Runaway technology threatens golf courses worse than steroids threaten baseball

Aug 17

Runaway technology threatens golf courses worse than steroids threaten baseball

Golf Blogger brought up in his blog how John Daly repeated his feat of reaching the Par 5 17th at Baltusrol in two.

Golf Blogger, as he tends to do, blogs without offering definitive opinions. He stated this is an “Exhibit A for how much technology has changed the game in the last 10 years.”

I’ll take it a bit further. The technology of today is a problem for golf worse than steroids are for baseball. Today’s rocket propelling golf clubs are making a joke out of great golf courses all throughout the World. Yes, one has to harness the technology to make it useful. Unfortunately, golf courses cannot keep up.

Steroids threaten the integrity of baseball by simply casting doubt on players’ performance. The stadiums themselves do not necessarily become irrelevant. Pitchers apparently use steroids more than hitters. Steroids increase run production some, but they do not greatly affect the integrity of the stadiums.

New technology can indeed give plenty of distance to amature and pro golfers. Fortunately, no technology can take the skill and the challenge out of putting.

I would love to know what Golf Blogger thinks.

Rebel

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6 comments

§ John McG said on : 2005-08-17 @ 09:45
We're all hitting the ball farther than we did twenty years ago, even though we're all twenty years older. But is the game really any more fun than it was twenty years ago?
§ Ron Mon® said on : 2005-08-18 @ 06:58
Horse crap to both of you. We are not "hitting it farther." Tour pros are hitting it farther. We're hitting it better/squarer off the tee, with fewer big slices and duck hooks. Now we just hit pushes and pulls. However, no matter how good the iron, metal, or rescue, you still need to put a swing on the ball and have the stones to complete the move. I venture that average handicaps have not moved in the last thirty years, and that the only people improving today are the same ones that improved in days of yore: the ones who work at it, take lessons, and decide for themselves that earning a game is more satisfying than buying one.
§ Danny said on : 2005-08-19 @ 13:46
Technology is not taking away from golf, that is an outrageous statement. I am an amatuer golfer, but even I know thatif someone is going to learn to play with fundamentals and they use really good clubs, the day will come when they must use terrible ones and they will still have to perform. Learning is learning regardless of how easy it is and if you are truly going to be a great golfer, you wont care what clubs you use. I dont mean to boast, so I wont, but using clubs that were 15 years old in makeshift condition, I shot par at sebastopol CA's course. Now I have a set of John Daly's that if anything just have a better grip and cleaner more noticeable edge on the face. I say it all depends on how clean your game is and weather or not you are still taking it seriously. Oh yeah, dont forget to enjoy it.
§ neil said on : 2005-08-20 @ 03:39

Technology has made it easier for mediocre players to get into the top 125 money makers. Not only are the clubs easier to hit the ball is rediculous. Jack would have won 30 majors with the balls available today.How many more putts would he have made with a ball that doesn't go out of round with each hard drive? Not only is the playing equipment much better, the advances in turf and it's management makes it a completely different game.
Why isn't baseball going to cork filled titanium bats?Wouldn't the fans just love to watch one home run derby after another? As for basketball, I don't know what the average height of the player of today is but they are all much taller than the guys that used to play the real game rather than the showboating joke it has become.
I personally miss the feel of real golf shoes and the sound of them when walking across a cart path. But the biggest fatality is the sound and feel of a well struck Persimmon Driver on a mountain top course.What really is the point of this obsession with hitting the ball further. Metal woods sound like crap and have no relation to the past great players equipment. If everyone is using the same technology and a 250 yard drive is equivalent to todays 330 yard drive, who is hurt besides the manufacturers that sell tons of new drivers every year? When does it stop? Our game has become a ride in a little buggy with computer screens to mess with and worries about when the drink cart will come around again ...it is pathetic. When I began playing in the 60s we wouldn't think of getting on a course if we couldn't progress the ball at least 150 yards off the tee, not because we could buy a club and ball that could go that far but because we practiced and learned how to strike the ball correctly . Now courses are full of "players" that have bought their game, they have never bothered to put any effort into really learning the game that they claim to love.Even with all of the technology they still don't carry the ball 200 yards and yet they still insist on playing "the whole course" from the tournament tees.
The jerks have ruined my game!
§ EJ said on : 2005-09-09 @ 22:18
There is no doubt that club technology has changed the game. And mediocre players have benefitted more so than the great players. Why? The great players hit the ball on the dime far more often than the resto of us. But the sweet spot is no longer the size of a dime. On the 460cc drives it seems like it is as big as a 50 cent piece. Perimeter weighted clubs helped a lot of professionals also as it increased the size of the sweet spot. Personally I use the new drivers and the graphite shafts and golf balls that add all this distance. But as a true golf afficionado, I am saddened by the overpowering of real good golf courses. It cheapens the game.
§ Mike Hamilton said on : 2005-11-15 @ 09:38
While I agree that technology had improved everyones game, more so the beginner who hasn't had to struggle with hand me down clubs from their fathers like I grew up learning the game. Which really made me appreciate making even par in those days and now almost seems like it is expected by most golfers. But something else has bothered me in the last 10-15 years or so. When growing up in the 60's and learning the game from my dad, one thing I always remembered him saying was that the day he had to ride to play a round of golf, was the day he would quit playing. Sadly, my father passed away in 1987 and so in a way, was spared the mega courses that are common today. Courses so spread out, that the front and back nines are in different zip codes. A cart is almost a must now days to play a round so if you did walk, you would be passed by the group behind you driving a cart going from hole to hole. I try to walk at least one round each year just so I can stay in touch with the tradition that my father passed on to me for the enjoyment of taking the time to really get a feel for the course and it's layout, not staying on the path most traveled but taking one less traveled. I had the pleasure of being at the Senior Open here in Dayton Ohio this year and found it refreshing to walk and watch the Seniors play, being able to walk from green to tee without having to get a trip-tick from AAA. Take a break from riding and take a stroll once in a while and get to know the course in a more personal way. And I know I could use the exercise from time to time. Who knows, maybe if more of us walked, they would build new courses with that in mind.