Pretty well sums me up as well Bushy.
The PGATour doesnt hold the interest for me it once did, nor do a number of other sports, but golf is my thing and I'm turning off. The Tour wont care unless there is a movement to turn off which I suspect isnt really there.
On Bryson........well done, he was given a set of circumstances and has figured out how to win repeatedly. He's also a young bloke so I will cut him some slack.
Commish@PGATour.com
Get your input in OzGolfers!!!
here is a thought, perhaps the way to Bryson proof the course is to widen the fairways.
He said something like "nobody is going to hit fairways here, so its better to miss them long"
I think that there are at least 2 separate objectives that people who suggest a rollback are trying to achieve.
The first is to stop the continual lengthening of courses. Ever increasing course length contributes to a multitude of issues, slow play, increased maintenance costs, increased water usage, decline in relevance for classic courses etc. As pointed out by others, an equipment rollback isn't the only way to stop the lengthening of courses, we could just stop lengthening them... The problem being that the golf community has an idea of what constitutes the game of golf and a part of that is having holes of different lengths that require a different number of shots to reach the green. This idea is rooted in the history of the game and I think many would agree that it is part of what makes golf on a 'normal' course more appealing than say a par 3 course. Already on the pga tour there are very few par 5's that require 3 shots for the pros. If distances keep increasing and courses aren't to be lengthened then we'll be rapidly approaching the point where a number of courses are effectively 14 Par 3's and a couple of par 4's. Some might enjoy watching that, but I prefer watching when there is increased variety in the holes and the ways that scoring well can be achieved.
The second objective is to restore more balance between the skills of power, accuracy, trajectory management, finesse. I don't think anyone wants to see the situation where power and length isn't an advantage, it should be rewarded but in a more proportionate manner. Your example of the 2-iron is perhaps too simplistic. The idea of requiring a longer club into a green is not about what specific club is used but is rather about the inherent difficulties in hitting a longer club. They are (at least traditionally), harder to control and generally result in lower trajectories that make holding a green more difficult. If someone is able to hit a high, straight 2 iron into a green then great! That is a difficult shot and one that should be rewarded.
Personally I don't really mind how those objectives are achieved, but the current attempts to control it by changing courses and course conditions are proving ineffective and are also very expensive. I also don't really understand the vehement opposition to increased equipment regulation. It is something that almost every sport has done to preserve some characteristics of the game (tennis, baseball, cricket to name a few). Golf has also had multiple equipment regulation changes (ball size, COR, grooves, club lengths) throughout it's history. I can't see how the rollbacks that are being proposed will lessen anyone's enjoyment of the game, in fact it may be the opposite, quicker rounds, fewer lost balls, no real change to scores.
My main problem with the whole discussion is there are no specific roll backs being proposed. They hit it too far seems to be the refrain but that's as far as anyone gets.
You can roll back as much as you want as far as you want but people are bigger and stronger than they were 150 years ago. It might take 5 or 15 years to catch up but ultimately they'll hit the ball as far as they do now. And doing this will only increase the gap between the short and long hitters.
I maintain if you want to see longer shots hit into greens you do this by designating starting points for approach shots, not by limiting the finishing points of tee shots.
The funny thing is the only way to achieve what you want might be with a course of 16 par 3s of between 100 and 250m and and 2 par 4s of 500+ metres. Then what do you do about cavity backs and hybrids etc? They won't be hitting the wafer thin blades of yesteryear.
FWIW I proposed specifically having a control ball that spins much more, lowering the cc of driver and lowering the COR/CT. I agree it’s all a bit ‘the vibe’ generally, but is that worse than having our head in the sand and having pro golf continue to evolve into driver-wedge every hole. The whole ‘chicks dig the long ball’ thing is bollocks. If driving was the most entertaining part of the game long drive contests would draw bigger ratings than the masters and they’d put the grandstands around the tees instead of the greens.
Cinderella story, out of nowhere, former greenskeeper, now about to become a Masters champion..... It looks like a mirac.. It's in the hole! It's in the hole!
All of the above have merit, but they all have negatives too. Very difficult position for ruling bodies to be in.
Personally i would love to see maximum club length to be 44.50"
Cinderella story, out of nowhere, former greenskeeper, now about to become a Masters champion..... It looks like a mirac.. It's in the hole! It's in the hole!
One day someone is going to win a major by hitting their 2nd shots from the car park. Twitter will overload.
Cinderella story, out of nowhere, former greenskeeper, now about to become a Masters champion..... It looks like a mirac.. It's in the hole! It's in the hole!
Watch the Euro tour. Problem solved
Once you go yellow, you will never go back
Close enough. https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gol...drop-1.3165136
Cinderella story, out of nowhere, former greenskeeper, now about to become a Masters champion..... It looks like a mirac.. It's in the hole! It's in the hole!
Ogilvy is pretty spot on from about 17 minutes.
Pretty much saying using length to “Tiger Proof” courses back in 98 was the wrong way to go.
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcas...0-f78f3a5e4200
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