Dialing Back the Ball

[Sante TwoGloves]

... Rein in the golf ball? Reading a book by Arnold Palmer "Playing by the rules" from 2002 he says that today's players hit the ball too far and it is the job of the USGA to curtail that trend. He said that the best way to do that was to rein in these "longer" balls. He said that he has been an advocate of this idea for a long time. Would you like to see change like that? I don't think I would.

[Pretzel]

... Rein in the golf ball?

Reading a book by Arnold Palmer "Playing by the rules" from 2002 he says that today's players hit the ball too far and it is the job of the USGA to curtail that trend. He said that the best way to do that was to rein in these "longer" balls. He said that he has been an advocate of this idea for a long time. Would you like to see change like that? I don't think I would.

Of course he would like to see that, players are breaking his records.

I see nothing wrong with how it currently is. Courses are longer than they were, but courses are not needing to be extended since the manufacturers have pretty much hit the limit of how far golf balls can fly. It's mostly player improvement at this point in time.

[Tat14]

I may start a new thread with the title "Should..." and keep this trend going.

Topic at hand, I don't believe in too far or too fast. Golf is still hard and technology has helped me over the years. If the side effect is pros hitting it longer, so what? They still three putt and lose majors too.

If it were a question of player safety, i.e. aluminum baseball bats at higher levels, perhaps. But it isn't.

[Sante TwoGloves]

[U][/U]My buddy mentioned to me just the other day, what sport has had more advances in equipment that has improved play so much than golf. I can't think of any. Even in professional baseball they still use wooden bats.

[SavvySwede]

Of course he would like to see that, players are breaking his records.

I see nothing wrong with how it currently is. Courses are longer than they were, but courses are not needing to be extended since the manufacturers have pretty much hit the limit of how far golf balls can fly. It's mostly player improvement at this point in time.

Golf balls could actually go much farther but there is already a distance limit in place to prevent that.

[mdl]

I said yes not really because I think pro golf used to be better or it's ruined now with guys hitting it too far.  They've extended courses and the play is still varied and interesting.

I said yes because it would allow golf courses for the public to be much smaller (and require less water => more environmentally friendly).  More courses could be fit into tighter spaces closer in to cities without becoming cramped and requiring gimmick holes to make up for the fact that there needs to be a bunch of 290 yard par 4s and 440 yard par 5s.  If big hitting amateurs drove it 240 and hit PW 105 those would just be normal length holes.

[Pretzel]

Golf balls could actually go much farther but there is already a distance limit in place to prevent that.

That is what I was referring to, that the manufacturers have reached the legal limit already.

[SavvySwede]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SavvySwede

Golf balls could actually go much farther but there is already a distance limit in place to prevent that.

That is what I was referring to, that the manufacturers have reached the legal limit already.

My bad, the wording could have gone either way.

[Sante TwoGloves]

I was surprised to read that arnie of all people was calling for a change in balls. I live near his club in Latrobe and someone told me that it is the only course in the area that still allows metal spikes.

[SCC4380]

It makes sense from a couple of perspectives.

• Dialing back the ball could make golf less expensive for consumers and more profitable for owners. Courses could be shorter and require less land, less water, fewer chemicals, less labor, etc. We have already reached a point in the US where there are more 9-hole courses under construction than 18-hole courses for this very reason (according to a friend of mine who had the numbers a couple of years ago).
• Dialing back the ball could make golf less time consuming. If you have to cover less distance, especially walking, it would go faster. The time that golf takes is cited as a factor for those who leave the game.

The trick would be to establish meaningful limits that manufacturers and consumers adhere to. It would be a recipe for disaster to have a short course with a few people playing long balls who treat the par 4's as par 3's and wait for people to clear the green before they tee off.

[RGoosen]

I hope they leave the ball like it is. I don't turn on golf on TV to watch people putt. I want see the bombers play. Good ball strikers are fun to watch to, but golfers than win purely based on putting are not that interesting to me. I equate dialing back the ball as similar to taking away home runs in baseball and dunks away from basketball.

[WUTiger]

I would favor a Conditions of Competition ball for better players.

If pros and competition amateurs played a ball that went 10% shorter, this would preserve a lot of the classic courses for major tournaments.

How much of a problem is this for the modest local municipal course? It's never going to host the U.S. Open.

[Pretzel]

If pros and competition amateurs played a ball that went 10% shorter, this would preserve a lot of the classic courses for major tournaments.

Merion played pretty darn hard despite how short it was.

[David in FL]

I'd like to see the ball modified by age... Really short for the 20-something flat-bellies, just a tad longer for the 35-year-old studs, and so on....finally progressing to something appropriately super-changed for us old guys! :-D

[Grumpter]

I see nothing wrong with how it currently is. Courses are longer than they were.

Courses need to be longer than they were and in case you haven't noticed land and property taxes aren't getting any cheaper. The new technology has made some courses now obsolete for me but I do like their pricing. I do like a longer course but the pricing is getting pretty stiff. Ie. longer distances is more expense to the golfing masses.

I have been thinking of picking up a set of old woods (made from wood) to see how much difference there really is for clubs. I doubt I still have some golf balls from the 80's/90's lying around though.

[saevel25]

Courses need to be longer than they were and in case you haven't noticed land and property taxes aren't getting any cheaper. The new technology has made some courses now obsolete for me but I do like their pricing. I do like a longer course but the pricing is getting pretty stiff. Ie. longer distances is more expense to the golfing masses.

I have been thinking of picking up a set of old woods (made from wood) to see how much difference there really is for clubs. I doubt I still have some golf balls from the 80's/90's lying around though.

You could always just constrict the landing area for those who hit the ball long.

If you take a 450 yard par 4. Lets say you have a guy who hits it 280 yards with 64% accuracy versus a guy who hits it 300 yards with 60% accuracy. Every 13 drives the longer guy is gaining 1 stroke on the shorter hitter.

Lets say you widen the fairways so those who average 280 yards hit the fairway 75% of the time. To match the strokes advantage you'd need to decrease the fairways enough to such that those hitting the ball 300 yards would only hit the fairways 35% of the time.

Or you make the rough stupid tough where they would normally hit their drives such that it increases the expected strokes for missing the fairway.

At least this way you are not really extending the course. You probably could get the courses back near 7000 yards max for PGA Tour players. If they want to hit driver and gain that advantage then deal with the consequences.

I'd like to see the ball modified by age...

Really short for the 20-something flat-bellies, just a tad longer for the 35-year-old studs, and so on....finally progressing to something appropriately super-changed for us old guys!

Pretty much. Golfers are getting in better shape. The golf clubs are more forgiving on off-center hits. So those who were not really good at driving the golf ball now regain some of the lost advantage. Tiger is driving the ball longer now than he did in 2000-2001, yet he's not cracking the top 10 in driving distance. It's just nuts how many powerful guys are playing golf now. A lot of guys who might have played other sports, not necessarily professional, but might have been solid collegiate players are now playing golf. Dustin Johnson is a 6'-4" athletic freak of nature. You see his body type in many different professional sports.

[boogielicious]

I'd like to see the ball modified by age...

Really short for the 20-something flat-bellies, just a tad longer for the 35-year-old studs, and so on....finally progressing to something appropriately super-changed for us old guys!

With small jet assist rockets!

[theChestnut]

I think the problem is the modern driver. Many of these drivers took the precision of hitting a golf ball away by having sweet spots that are do large.