Nick Price joins wants equipment reform like we do

[Paul Richards]

Glad to see Nick Price, the Tour's favorite playing partner,
join the equipment debate.

from March 2nd Golfweek:

Price wants equipment reform: In
1994, Nick Price tied for sixth on the PGA
Tour in driving distance, averaging 277.5 yards.
Last year, he averaged 3 yards fewer but fell to
149th. It follows that he says something must      be
fone done about equipment. He advocates reducing the
size of driver heads and sweet spots and
reducing the distance the ball travels.

He also says golf needs two sets of equip-
ment standards -one for touraig pros and one
for amateurs.

"The Tour needs to make rules on our
clubs," Price said, perhaps mindful that Tour
commissioner Tim Finchem recently said
such a move was at least a couple of years
away. "Look at NASCAR. If all the guys
drive the same car, the best driver is going to
win. In our game, these golf courses are rapid-
1y becoming obsolete.

"Manufacturers can make whatever they
want for the average Joe but reduce the size of
the heads for the Tour." By his thinking, the
U.S. Golf Association's January proposal of a
470cc maximum for driver heads is far too
large for pros.

"A snap hook with a persimmon wood
used to go across the next fairway," Price sai~
"You don't see that anymore because clubs are
so balanced. Now, all a player does is aim 300
yards down the fairway and launch it. There's
no such thing as a draw or cut with the driver
anymore. I hate to say this, but if Lee Trevino
and Gary Player played today (on the PGA
Tour), they'd have a hard time because of dle,
distances players are hitting it. Nowadays a
440-yard par 4 is a driver and 7-iron."

[BCrosby]

In 1980 Tom Kite was 28 years old.  His driving distance that year was 252 yards.

Twenty-two years later, at the age of fifty, Tom Kite's driving distance is 281 yards.

It's getting worse.  At the NCAA's last spring, the college players' average driving distance was 12 yards longer than the PGA average last year.  (I know, I know, it might have been that particular course setup, weather, etc.  Still, that's pretty remarkable.)

Bob

[Tim_Weiman]

Paul,

Maybe we are slowly making progress.

[kilfara]

I like the idea of a professional standard and another standard for everyone else. I'm thinking about baseball - the pros use wooden bats, but amateur baseball is all about aluminium. Seems like a handy parallel to bring to people's attention....

Cheers,
Darren

[Dan Kelly]

FYI:

Those who are interested in this subject -- and who missed the following threads -- should check into the "Rollin' back the ODS -- then what?" and "Litigation against equipment manufacturers."

I've always liked Nick Price.

I like him better all the time.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Some more recent facts to show the equipment is out of control. PGA tour qualifier held at my course in early Feb.
I set up a grid on a 535yd par 5 and had a volunteer keep track of how far the players were driving. Average drive-322 yds. That's the average, many balls were hit 350+.

[Paul Richards]

Me'thinks that it's time for Augusta to take the lead and
declare that next year they will begin using a tournament
golf ball ...

[RJ_Daley]

Weve been around the horn several times with 'the Augusta Syndrome', wouldn't it be the ultimate irony if we came to revere 'the Augusta Solution'!!!