[James Bennett]

You are playing Cypress, and on the beach below the green there is a bottle which contains a genie.  You retrieve the bottle (along with the dozen golf balls sitting on that beach), release the genie and receive three wishes.  What do you wish for?


My Three Wishes.

1.  For the golf ball to go 10% less in distance than it does currently, and perhaps the longer hitters/tour players can lose 15%.  I would look forward to seeing some tees moving up instead of back.  And I would also appreciate seeing more long-irons and mid-irons to greens by the better players.

2.  For the golf tee maximum height to be reduced to the old tee size, which is not high enough for the ball to be half exposed above a modern driver top line.  That simple change should change the design of the modern driver and perhaps the type of swing encouraged away from a 'hit on the up, and on the toe' and to a style that can equally reward a heel and a toe shot.  More particularly, the high launch trajectory drive will be discouraged.

3.  To see more greens and green complexes have reduced water inputs.  Perhaps some courses will utilise hand-watering once a week.  Quite a simple way to ensure that, whilst the greens need more water to survive in drought, the surrounds are not overwatered at the same time.  And because of the TLC applied with that hand water, the automatic watering used at other times can be less generous.  IMO, turf would be healthier, playing surfaces would be better for golf, and we wouldn't need to rebuild the irrigation systems.  The greenstaff would intimately understand there greens, which in my opinion deserve far more care and effort than bunkers, fairways, tees and the like.  There is a reason they are called green-keepers and not bunker-rakers or fairway-cutters.

All 3 of these wishes  would result in a game I would enjoy playing more, and all of them are relatively simple in concept.  However, I expect I won't find my genie and I won't get my three wishes.

James B

[Kirk Gill]

So I'm playing Cypress.............so that means I only have two wishes left, right?




Ok, but if I was to actually have three golf wishes, rather than access I'd go with the following:

To play a LOT more golf with my kids.

For them to maintain a lifetime interest in the game.

To get a set of fitted clubs that are designed to work well with my game.

[Matthew Mollica]

That my cut 3 wood off the 16th tee goes into the hole.

That the team of Mollica, Huntley, Bourgeois & Redanman narrowly defeat the team of Mucci, Huckaby, Whitaker and Bennett in the day's game.

That the USGA and R&A ban the use of any putter over 36" long for all eternity.



MM

[Tim Bert]

1. My golf ball goes 10% longer off the tee than today.  I'll take James's 10%.  I don't really care what everyone else's ball does since I don't play competitively.

2. Move Kingsley Club to Tennessee but somehow preserve the playing conditions, climate, staff and atmosphere that exists today.

3. Maintain my peak handicap index of a 9 despite the fact that I go months at a time without playing and never practice. (Hey - I'm not asking to be scratch!) 

In reality I think I would use my wishes for more noble causes but I think the point of this thread is golf wishes.

[Ivan Lipko]

Well, so we're talking about the golf wishes.

1. My ball goes 20% longer.
2. I am playing around a scratch (I can actually play worth if I don't practice or better like +3 if I practice a lot)
3. I have access to all the private clubs in the us w/o losing my access to other clubs in the world and still have money to go out there.

[Mac Plumart]

1)  I get the invite for Augusta National. 

2)  I shoot my best round ever at Pine Valley.

3)  Donald Trump invites Ben Crenshaw onto "Trump's Wonderful World of Golf" and Mr. Trump doesn't say a freakin' word, rather he listens, learns, and takes every single word Mr. Crenshaw has to say to heart.

[John Kavanaugh]

1. That John Feinstein would work the window at an In-N-Out burger for a year then write a book about the interesting people he met.

2.  That Jack Hamm would become a member of GolfClubAtlas and comment on every post of Matt Ward.

3.  That Huckaby would land the spokes model gig for Just For Men - Red.

[George Pazin]

3)  Donald Trump invites Ben Crenshaw onto "Trump's Wonderful World of Golf" and Mr. Trump doesn't say a freakin' word, rather he listens, learns, and takes every single word Mr. Crenshaw has to say to heart.

Least realistic one yet...

