, that the only differences when comparing the games like this, is:

1) In backgammon, you can play your opponent. You don't really have that dimension in golf (except for some psychological game in matchplay). The effect is, that even though you play a low PR, you might still think you could have done something more/different to win.

2) In golf, there's not a clearly defined "best move" for each shot (except for putting). So you can make individual shots that are so well executed, that they can save your entire day. The same shot (moving the ball from A to B) can be accomplished in so many different ways, leaving room for these "feel good" shots. If you really miss the sweet spot and make a very bad shot, but it hits a tree or a sprinkler cover, and ends up bouncing right up to the flag, you might stand there with a smile on your face, but you a certainly not feeling 100% joy over such a shot. It's more like a "got out of jail feeling".

As in tennis or badminton, if you hit a high soft ball just over the net, you are lying down on the playing surface, and your opponent is there well in time to execute an easy winner, but misses the shot. I suppose most people would not celebrate such a win very enthusiastic?

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In short: I suppose your comparison holds true, if your backgammon objective is to play a low PR, and your golf objective is to shoot a low score.

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