No Tee - Solution for "Excessive" Driving Distance?

[Vinsk]

30 minutes ago, DrvFrShow said:

All this whinging by people like Nicklaus, Player, Faldo and others about the ball, the driver head, the tee, etc., is going to have one of two outcomes. It's going to screw the game for everyone or end up with bifurcation. It seems you can't go a week without reading about one of them whinging about this "problem." 

Most amateurs could actually use more distance, especially as they start approaching 70. Bifurcation will open Pandora's box.

Should the NBA raise the hoop to 14' because too many players dunk?

Those guys are completely out of touch with golf reality. I ignore them. Jack wants his 18 majors won protected as much as possible. Anything that can deter Tiger from reaching that he’ll be in favor of. They walked uphill on courses and used silver dollars glued to curtain rods for clubs. 

[turtleback]

6 hours ago, klineka said:

Why is that necessary though? That isn't what makes a tournament exciting IMO. 

Things like closely grouped leaderboards coming down the stretch sunday, tucked pin positions, high risk/high reward holes, etc are what make a tournament exciting IMO, not whether the winner hit his 4 iron at least once per round.

Also, making the longer player hit more of their bag is essentially making the game harder for everyone solely because the elite players are "too good". Should the NBA extend the 3 point line just because Steph Curry and Klay Thompson make too many 3s? Should baseball make every team move their fences back 30 feet because more home runs are being hit? No. Fans like to see offense of any kind, birdies, 3s, home runs, etc.

Narrowing the fairway at, say, 300 yards would be like the NBA racheting the basket up 2 feet whenever a good free-throw shooter goes to the line.  

[Double Mocha Man]

4 minutes ago, turtleback said:

Narrowing the fairway at, say, 300 yards would be like the NBA racheting the basket up 2 feet whenever a good free-throw shooter goes to the line.  

Good analogy!  Or removing the rails when I get better at bowling...

[Vinsk]

3 minutes ago, turtleback said:

Narrowing the fairway at, say, 300 yards would be like the NBA racheting the basket up 2 feet whenever a good free-throw shooter goes to the line.  

It’s those that think the physically gifted who hit it far make it ‘unfair.’ The ‘ I’m not 6’2 200lbs and lean.’ They fail to realize little guys are out there who bomb it as well. It’s that line of thinking...there were no ‘participation trophies’ in my young sports days. 

[DrvFrShow]

If they bifurcate, what about trifurcating? Can I play a Krank driver because I'm old and losing distance?

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Those guys are completely out of touch with golf reality. I ignore them. Jack wants his 18 majors won protected as much as possible. Anything that can deter Tiger from reaching that he’ll be in favor of. They walked uphill on courses and used silver dollars glued to curtain rods for clubs. 

I don’t think that’s got much to do with it.

[Mr22putt]

1 hour ago, DrvFrShow said:

Most amateurs could actually use more distance, especially as they start approaching 70. Bifurcation will open Pandora's box.

 

Agree.....whether 14 or 75 years old......basically all Am golfers can benefit from technology.

I'm 59 and can basically hit the ball as far, if not a bit further than when I was in my 20's.....and the clubs are far more forgiving too on miss hits.

My game would be crap if I was using my sticks from the 60's/70's.

Exception are the putters.....I've been using my dad's 1970 Ping Anser for decades....just replaced it with a Huntington Beach 1 putter....mixed results so far....it might get benched or even sold.

[Buckeyebowman]

Look if you want to hold the bombers in check, there are any number of easy things to do. And you don't need to change the rules. For those guys who bomb it out there 330-340, narrow the fairway and grow the rough. Maybe stick a bunker or two out there. You could even resort to "cut off" fairways, but I don't really like that move. The Euros did that to us in a Ryder Cup one year, to slow down our big hitters. 

[David in FL]

On 4/29/2020 at 4:03 PM, Vinsk said:

It’s those that think the physically gifted who hit it far make it ‘unfair.’ The ‘ I’m not 6’2 200lbs and lean.’ They fail to realize little guys are out there who bomb it as well. It’s that line of thinking...there were no ‘participation trophies’ in my young sports days. 

Yup

Here’s a concept.  The guy who’s better, wins.

Hitting it longer contributes toward better.

So says the older, short hitter....  😑

[CarlSpackler]

8 hours ago, David in FL said:

Yup

Here’s a concept.  The guy who’s better, wins.

Hitting it longer contributes toward better.

So says the older, short hitter....  😑

But if one person wins, then everyone doesn't get a trophy.

[billchao]

11 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

But if one person wins, then everyone doesn't get a trophy.

Not sure what this has to do with the PGA Tour.

[CarlSpackler]

5 minutes ago, billchao said:

Not sure what this has to do with the PGA Tour.

Sorry. I forgot to use my sarcasm font.

[Double Mocha Man]

1 hour ago, CarlSpackler said:

But if one person wins, then everyone doesn't get a trophy.

Not to mention, allowances are not all the same.

[turtleback]

21 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Look if you want to hold the bombers in check, there are any number of easy things to do. And you don't need to change the rules. For those guys who bomb it out there 330-340, narrow the fairway and grow the rough. Maybe stick a bunker or two out there. You could even resort to "cut off" fairways, but I don't really like that move. The Euros did that to us in a Ryder Cup one year, to slow down our big hitters. 

Why specifically bombers?  What about holding great putters in check?  Or great sand players in check?  Strokes gained off the tee for the top guys is not wildly out of whack with strokes gained putting for the top guys.  For 2019, the top 10 in putting gained an average of .725 strokes and the top ten in driving gained .724.  Virtually identical.  So why intervene to diminish driving but leave putting alone?  Would it be fair to make the good putters putt from 2 ft. further away than where their ball was?  Absurd.  Yet that is pretty much equivalent to what those who want to target "bombers" propose doing.

As I have said repeatedly, it is already harder for a guy hitting it 330 to hit the fairway than it is for a guy hitting it 285, if the fairway is uniform width, due to simple geometry.  So I don't get why anyone would think it would be good to make it even harder, with narrowings or bunkers.  Or do you somehow think hitting it far is an unfair skill?  Like it just happens randomly for some players, unrelated to all the work and practice it took for them to be able to do it?  Should a pitcher in baseball get a smaller strike zone because he throws it hard?
 

[Buckeyebowman]

Why not bombers? Because that's always been the case! Tight fairways and heavy rough have been a feature on Tour for a long time. 

And they are not leaving putting alone! Getting the greens to 13 or 14 on the Stimp by starving them of water when the Tour is in town is commonplace! They put the greens on life support! 

[colin007]

On 4/29/2020 at 4:04 PM, DrvFrShow said:

If they bifurcate, what about trifurcating? Can I play a Krank driver because I'm old and losing distance?

I thought Krank drivers were conforming? I know for a fact that some of them are

[turtleback]

14 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Why not bombers? Because that's always been the case! Tight fairways and heavy rough have been a feature on Tour for a long time. 

And they are not leaving putting alone! Getting the greens to 13 or 14 on the Stimp by starving them of water when the Tour is in town is commonplace! They put the greens on life support! 

But you didn't just ask for tight fairways and heavy rough.  You asked for tighter fairways and heavier rough for some guys (the bombers) than other guys (the hunters), based on distance.

The speed of the green is the same for everyone, so your attempted analogy in inapt.

[billchao]

9 hours ago, colin007 said:

I thought Krank drivers were conforming? I know for a fact that some of them are

They're not all conforming. They make high COR heads. The USGA conforming clubs they sell are specifically listed as "USGA conforming."