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USGA Seeking Feedback on Distance "Issue"


iacas
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I encourage everyone here - as we're all clearly passionate about golf - to visit this link and complete the survey.

https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=153511775654

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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I took the survey.  I feel like they were really bombarding me with different ways to get me to agree that "distance" is a problem in golf.  I'm afraid many won't be able to stand up to the pressure.

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3 minutes ago, allenc said:

I took the survey.  I feel like they were really bombarding me with different ways to get me to agree that "distance" is a problem in golf.  I'm afraid many won't be able to stand up to the pressure.

I did. 🙂

And maybe if you only say that it’s a problem in 30% of the questions then they will be able to say that most don’t think it’s a problem. 

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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Thanks for posting the link. I'm sure USGA will use the responses to get what they want. Hank Haney is very outspoken in his criticism of the USGA, and says that Mike Davis has stated that the ball will be rolled back during his tenure.

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2 hours ago, iacas said:

I encourage everyone here - as we're all clearly passionate about golf - to visit this link and complete the survey.

https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=153511775654

I'm doing it now. Some of these questions are not very well written. I've done a lot of surveys in my life and this is not one of the better ones.

Example: Increased distance in golf leads to increased course maintenance costs.

My answer would be yes, obviously longer courses require more maintentance, but people hitting the ball longer does not mean all courses are getting longer. It's a loaded question and I ended up answering neither agree nor disagree.

Bill

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” - Confucius

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Took the survey. 

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
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31 minutes ago, Sandy Divot said:

Thanks for posting the link. I'm sure USGA will use the responses to get what they want. Hank Haney is very outspoken in his criticism of the USGA, and says that Mike Davis has stated that the ball will be rolled back during his tenure.

I think Mike gets a bad rap. I also don’t believe more than 10% of what Haney says.

14 minutes ago, billchao said:

I'm doing it now. Some of these questions are not very well written. I've done a lot of surveys in my life and this is not one of the better ones.

Example: Increased distance in golf leads to increased course maintenance costs.

My answer would be yes, obviously longer courses require more maintentance, but people hitting the ball longer does not mean all courses are getting longer. It's a loaded question and I ended up answering neither agree nor disagree.

I don’t think that’s a poorly written question. You’re adding the word “all” for some reason.

I voted “agree” to that one. Seemed like a fact. It didn’t say it scales linearly or anything. But I also didn’t try to find errors by adding my own words either.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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3 minutes ago, iacas said:

I don’t think that’s a poorly written question. You’re adding the word “all” for some reason.

I voted “agree” to that one. Seemed like a fact. It didn’t say it scales linearly or anything. But I also didn’t try to find errors by adding my own words either.

Its ambiguous enough to be left to interpretation. The assumption is that increased distance leads to increased course lengths.

If the question was, "Longer courses lead to increased course maintenance costs," I would strongly agree.

But as it is, increased distance in how far a golf ball travels is not the same as lengthening courses so I can't draw the conclusion that it increases maintenance costs. In fact the opposite could be argued, if players hit the ball farther but courses stay the same length, they can cut costs on maintenance by mowing fairways farther away from the tee box or eliminating obsolete fairway bunkers.

Bill

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” - Confucius

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12 minutes ago, billchao said:

Its ambiguous enough to be left to interpretation. The assumption is that increased distance leads to increased course lengths.

I don’t agree. You said it right there: you’re assuming things.

They asked a ton of questions. You don’t know how they’ll use the results.

12 minutes ago, billchao said:

If the question was, "Longer courses lead to increased course maintenance costs," I would strongly agree.

I imagine they asked the question they wanted to ask, and if they had wanted to ask the question you wrote they’d have asked that question.

I think you’re assuming too much.

And your question has “flaws” - anyone who voted “disagree” would be dumb. Your question also could be said to assume “all else being equal.”

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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15 minutes ago, iacas said:

I don’t agree. You said it right there: you’re assuming things.

No. The way the question is framed presents it that way. If courses are lengthen then maintenance costs go up. If nothing is done with courses, then maintenance costs stay the same. Maintenance cost isn't directly related with how far players hit the ball. I answered it the only way I could reasonably conclude based on how the question was worded.

19 minutes ago, iacas said:

I imagine they asked the question they wanted to ask, and if they had wanted to ask the question you wrote they’d have asked that question.

That's my point. I've taken a lot of surveys. I've also taken marketing classes that covered survey writing. It's very easy to manipulate a survey to get what you want from it. It's no different than a poorly designed experiment, minus the peer review aspect.

This survey reads skewed to me.

23 minutes ago, iacas said:

And your question has “flaws”

Obviously. I spent all of three seconds coming up with it. It wasn't meant to be a "better" question, it was meant to address what you wrote. My question seems more like the statement of fact that you agreed with than theirs.

Bill

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” - Confucius

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I just took the survey.  Pretty straightforward, and I thought it was well-designed.

The only "weird" question for me was the one asking you to essentially rank the three most important factors in scoring well.  I couldn't really pick three.

1 hour ago, billchao said:

Example: Increased distance in golf leads to increased course maintenance costs.

My answer would be yes, obviously longer courses require more maintenance, but people hitting the ball longer does not mean all courses are getting longer. It's a loaded question and I ended up answering neither agree nor disagree.

Remember, opinion surveys like this aren't designed to ascertain facts...they're intended to get people's opinions and thoughts.   Questions like these are to see if people "connect the dots" between the two...it's about perception.  If the USGA wanted to know whether longer courses require more maintenance, they would use hard data for that.

 

6 minutes ago, billchao said:

No. The way the question is framed presents it that way. If courses are lengthen then maintenance costs go up. If nothing is done with courses, then maintenance costs stay the same. Maintenance cost isn't directly related with how far players hit the ball. I answered it the only way I could reasonably conclude based on how the question was worded.

Exactly - those are two inarguable facts, and they don't need a survey for those.  What they want to know is whether average golfers/viewers connect the two disparate things in their mind (hitting further and increased maintenance).

- John

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2 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

Remember, opinion surveys like this aren't designed to ascertain facts...they're intended to get people's opinions and thoughts.   Questions like these are to see if people "connect the dots" between the two...it's about perception.  If the USGA wanted to know whether longer courses require more maintenance, they would use hard data for that.

And I gave them mine. My answer is it depends, and I picked the choice that reflects that position the closest.

The more I write about that particular question, the more I think I should have answered "disagree."

Bill

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” - Confucius

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Just now, billchao said:

And I gave them mine. My answer is it depends, and I picked the choice that reflects that position the closest.

Yup, so...that worked exactly as they intended!

- John

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1 minute ago, Hardspoon said:

Yup, so...that worked exactly as they intended!

Yea they'll get the results they wanted and will do with it what they will anyway.

Bill

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” - Confucius

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3 minutes ago, billchao said:

Yea they'll get the results they wanted and will do with it what they will anyway.

You clearly have some pre-conceived notion of what the USGA "wants" out of this survey, and you've decided that they'll interpret (distort?) the results to get it.

I'm not going to say you're wrong (I"m as skeptical as anyone that an organization like the USGA or NCAA will do anything other than serve their own perceived interests), but I didn't see any evidence of that in the actual survey questions.

- John

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Filled it out. I would say my survey will skew pretty heavily towards distance not being a problem.

The only times I thought tech was too much was the over-abundance of instructors online talking Trackman when maybe !% of us would even have access to getting on one. I will take the general findings from Trackman into consideration, despite not knowing my "numbers".

I would say the questions were fair, I didnt feel like they were "searching" for an answer.

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Note: This thread is 1879 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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