How The Pro V1 Revolutionized Golf

[boogielicious]

From Geoff Shackleford:

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2014/10/30/book-excerpt-how-the-pro-v1-revolutionized-golf.html

Book Excerpt: How The Pro V1 Revolutionized Golf

I think I just checked off Chairman Payne on my Christmas shopping list!

Even though the Augusta National chairman suggests improved conditioning is the best explanation for today's pros hitting it longer on average than they did a little over a decade or so ago, Mark McClusky'snew book excerpt posted at GolfDigest.com suggests otherwise. He looks at the Titleist ProV1's impact on golf and namely, the six yard increase in 2001 driving distance.

From Faster, Higher, Strong: How Sports Science Is Creating A New Generation of Super-Athletes And What We Can Learn From Them, you forget how quickly players made the switch:

The first week the new Pro V1 model ball was available for tournament play, in October 2000, forty-seven players switched from their previous ball. That sort of wholesale equipment change was unprecedented in the history of golf. How fast was the transition across the sport? At the 2000 Masters, fifty-nine of the ninety- five players used a wound golf ball. One year later, only four players used one. By the end of 2001, not a single tournament champion on any of the world’s major professional tours had won using a wound ball; the rout was so comprehensive that Titleist stopped making them at all.

[saevel25]

Even though the Augusta National chairman suggests improved conditioning is the best explanation for today's pros hitting it longer on average than they did a little over a decade or so ago, Mark McClusky'snew book excerpt posted at GolfDigest.com suggests otherwise. He looks at the Titleist ProV1's impact on golf and namely, the six yard increase in 2001 driving distance

I would buy that. It was such a shift in technology and a lot of golfers got a distance boost from one year to the next.

I would say that golfers today are better athletes than their counterparts in 2001. I believe Tiger quoted once in saying that when he started working out, it would be him and Vijay in the gym. Now the gym is packed with golfers who work out before and during a tournament. Just goes to show how much the culture has changed in golfing.

If you look at the distance rankings between 2001 and 2014, there is a big shift on the graph, basically 10 yards. Basically the whole tour has gained 10 yards from 2001 and 2014.

I think tech has a lot to do with it. More distance on off-center hits helps. The ball curves less now. The players are getting accurate fittings to optimize distance. I think being more athletic helps as well. I would put the 10 yards more on technology than anything else. Maybe 70% tech, 30% working out.

[iacas]

The average swing speed of a PGA Tour player is up quite a bit from where it was in 1984 (and 1994). That alone is a lot of the distance gains.

The ball. Fitness. Agronomy. The size and length of drivers. Better understanding of launch conditions. Changing the way players think about scoring.

All play a role.

[boogielicious]

The average swing speed of a PGA Tour player is up quite a bit from where it was in 1984 (and 1994). That alone is a lot of the distance gains.

The ball. Fitness. Agronomy. The size and length of drivers. Better understanding of launch conditions. Changing the way players think about scoring.

All play a role.

Argonomy?  I had to look it up.

[joekelly]

You may not find 'argonomy' but will find, as Erik has written, agronomy.  From the old Latin, agros, the field.

[boogielicious]

You may not find 'argonomy' but will find, as Erik has written, agronomy.  From the old Latin, agros, the field.

Still not sure it fits with the OP with either spelling.

[iacas]

Still not sure it fits with the OP with either spelling.

People hit the ball farther now because fairways are firmer and cut tighter.

That "fits" with the OP. There's more to distance than the golf ball.

[golfbarefoot]

The average swing speed of a PGA Tour player is up quite a bit from where it was in 1984 (and 1994). That alone is a lot of the distance gains. The ball. Fitness. Agronomy. The size and length of drivers. Better understanding of launch conditions. Changing the way players think about scoring. All play a role.

This is honestly right on." And I agree. I'm thinking the true premise behind the topic is trying to accentuate how the golf balls technological improvements have dramatically changed golf in itself. Equipment as a whole undoubtedly, but the golf ball, regardless of brand in my opinion is the biggest in recent time.