Only one for me: I wish I had the property and funds to bring up Mike and Don for my own personal course, which I would share with many.  I'm foolish enough to believe it will happen someday - even have the name already picked out.

-----

Fun thoughts, John. Feinstein looks like he's no stranger to burger joints.

[Jud_T]

I win the Lotto and:

1.  finance El Boqueron

2. have Tom Doak build a personal course for me and my buddies. My instructions to him are "Do whatever the f*^& you want, just keep it under 6000 yards."

3. Buy a house on the Old Course.  

[Lou_Duran]

For golf:

1.  that modern technology can mostly mitigate the effects of aging

2.  that the standard for a round of golf is three hours

3.  that golfers adopt in practice the etiquette, courtesies, traditions, etc. of the ancient game and not just profess them

Bigger picture:

1.  world peace

2.  if envy can't be cured, that socialism works

3.  eradication of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other similarly serious diseases

[Dan Herrmann]

James - your wish #1 has come true, but it's not being adopted by the USGA or R&A.  They have a ball that does exactly what you say, and more.  My 70MPH swing speed wife actually GAINED distance with the prototype ball, but the 115MPH guys were losing about 12%.  (The USGA/R&A did a field trial at my club a couple of years ago).

My wishes:
1.  Keep smiling on the golf course - don't ever take myself too seriously.
2.  Repay the kindness that others at this site have shown to me over the years.
3.  Retire with enough money to keep playing golf.

[Shane Wright]

1. My two baby boys take up golf (and definitely baseball - they don't have a choice) and beg me to take them to Ireland

2. Play one more round with our four gorsemen including our fallen brother, Mark Austry - the course wouldn't matter

3. Spend a day at Muirfield with my dad and brother (doing it this summer)

4 - I know, cheating - build an ageless goat track

[Ian Andrew]

I assume this must be for the good of golf

1. Municipalities see children's courses as a great source in getting kids active
2. SNAG becomes universal in all schools in North America
3. Environmentalist recognize golf's value as a source of preservation rather that seeing it as a consumer resources

[Ryan Farrow]

1. Wish for more wishes (duhhh...... are you guys really that stupid).

2. Take over Augusta National and Open it to the public Kids, women, and everyone else they think does't belong.

3.  World Peace.

* The rest of my wishes are none of your business, but I would have some good ones.... actually I think I would be the best wisher in the world, #1 Wisher, right here, your reading him.

[Peter Pallotta]

One million American dollars

Corey Pavin's golf game

A head of hair like James B has in his photo there

Peter

[Garland Bayley]

...
1.  For the golf ball to go 10% less in distance than it does currently, and perhaps the longer hitters/tour players can lose 15%. ...

1. For the USGA & R&A to limit the slope of the line that is plotted from the spin rate off the driver to the spin rate off the wedges.
That line used to be limited by using ball construction methods that would not cause it to vary from what would naturally be achieved by a solid rubber ball.
The modern multi-piece ball has been constructed in a fashion that artificially increases the slope of that line. In doing so, they have given wedge spinning ball to the pros that goes 25% farther off of the driver at their high swing speed, because the ball will not balloon as it used to. So you see James, you do not have to decrease the distance the average guy gets with his cheap two piece ball to limit the pros.

2. For people to realize how much health benefit they can obtain by playing more golf and playing it by walking briskly.

3. For golf courses to be maintained in an economically and environmentally sound manner so that more people can play. This would mean among other things, no ponds in deserts, unneeded bunkers be filled, no carts on grass except for those who truly needed them, no ponds that need artificial means such as chemical treatments to prevent them from becoming gross, ...

[Kalen Braley]

I'm thinking I would only need 2 wishes.

1) $100 Billion give or take.
2)  Perfect health for the indefinite future.

With that, I can make the rest happen without wishing, including having my own private club built as Jud has mentioned! 

[Terry Lavin]

Golf Wishes Only:

1.  Tiger wins six more majors, starting with the US Open at Congressional.

2.  Old MacDonald enters the Top 100 You Can Play at Number One.

3.  Streamsong is an instant hit.

[Bill Shamleffer]

I am assuming these must be golf related wishes:

1. That all golfers able to walk - DO walk.

2. That all equpiment manufacturers allow the USGA & R&A to make any equipment rules without any lawsuits or other retributions.

