Aug 17

Uproar over advancing technology in golf equipment is silly

All this worry and hand-wringing over advancing technology in golf equipment strikes me as a little hysterical.

It reminds me of that era when basketball fans were clamoring to have the basket moved higher than 10 feet, when it seemed like everyone and his brother was dunking. Thank god the basketball gods never did, because it would have changed the game, making it different from the one you and I play.

Yes, pro golfers are longer off the tee these days, just like hoopsters are dunking more. But, at least from a specators’ vantage, isn’t it fun to watch high-flying slamma-jammas? And in golf, isn’t it fun to watch Tiger Woods drive a par-4?

Basketball is about more than just leaping – it has a hundred different subtlties. Golf is the same – it’s about more than just slamming the ball off the tee. If they start restricting the pros’ equipment, it will remove that connection to the fans. Jack Nicklaus is full of beans – he just doesn’t want to see any of his precious records broken.

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9 comments

§ Jonathan said on : 08/17/05 @ 10:32
Sports Science Engineering is here to stay and engineers will continuously offer up improvements to all sports. If Thomas L. Friedman’s book, The World is Flat is even half correct then the sports world will even get flatter. Get used to it Jack.
See:
http://stemce11.blogspot.com/2005/08/mickelsons-dimpled-spheroids.html
§ James said on : 08/17/05 @ 17:02
I still have my persimmon driver in the bag, and I hit it straight and 240 every time. My short game sucks though.
§ Leonard said on : 08/17/05 @ 22:08
Courses would be fine if the tour didn't set them up for 40 yards roll everytime a drive hits a fairway. The answer is tall rough, firm greens and narrow fairways.
§ Greg Pinelli said on : 08/18/05 @ 10:28
Nicklaus is right...He is not simply talking about clubs. Their effect on course design and redesign is clear enough. It's the ball. Golf is all about 2 concepts...distance and scatter. The most advanced balls marry the latest club technology and viola!! You have 500 yard par 4s at Baltusrol. Ridiculous!
This is precisely the point that makes it impossible to compare players of the last 10-15 years with others in any era...they literally are beginning to play a game called golf but one that has less and less to do with any benchmark that was once familiar.
§ Tim McDonald® said on : 08/18/05 @ 10:53
Greg -- good point, but consider this. Again, I'll use other sports as examples. Technology and human development have improved substantially in basketball, baseball and football, but generational comparisons there are still viable.

Granted, equipment is much more important in golf than any of those sports, but I think not enough to render comparisons invalid. They still have to chip and putt and be accurate off the tee.

I hope you're not going to call for asterisks.
§ Jim COULTHARD said on : 08/18/05 @ 15:08
Equipment is very important in BASEBALL--and that is why Major League batters use wooden bats. Fan don't weem to be bothered even if everybody else uses the higher performance metal bats.
§ Greg Pinelli said on : 08/18/05 @ 21:37
In fact....hoops should be higher in basketball and goals larger in soccer. Have you been to a High School basketball game lately? Nearly every player can dunk the ball. Player size and shoe technology are making shooting...real shooting less valuable and young players practice those skills less. Goals built for 5'10" goalies is practically ruining the offensive side of soccer.
The ONLY reason there is NOT an effective technology standard in golf that protects the integrity of golf courses that stood the test for decades is the Karsten lawsuit. A suit, by the way, that has done incredible harm to the game. Baltisrol is only the latest of the golf course Frankensteins. 500+ par 4s?? 650 yd par 5s?? Ridiculous. Except that......if Baltusrol were played from the same configuaration it was in the 1970s for a Major the winning score would have been -25 or better.
The realization then would have been what the reality truly is...technology has changed golf to a degree that it is becoming unrecognizable.
Chipping and putting will always be important and separate players because technology is rapidly equalizing every other aspect of the game...or making it obsolete. It simply proves the point.
§ adam said on : 08/19/05 @ 10:31
the problem i have is the following: spectators, touring pros, and especially the equipment manufacturers don't have to pay for lengthening (or moving fairway bunkers foward or altering greens) the non-tour courses that the majority of the world plays on ... myself and the other 200 members of my club just dumped $10K into my course 5 years ago and now they're looking for another $5K ... we're actually the victims in this "victim-less" crime
§ Shanks said on : 08/24/05 @ 10:33
All this course lengthening is crazy. We all know that technology is much improved so that the better players are scoring lower than they used to. So what? The difference between players is relative. EVERYBODY in the field is hitting it further than they would with the old equipment. Longer hitters will always have an advantage if they can keep it out of the rough/trees. Shorter hitters have to catch up with accuracy and putting. That will never change.