Is it the club or is it the ball? – golf – Brief Article
So what else is new? The game’s traditionalists have been concerned about the threat of new technology since at least as far back as 1907. That year a magazine article warned that if the U.S. Golf Association failed to do something about limiting the power in the “modern” golf ball, the average drive would be 300 yards.
Every 25 years or so since then we’ve heard “Something must be done” to stop the ball from going any farther. This time such critics have been bold enough to suggest not only that distance must be checked but that it must be reduced to keep the classic old courses from being turned into veritable pitch and putts.
It is true that the most accomplished golfers are compromising the architectural integrity of some courses. But is this not what the very elite are expected to do? Are we trying to identify the best golfer at the Open championships? Or are we trying to see how well course designs will hold up when the best players tackle them?
If it is both, we need to hold these championships on those courses designed and set up to test the highest level of skill, rather than reduce the distance of the ball, which will unduly affect the other 99.99 percent of golfers.
The club–specifically the driver–has also become better and longer, particularly since the introduction of the metal wood. In the next five years or so, as manufacturers exploit the “spring-like effect” of thin titanium clubfaces, the best golfers are likely to be able to hit the ball, on average, another 10 yards farther than they can today. And that’s it. Mother Nature will not allow for any more than 15 yards (unless it is the result of improved athletic ability) if potential enhancements to the club and ball are both taken into account.
The game will not be irreparably harmed if the guardians decide to reduce the distance of the ball by 25 to 30 yards, which is the extent of the problem the elite players seem to be creating. On the other hand, will the game be better off by such a reduction? The answer is also probably “no.”
That said, if something has to be done to reduce the distance the elite golfers are getting, then place the limits on the one piece of equipment that only those players with the fastest and most consistent swings can most take advantage of–the driver.
But before such a major disruption takes place, there must be sound data to support it, and we must be sure that such a move is in the best interests of the game.
While this all-important decision is being pondered, the administrators of the game, with the help of all golfers, should tackle the real problems impeding the growth and enjoyment of golf–the lack of facilities for beginning golfers and the curse of slow play, to name two.
After all, what golfer ever gave up the game because he or she was hitting the ball too far?
Author: Frank Thomas