3. That all golfers play faster so that the 3 - 3.5 round becomes the norm.

[Dan King]

My three wishes:

1. Bifurcation between the pro game and the rest of golf.  Let the pros go off and play their game concentrating on fairness. Let us play the game of golf.

2. The USGA and R&A begin to protect the traditions of the game rather than their constant creation of a new and less interesting game.

3. Three more wishes.

Cheers,
Dan King

I wish, I hope, I wonder
Where you're at sometimes
Is your back against the wall?
Or just across the line
Have you been standing in the rain
Reciting nursery rhymes?
Trying to recall
Some long lost kind of peace of mind
Peace of mind
Try spending the night sometime
All alone in a frozen room
Afterneath you've lain
Your Saddle in the rain
 --John Prine

[Carl Nichols]

1.  Four more hours in the day, or the need for four hours less sleep, so I could play substantially more golf and still get to see my family as much as I do (and keep my work schedule, etc.)

2.  Change the pace-of-play culture so 3 hours (3 1/2 hours max) is viewed as the norm.

3.  A spike in popularity of the game in 2014, so that existing courses become more viable and new and exiting courses are developed [leading to increased work for many of the posters here], but after a long enough slow period that people realize the mistakes of the past, such that the new projects are more "minimalist" in the best sense of the word (i.e., economically and environmentally sound).

[James Bennett]

Matt Mollica

I expected you were going to wish for wider fairways at Merion East. 


Peter Palotta

hair is temporary - that was 1976.  Today at 52 I have 'friar tuck' hair.  But I do have a blonde wig that comes out once a year or so for those dress-up parties (no, not cross-dressing).  It is great to feel young again with hair, but I generally feel very tired the next day!


Bill Schamleffer

I like all 3 of your wishes - good choices.  I hope you find the genie.


To others - I personally don't care if I lose distance in a ball change.  It might be a good thing if there was less gap between the best and the average distance from a design point of view.  However, I am old enough to remember the old tees we used to use, and they were fine.  If we can get the game to return to shorter distances and lower ball flights, then the land, corridors and time taken to play this great game will be less and the interaction between player, equipment and the ground will be improved. 

I hope Dan King gets his second wish - the R&A and USGA have a tough job to do.

James B

(ps  personally, I think I have probably had my three golf-playing wishes - I just wish I knew where I left that genie)

[Bob_Huntley]

1. That John Feinstein would work the window at an In-N-Out burger for a year then write a book about the interesting people he met.

2.  That Jack Hamm would become a member of GolfClubAtlas and comment on every post of Matt Ward.

3.  That Huckaby would land the spokes model gig for Just For Men - Red.

John,

You did it. You waited out a thousand posts before going after Huckaby, congrats.

Bob

[Mark Bourgeois]

That my cut 3 wood off the 16th tee goes into the hole.

That the team of Mollica, Huntley, Bourgeois & Redanman narrowly defeat the team of Mucci, Huckaby, Whitaker and Bennett in the day's game.

That the USGA and R&A ban the use of any putter over 36" long for all eternity.



MM

This is great on so many levels, Matthew -- one of which is it frees up a few wishes, so here we go.

1. Carthage Club gets built
2. An *exact* replica of the original ANGC gets built to my rules: operating costs are funded in perpetuity by an endowment; anyone can play but he must have a sanctioned handicap; the reservations system, such as it is, consists of writing a letter stating why the writer would like to play the course; every five years the best submissions will be published in a book; the fee is an honor box on the first tee with a small sign that reads, "not for oneself but for one's own;" the clubhouse from the outside will appear to be an exact replica of the Berckman house and on the inside will consist entirely of a Mackenzie museum; there will be no pro shop, logos, websites, etc.
3. Every public high school in the US will be given the means and opportunity to field not boys and girls golf teams but *competitive* boys and girls golf teams (think about what has to happen for that to be realized)

Bonus -- when I find a second genie:
1. From this day on the official language of golf shall be Swedish.
2. All golfers will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check.
3. All golfers under 16 years old are now... 16 years old!

Mark

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