Looked into the history of golfing pros which I am not one and I'm certain there are no bloggers here that make their living at playing golf.
That being said and even though there may be 1 percent that will claim they do, this is what I found out.
Years ago it was normal as was shorter shafts for the driver and woods.
These changes came about by mfg's not golfers, pros or otherwise.
Using the best hit club in ones bag, usually the 7, sometimes the 8 and mimicking the very same length, weight, etc, etc so that each club from the 9 through your highest iron are identical except for loft, (assuming you do not use hybrids which by the way have shorter shafts anyway) does indeed make the swing consist and, one gets a single swing for every club, and in the end ones swing is enhanced by the repetitive constant swing. Made sense back then and for 15 years 1-iron has been doing this. It's not for everyone since some golfers (weekenders-hackers-me) have to buy every teaching aide, club, glove, accessory, read every book, article and so on, believing this one will be the answer. Harvey Pennick's Little Red book would be a great read for any person that plays golf. He's instructed many big names in golf and thousands of college golfers here in Texas. What he has to say makes golf simple, which is what golf is in reality, a simple game.
Now for shafts. Shorter is better for shorter golfers or golfers that have problems swinging some clubs (high irons, woods, drivers). That's why hybrids (some don't like them but they do work very well for those that use them properly) have been such a hit with weekenders and pros alike. Taller golfers need obviously a longer club. Basic math and physics tells us that. But for Bubba Watson to hit a 46 inch driver is a foolish reason for a 5 foot 8 inch golfer to hit the same length club. Again, it's just math and physics, plus a lot of common sense.
All of my woods are 41.5 with my hybrids being an inch to an inch and a half shorter. I'm old, dissabled with a bad back and bad knee. Shortening my woods have improved my accuracy by 75%. I can hit every fairway if I do my job and just trust the club. Not a lot of golfers have gotten to the point where they trust their clubs and this idea of making every iron in the bag identical in length and feel corrects that for a lot of golfers.
People have always drive the ball for show and pitch and putt for the dough or so it's said. It's funny with all the courses (all public and most private clubs) there are no par 4's that I have seen that are not reachable by a golfer hitting a drive of 250 yards total distance (which for some is considered a short hitter) plus a fairway wood or hybrid or even a high iron if they are prone to use them, another 200 too 225 yards. This would put a golfer 475 down the center of the fairway and a good chance to par if they hit and stuck on the green or at least a chance to chip on and one putt. Shooting par as a weekender is and oddity if played by PGA rules on an approved PGA course.
Lee Trevino said it best. If a weekend golfer can play a round on a PGA course and play by the rules and shoot bogie golf or better, it's equal to a pro hitting par on the same course. Since not every pro on every tourney has an even par or better accumulative score at the end of the tourney, it seems he is correct. Less than 10 to 15% of all the entrants of a PGA tour end up hitting even par or better. Just go look at any PGA event and locate the number of golfers that paid to play the qualifying round and then how many ended up shooting even par or better. You'd be amazed at the results.
I'm not nor ever will be a 300 yard hitter nor a long iron hitter. It's not my goal nor is it reasonable for me to expect to do this regularly. It's great to hit a good round. Those few shots that make you smile get you to come back next time
At the last seniors PGA Classic in Europe this year @ 75 golfers entered the tourney and at the end of those that made the cut and played the tourney only @ 10 people had even par or better accumulative rounds in the end. That in it's self proved again what Lee said. It's hard enough for a pro to hit a par round every time he/she goes out, much less for a weekend golfer (one that plays 36 rounds of golf a year or more) to do.
Mfg's have changed lofts on clubs but still called them what they were before lofts changed and used this modification to convince weekend golfers that their clubs hit further than the competition where in fact they're hitting an iron with less loft and nothing else.
Play your game, for your enjoyment, it's just a game. Hope to play well, hope to improve, enjoy the game, play by the rules, putt every ball out, don't improve your lie, don't take mulligans, etc, etc, etc. If at the end you can hit bogie golf or better buy yourself a cold one, you deserve it, you played just like a pro according to Lee Trevino.
Doc
