Patrick,
I think we are on the same page here. Lob wedges have taken away some of the importance of ball-striking. The fact that you can aim it right at the hole without as much fear has taken away from the importance of ball-striking. The fact that everyone is aiming at the pins and inevitably all will miss at some point, well that just places more emphasis on the short game, doesn't it? Tucked pins were easier to shoot at in 90, I remember starting a lot of shots in the middle and working them to the corners of my favored shot that day
or just playing to the middle. Now, it is just flag, flag, flag. So, if you could work the ball in 90 better than your opponents, how are you making up for that lost advantage now? If you hit it 280 and straight in 90, how are you making up for that lost advantage now? I don't see how they do it? In fact, I knew a guy that was universally thought of as one of the best ball-stikers around, when he lost at the Amateur or Western the guys that were interviewed all stated that they were really surprised that they beat him because he was such a good player, familar comments I know, but these were said about him an awful lot. Now, his advantage is gone, the practice and effort of hitting those shots near perfection does him basically no good, because the guys today can all now accomplish what he can to some degree, but their short games are so much better because they knew that they didn't need to work on ball-striking as much. Do you think that most 12-year olds decide, I want to be able to hit it good or I want to have a great short game inherently and their practice is then somewhat tailored to those goals? I do, and I think that the guys that chose ball-striking as 12-year olds in 1985 are being severely hindered by that choice. This is through no fault of their own, just the technology.