Lots a great posts. I am not sure I would advocate the Thomas idea of a 1/2 stroke for putts, however.
IIRC, Hogan advocated something like this about 50 years ago. And, there was an experiment in a professional event in the Paul Runyan era trying to minimize the effect of putting by using an 8-inch hole. The against the logic being used, it helped good putters more than bad putters.But to me putting (and the greens themselves) might be what has changed the most of all aspects of golf and golf course design. Bunkers are (or at least can still be bunkers), fairways (or short grass) is still essentially short grass, rough is still rough, water hazards are still water hazards, teeing areas (while much more formal and/or maintained) are still areas where you can place your golf ball (so not a big change),...,
I'm not so sure about that. Bunkers are now one of the least punishing places to around a green (for any good player). Rough? Well there's never been a time in golf's history where those out-of-play areas are managed to like they are now.Fairways? The advent of modern lightweight fairway mowers have dramatically changed what fairways look like since I got really serious about golf in the 60s. Back then, nearly everyone mowed fairways with wheel-driven gang mowers pulled behind a tractor. height of cut in fairways has changed more than it has on greens. THAT makes it possible for good players to spin the ball as much as they want out of almost any lie in the fairway.but the area around the hole (now called greens) has DRAMATICALLY changed and introduced putting as the most important skill. I was curious what this group thought.
Bearing in mind what I say above, greens have changed, when I worked for GCSAA I talked to a few veteran superintendents about how much tings had changed, and it's even more than most golfers realize. When we talk about how fast the greens at places like Oakmont were, back in the day, there's more than a bit of skepticism because they know how low you could set a greens mower with the bed knives of the era.But I recall how fast downhill putts were on the bent greens I learned on... Then it dawned on me.Those bent greens had grain in them, grain that ALWAYS ran with the water flow. So downhill putts were WAY faster than uphill putts. Which made green reading and speed judgement even more difficult than it is today on "perfect" greens.Finally, there's plenty of evidence in the data available from sources like Shotlink that putting is not the most significant part of the game today. Important for sure, but not more than other facets.For instance, the best drivers gain more than a shot a round from the average drivers just off the tee. Rory is gaining almost 1.5 strokes. http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.02567.htmlPutting, OTOH, offers less potential. Rickie Fowler is the best this year, gaining ~.9 strokes per round. http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.02564.htmlIf you look at the top few players in Total Strokes Gained, none of them are doing with the putter. Not Even Jordan Spieth, whose most signficant advantage this year is approach shots where about half of his advantage over the field happens.
Even in his incredible year of 2015 his strokes gain putting wasn't the most important part of his advantage. What he did is excel at all aspects, gaining about a half shot from driving (.494), approach shots (.618), around the green (.471) and putting (.571).
His 2.154 total strokes gained was second for the year, but 1.583 was tee to green. FWIW he was 15th, 11th, 9th and 5th in the four SG stats.
Now, for putzes like me, approaches and chipping/pitching have more effect than anything, but the reality, as espoused by Hank Haney is that a players POTENTIAL for scoring is almost entirely determined by how far he hits it.
I can barely get it out there 200 yards these days and in order to break 90 on a 6400-yard course, I need to do everything very well. If I could go back 15-20 years (I'm 70 in two weeks), when I hit it about 30 yards farther, I would almost certainly be shooting around 80 like I did at the time.
Back then I played a course that would get dried out and fast in late July and August, and without fail the added distance it gave me allowed my handicap to drop into single digits. (Which caused me a lot of pain the following springs when I went back to "normal.")
Agronomy has certainly changed golf, but you'll not convince me that it's made putting more important, and certainly not so important that it's more than half the game.
K