Is this US Open a Referendum on Equipment

[Terry Lavin]

I found a fascinating analysis of this year's Open by Michael Bamberger.  He was talking about the comparison between Tiger Woods and two of his famed predecessors, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus.  He makes the case that Woods is more like Hogan.  In the article, he talks about the significance of Merion as the host of this year's championship.  Here's what he says:

The USGA wants to make the case that this 113th U.S. Open is not a referendum on equipment, but that’s exactly what it is. The 1950 and 1971 and 1981 Opens were all, really, the same tournament, in terms of equipment. There’s a photo of Johnny Miller’s golf bag from his 1973 U.S. Open win (at Oakmont) in the SI U.S. Open preview issue that’s just fascinating. He played with clubs that Hogan would totally recognize. Most of the clubs are from the 1940s and ’50s. The driver is from 1961.
 
Nobody could possibly fly it 330 yards with that club, not with the balata ball that he used. Miller played a harder game. The clubs are beautiful. You can tell from the way he taped them, and the way he talks about them, that he loved those old clubs. If equipment standards had not changed so radically from the time Woods first started winning USGA championships, as a junior amateur in the early 1990s, he’d be far more dominant than he already is. In his era, there is a short list of truly great  shot-makers: Woods, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlory and that’s about it. (Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia are near the list, but not on it.) Miller—and Trevino and Nicklaus and David Graham—really did play the same game that Hogan did. Woods came up on that game, but then it changed and he changed with it.

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/tiger-woods-ready-start-us-open-2013-merion

I think this is an excellent distillation of the significanced of Merion's place in current golf "history".  Could it be the spur to get something done about the ball?  Will it help move the industry/sport in the right direction.  Or, if it winds up being a stirring championship despite the unbelievable advantages that current players have over former players, will people argue that there's no need for change?  What say you?

[Phil McDade]

Terry:

I was wondering the very thing this week -- as much as I admire and respect Merion, I was secretly hoping that the winning score was something like -20. If a course as respected as Merion can't contain today's technology despite a traditional US open set-up (high rough in particular), I'm not sure what would motivate the USGA to move on this.


Maybe Davis is smarter than we think, and this is his evil, rat-f...ing way to get at the distance/technology issue.

[Robert Kimball]

Terry, I didn’t read that Bamberger article (thank you for sharing it), but I sure did see the feature in the SI Golf preview. Johnny Miller’s bag was awesome -- I would love to see the pros of today play a few holes with those clubs and a balata ball. Who knows, they will probably still do well because of the skill level and hand/eye coordination, but it would be fun to see the younger guys with some persimmon.

No doubt equipment has changed this game (for better or worse is another argument). I agree that the pros today play a totally different game. There really is not much need to worry about shaping the ball, but rather controlling trajectory.

Tiger came up right on the edge of the technology explosion. I think he mentioned that he kept a 1-iron in his bag until he was out of college. Man, what he could have done with his “kill the competition” mindset 20 years ago if he had access to today’s equipment? Scary to think about.

Also, if it’s a competitive Open and the winning score is -14 will it really matter? I think it will get overlooked unless someone runs away with it. They (the media, USGA) will shrug it off and say: “Oh well, we got screwed by the weather.”  So, I guess the short answer to the question, is "probably not." I don't think it will be a referrendum on the ball or equipment.

-- Rob

[Matthew Petersen]

Terry:

I was wondering the very thing this week -- as much as I admire and respect Merion, I was secretly hoping that the winning score was something like -20. If a course as respected as Merion can't contain today's technology despite a traditional US open set-up (high rough in particular), I'm not sure what would motivate the USGA to move on this.


Maybe Davis is smarter than we think, and this is his evil, rat-f...ing way to get at the distance/technology issue.

I kind of agree, Phil. If the course stayed firm and scores stayed around par, that would serve to blunt criticism about equipment. Even if the real lesson is any course with long enough rough, narrow enough fairways, and slick enough greens can reign guys in.

But if the course was firm and still got beaten up, well that certainly would have said quite a bit about the state of the game and equipment.

But as it is, with this wet weather, there is no referendum. Low scores will entirely be attributed to the weather, because everyone accepted going in that wet conditions meant low scores. No one wants to question why that assumption is so easy to make.

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