Looking at the next 10 years

[Spitfisher]

I think more of what scores will be shot in 10 years time, not so much who will be shooting them. I think that unless courses are made virtually unplayable for the average golfer then scores of 7 or 8 under on all 4 days will be required to win. What will club and ball technology be able to provide in 10 years time? Will clubs get more accurate, will balls fly farther, will balls spin more etc.

Overall accuracy or dispersion has been tightened up quite a bit the last few years- beginning with the TM r7 (2007) with movable weights. Balls are pretty max out, a 3 year old water logged noodle will go just as far as  if not farther than a prov1 right now. As far as spin goes, there is one ball that claims it spins almost twice as much as premium ball or Prov1 from 100 yards on in, but its suited for lower club heads speeds and recreational players. Project-a

I'd like to think that innovation is brought to market through feedback and need of championship play and then refined to the amateur level- That said the trouble is there are rules and constrains limiting design of drivers for example. There are no rules regarding spin or loft, in 10 years the lowest lofted driver will be 12 or 13 degrees in my opinion.

If there is one radical change to equipment in the next decade or so....I might consider either a standard 1 design golf ball for some championships or Olympics and/or a recommendation to slow down and remove some distance to all golf balls- like <20%.

[liquor box]

Another interesting thing to ponder is what the courses will be like in 10 years, most courses don't have that much room to expand to add distance to each hole to make long irons part of the game. I think social tees will be moved back due to advances in technology.

[ChrisP]

I think more of what scores will be shot in 10 years time, not so much who will be shooting them. I think that unless courses are made virtually unplayable for the average golfer then scores of 7 or 8 under on all 4 days will be required to win. What will club and ball technology be able to provide in 10 years time? Will clubs get more accurate, will balls fly farther, will balls spin more etc.

While technology will enhance, I don't think it's going to result in drastically lower scores, unless it gets to the point where players drive every single green. I think scores will stay the same as now. Over the last 30 years with all the enhancements in technology, scoring hasn't changed much, particularly when it comes to the majors. The scoring at Augusta has actually gotten a little tougher, the US Open is still a fight to finish at Even, the British still depends on the weather and PGA is hit or miss.  Superintendents are excellent at deciding how they want the scoring for the event and then getting that result. They've adapted well to the changes.

Perfect example is Merion last year. You would think those guys would have torn that place to pieces with some of the short holes they had and soft conditions and yet +1 was the winning score.

[Spitfisher]

The score for most opens when Mike Davis is running the show and providing the course lay out, often is very close to par. He purposely has the rough thick and deep, fairways narrow etc. He/they had something to prove with Merion, that being a major could be held in a small area and an old course. They were going to set that course up so that it would not be an embarrassment...and they succeeded.

The one recent US open where really unusual low scores occurred was when Rory won and reportedly Mike was very hands off due to additional responsibilities he took on with David Fay retiring.. Mikes and his staff are geniuses in setting up challenging and close to par scores, they know the players talents and the how the course plays under any condition. IMO

Pinehurst will be another example

[phan52]

Another interesting thing to ponder is what the courses will be like in 10 years, most courses don't have that much room to expand to add distance to each hole to make long irons part of the game.

I think social tees will be moved back due to advances in technology.

Technology doesn't make that much of a difference for the average amateur golfer. Hell, most of the talk I hear lately is guys who want to tee it forward.

I play almost all f my golf on a course that is 106 years old. It has been lengthened over that time from about 6100 yards to 6900 from the tips, but the regular tees are still around 6400 yards. It is a classic course in great condition and the player handicaps have not changed a whole lot over the last 20-30 years when the technology has really taken off. The course record is still the 63 set by Gary Player over 40 years ago.

The point is that technology can only do so much. We are amateurs and we don't do this for a living. The only way to really improve is to put the time in and we as amateurs just don't. I think almost everybody will still be challenged by todays' golf courses.

As far as the Pro game is concerned, courses won't need to be lengthened because they can just be made more difficult with things like green speeds and narrowed fairways, as they proved at Merion. It will take a Zach Johnson type player to differentiate himself from the crowd, IMO. Guys like Dustin Johnson will be a dime a dozen.

[chasm]

Technology doesn't make that much of a difference for the average amateur golfer. Hell, most of the talk I hear lately is guys who want to tee it forward.

I play almost all f my golf on a course that is 106 years old. It has been lengthened over that time from about 6100 yards to 6900 from the tips, but the regular tees are still around 6400 yards. It is a classic course in great condition and the player handicaps have not changed a whole lot over the last 20-30 years when the technology has really taken off. The course record is still the 63 set by Gary Player over 40 years ago.

Well, I both agree and disagree. My home course was laid out by Harry Colt in 1924. There isn't much room to lengthen it, so it's still around 6400 yards off the competition tees. That's plenty long enough for me, and it's still a beautifully-designed, challenging course. But big hitters overpower it. At a standard scratch 71 (unchanged since the old days) the Club Championship is nowadays usually won in sub-par figures, say 136 - 138 for the two rounds. But looking back at the list of winners in the clubhouse, even back in the 1970s and 80s the winner frequently scored around 150. And even as a 59 year-old high-handicapper I'm long enough to hit everything in regulation (if only I was straight !!), and I don't think that would have been true in the days of Ballata balls and persimmon woods.

But anyway, the thread was about the pro tour. And I think it's beyond argument that technology has massively changed the game, and the architecture of modern courses, to the point where the par figures on a top Championship course like Carnoustie or Pinehurst are irrelevant to most amateurs. Hell, some of the fairway traps that are designed to catch a tee shot are about 60 yards further away than I can hit.