Lots of things that we call "sports" aren't really that. Poker/Bowling/Darts on ESPN, curling at the Olympics (they used to smoke while playing before everywhere went smoke free), etc. Golf is somewhere in the middle. Tiger can bench press 300 lbs, or could at the time his workout routine was chronicled in Men's Fitness a few years back, but Angel Cabrera was until recently smoking during his rounds! Tiger came along and brought the fitness aspect into golf, and a lot of guys followed, realizing that more strength = more distance...But that said, tons of other pros sport guts, man boobs, etc. It's weird. You had Adam Scott, a pretty fit guy, in a playoff with an middle-aged former chain smoking Spaniard at the Masters (Cabrera). Scott could run laps around Cabrera who would probably die if JJ's "run after the shot" thing was implemented...yet they were shot for shot until the end. Crazy...
Long-winded rant over, I say golf is a sport...it's not Olympic swimming, but it ain't poker either. And it takes more skill than wearing sunglasses inside while playing cards