Driver Length Reduced Per Model Local Rule

[billchao]

51 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

I don’t think we’ll live to see this, or at least not me.

It won’t happen in my lifetime either unless they make some significant changes to the equipment rules in the opposite direction of what they’re trying to do today.

400 yard drives happen, but they’re hardly ”the norm”, not even for Bryson. He led the tour last year with a 323.7 yard driving average.

[ChetlovesMer]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

I don’t think we’ll live to see this, or at least not me.

30 minutes ago, billchao said:

It won’t happen in my lifetime either unless they make some significant changes to the equipment rules in the opposite direction of what they’re trying to do today.

400 yard drives happen, but they’re hardly ”the norm”, not even for Bryson. He led the tour last year with a 323.7 yard driving average.

 

I agree. I assumed the OP was just using Hyperbole. 

I still think there are a lot of things that can be done with the courses to make more bifurcation unnecessary.  Growing the grass, tightening the corners, relocating penalty areas, etc... I keep hearing people say that if they don't do more bifurcation than all the courses will be too short to hold a tournament. Brooks Koepka said, and I tend to agree, if all you do is keep lengthening the courses, then only the very longest hitters will have a chance to win. Longer courses favor the longer hitters. Which Brooks thinks, and again, I agree, will create more of a distance gap, not less. 

Which leads me to one reason why I think we will NOT see 400 yard drives as the norm. I think tournament directors will get more and more creative with course lay-out and conditions. Which will bring some degree of balance between bomb and gouge (which I enjoy watching by the way) and the need for shot making (which I also enjoy watching). 

 

[GolfLug]

What is exactly 'norm'? From my perspective even 300 yards is not the 'norm' yet. 

[dennyjones]

55 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

What is exactly 'norm'? From my perspective even 300 yards is not the 'norm' yet. 

The top 99 in 2021 average 300 or more.   

[GolfLug]

24 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

The top 99 in 2021 average 300 or more.   

So hundreds or even thousands of pros who primarily play for a living below 300. Unless we define 'norm' differently it's not 300. 

[dennyjones]

Being a Model Local Rule, this may not be implemented for "hundreds or even thousands of pros who primarily play for a living below 300".

 

[pganapathy]

As much as we can say equipment (in this case driver shaft length) has helped increase distance, am not sure whether reducing shaft length will really help at the pro level.  Very few pro's use over a 46 inch driver because they generally have enough club head speed and hit the ball with a good smash factor, that accuracy matters to them.  It is mostly amateurs and LDA people that seem to want longer shafts thanks to ego and prize money respectively.

[mohearn]

I've got a Cobra Long Tom 48 inch driver I fool with sometimes. It's actually surprising decent, although I don't play matches with it. I won it in a contest a few years back, probably should sell it, but like I say, fun to hit.  I do get about +3 mph club head speed versus my normal driver.

[iacas]

15 hours ago, pganapathy said:

Very few pro's use over a 46

This isn't about NOW. It's preventative.