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Shifting trends on the PGA tour.


uttexas
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Until recently, the long hitters, most notably Tiger, Phil, Duval, and Vijay were dominating the tour and majors. Courses were stretched and the groove rule changed. current OWGR top ten: Donald, Westwood, Kaymer, Mickelson, McDowell, McIlroy, Kuchar, Stricker, Casey, Schwartzel. McIroy and Mickelson can be considered long, with the rest being average or short hitters. The last ten major champions: Schwartzel, Kaymer, Oosthuizen, McDowell, Mickelson, Cabrera, Glover, Cink, YE Yang, Harrington. Mickelson and Cabrera can really bomb it, but the rest, not so much. Swings have changed. Donald, Kuchar, Kaymer, and Schwartzel look like they are stamping out bottle caps with their centered pivot crisp swings. Up until recently, the best golfers in the world looked like they were taking huge lashes at the golf ball.

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Mizuno MP600 driver, Cleveland '09 Launcher 3-wood, Callaway FTiz 18 degree hybrid, Cleveland TA1 3-9, Scratch SS8620 47, 53, 58, Cleveland Classic 2 mid-mallet, Bridgestone B330S, Sun Mountain four5.

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Casey is known to be long. Kaymer too IIRC.

But I will agree that there are more and more players moving towards "not moving" off the ball quite so much.

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A few other ways of looking at it: Average driving distance rank: Donald: 163 Westwood: 36 Kaymer: 80 Mickelson: 16 McDowell: 123 McIlroy: 9 Kuchar: 121 Stricker: 137 Casey: 52 Scwartzel: 86 Only three top ten OWGR player in the top 50 of driving distance, and four top ten OWGR players in the bottom 65 of driving distance. Average driving distance on PGA tour last five years (yds) 2006 289.5 2007 289.1 2009 288.1 2010 287.3 2011 286.9 The average PGA tour player is driving the ball shorter over the past five years Compared to the 15 years before 2006. The average tour players were hitting the ball further and further just about every year. 1990 262.7 1991 261.4 1992 260.4 1993 260.2 1994 261.9 1995 263.4 1996 266.4 1997 267.6 1998 270.5 1999 272.5 2000 273.2 2001 279.4 2002 279.8 2003 286.6 2004 287.2 2005 288.6 2006 289.5

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Yeah Westwood is known on tour as one of the best drivers, pretty long and straight too.

Originally Posted by iacas

Casey is known to be long. Kaymer too IIRC.

But I will agree that there are more and more players moving towards "not moving" off the ball quite so much.



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You could probably equate a lot of the increase in driving distance to the improved technology of balls and drivers, as well as the better fitting of equipment to the player. As the maximum legal limits in equipment have been reached, there really isn't much more yardage to be gained. Sure there are the J.B. Holmes, Bubba Watson's and Dustin Johnson's, but everyone else seems to be bundled in that 275-290 range. From there, it's all about approach shots, short game and putting.  Which is why you are seeing Mark Wilson, Luke Donald and Jonathan Byrd winning tournaments.

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The driver distance boom started when titanium supplanted persimmon in the 1990s. The Pro-V1 debuted in late 2000, and average distance jumped ten yards overnight. Driver head sizes were capped at 460cc in the mid 2000s, and ball development in recent years has focused on greenside performance. Driver distances are capped for now, at least until R&D; at ball manufacturers decide to up the ante again in that category. As for the the players in the top ten, length doesn't enter into the equation when you try to categorize those players. What you have are very consistent tee-to-green players with passable, but streaky, short games (Westwood, Kaymer, McIlroy, Kuchar, Casey, Schwartzel), and relatively inconsistent, but still above-average, tee-to-green players with fantastic short games (Donald, Mickelson, McDowell, Stricker).
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Originally Posted by Chilli Dipper

The driver distance boom started when titanium supplanted persimmon in the 1990s.

Well, steel came first, remember.

Originally Posted by Chilli Dipper

Driver distances are capped for now, at least until R&D; at ball manufacturers decide to up the ante again in that category.


