Nicklaus suggests a 20% rollback in driving distance - Page 5

How about instead of fooling with equipment we just make them swing blindfolded? I'm against dialing it back for several reasons but mostly because I like watching them hit the shit out of the ball. Who the hell wants to watch vanilla golf? Did I enjoy watching Corey Pavin back in the day? Yeah but not as much as I enjoyed watching Freddie Couples bomb it past him. Also, distance is a big selling point for equipment. If you limit that, why would companies spend money in R & D depts to come up with new clubs/balls? Think of the people reliant on that industry for their jobs. Then think of the Pro shops that make a margin on selling that equipment, etc..... You can always make the old courses play harder for them. Increase the length of the rough, make the greens quicker, tougher pin placements, etc.......

Players have been driving par 4s for years. Arnold Palmer did it in the 1960 US Open on a 346 yard hole. Last time I checked, they didn't have titanium heads or a modern ball in 1960.

This discussion has been going on at least since Ted Ray was hitting the ball over 300 yards with a Haskell and hickory shafted clubs.

 

‘The Haskell, or lively rubber ball, proved to be the most radical and revolutionary innovation the game has known. It was directly responsible for the prodigious growth of the game, which with the old Gutty was restricted in interest mainly to persons who were willing to study and work with it until they were at least decently proficient.

The fascination of the new ballistics was by no means restricted to players of golf. The manufacturers, after catching their breath, started out on an orgy of experimental production. They put practically everything inside the rubber strands from soft soap to some sort of acid that ruined the eyes of inquisitive children who cut into the missiles or bit them open. They made the balls smaller and smaller and wound the strands tighter and tighter, and Ted Ray and Abe Mitchell hit them farther and farther until finally the legislative powers took hold of the situation to prevent the standardized golf courses from being scrapped and made over on the Great Plains of the middle west or the Desert of Sahara; and for other purposes as the conventional legislative bills recite.’

 

The Bobby Jones’ Story, from the writings of O.B. Keeler by Grantland Rice

Well I for one I hadn't read that, thanks. You can't argue with hard data!