Balls are limited under the Rules of Golf to an overall distance standard. I know how dangerous it can be to say things like this, but I think they're basically at the tail end of how far the ball can go within the rules . If there were no rules, I don't know that I would ever say that. We could probably make a ball go 300 yards with a 75 MPH swing speed if that pesky ODS wasn't in there.

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If Donald could figure out how to get another 30 yards out of his driver he has a shot at really dominating (assuming  it didn't hurt his iron play) for quite some time.

Joe Paradiso

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Steel headed drivers were no longer than persimmon (for people who could actually hit a long ball that is).

Originally Posted by iacas

Well, steel came first, remember.

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If Donald could figure out how to get another 30 yards out of his driver he has a shot at really dominating (assuming  it didn't hurt his iron play) for quite some time.

He did try that, the last time found himself among the world's top few players (roughly 2006). It did hurt his iron play, and it eventually hurt his wrists. He abandoned that strategy, shifted his focus to improving his short game, and the rest is current events.

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If Donald could figure out how to get another 30 yards out of his driver he has a shot at really dominating (assuming it didn't hurt his iron play) for quite some time.

yeah then maybe he could become #1?

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Originally Posted by walk18

Quote:

Originally Posted by newtogolf

If Donald could figure out how to get another 30 yards out of his driver he has a shot at really dominating (assuming it didn't hurt his iron play) for quite some time.

yeah then maybe he could become #1?



Other than for that 1 week, would you call his play this year "dominating"?

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Originally Posted by sean_miller

Other than for that 1 week, would you call his play this year "dominating"?

Hmmmmm... let's see:

Official World Golf Ranking: #1

FedEx Ranking: #1
European Tour Ranking: #1

yes, I would definitely call his play this year "dominating".

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"I have my own golf course and Par is whatever I say it is. There's a hole which is a Par13 and yesterday I damn nearly birdied that sucker." - Willie Nelson

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Originally Posted by sean_miller

Other than for that 1 week, would you call his play this year "dominating"?





Originally Posted by mihi4

Hmmmmm... let's see:

Official World Golf Ranking: #1

FedEx Ranking: #1

European Tour Ranking: #1

yes, I would definitely call his play this year "dominating".


But, we still have to ask...therein lies the problem with the golf rankings and the term "dominating". I would describe his play as the most consistently consistent over the course of two years.  Not that I don't think that he deserves it but I would like to see a major under his white belt.

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Originally Posted by TourSpoon

But, we still have to ask...therein lies the problem with the golf rankings and the term "dominating". I would describe his play as the most consistently consistent over the course of two years.  Not that I don't think that he deserves it but I would like to see a major under his white belt.

I think, that's a thing, everybody sees as she/he likes.

To me, the best player is someone who competes day in, day out and like Luke is in the top10 for the last 10 tournaments he entered.

Winning a major is a great goal, _once_ you are in the position above, of course.

But there are so many one-hit-wonders winning major championships, that to me, majors are nice, yeah, but not the foundation to define the #1 player.

In football, only the team which is the best _over_the_full_season gets the superbowl ring.

just my 2 cents...

greetings

michi

"I have my own golf course and Par is whatever I say it is. There's a hole which is a Par13 and yesterday I damn nearly birdied that sucker." - Willie Nelson

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Quote:
Originally Posted by TourSpoon View Post

But, we still have to ask...therein lies the problem with the golf rankings and the term "dominating". I would describe his play as the most consistently consistent over the course of two years. Not that I don't think that he deserves it but I would like to see a major under his white belt.

I think, that's a thing, everybody sees as she/he likes.

To me, the best player is someone who competes day in, day out and like Luke is in the top10 for the last 10 tournaments he entered.

Winning a major is a great goal, _once_ you are in the position above, of course.

But there are so many one-hit-wonders winning major championships, that to me, majors are nice, yeah, but not the foundation to define the #1 player.

In football, only the team which is the best _over_the_full_season gets the superbowl ring.

just my 2 cents...

greetings

michi

Well, in football a wildcard team can win the whole thing, which plays more to your point of a one hit wonder, but to be in the money every week and win a major would just silence the critics.

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Originally Posted by mihi4

In football, only the team which is the best _over_the_full_season gets the superbowl ring.



The Giants and Patriots say hi!

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