OT - Just Imagine Aaron Judge As A Golfer!

[David_Tepper]

Could you build a course long enough?

[Matt_Cohn]

Baseball players as golfers tend to either be excellent (if they can square up the club) or absolutely terrible (if they can’t). Of course, it’s easier when anything in a 90° arc suffices.   

[David_Tepper]

Matt -

I was not thinking so much specifically about Aaron Judge (or any other trained baseball player), but rather someone with his size and athletic ability who grew up playing golf from a young age.

I remember reading a long time ago that 5'10" or so was considered the "optimal" height for playing golf. Not sure if it ever was, but it certainly is not now.   


DT

[John Kavanaugh]

Thinking I was too tall to be great shortened many a practice session. The ole George Archer motivational speech never clicked.

[David Kelly]

I played a round of golf with Bo Jackson at Cog Hill in the 2000s and while he was good and shot in the mid-70s, he was not long off of the tee by any means.  He had an impeccable short game though. 


BTW, there's a video circulating of Mike Trout crushing a ball over the back net at a Top Golf in Arizona in 2020.  He told Golf that he drives it between 330-380 generally if he hits it straight.

[Joe Hancock]

Think of the greens as the pitchers. Instead of building a bigger park, bring confounding pitchers.

[Kevin_Reilly]

The topic brings to mind Gordon Sherry, who as an amateur was going to be the "next big thing".  My apologies if you need to look up his name.

[Kalen Braley]

I would think hitting a baseball, (at the speeds and as well-disguised as the pros throw them), is the most intrinsically difficult thing to do in pro sports.

A 100 MPH fastball from 60.5 feet away will hit the catcher mitt in under .4 seconds from when it leaves the hand...try hitting that!     (Its literally the same time that elapses during a blink of the eye)

P.S. It doesn't seem like distance has changed all that much in terms of outfield fence distances and how far pros hit it.  Certainly not as much as average driving distances of golf pros in the 1940s vs now.  Its nice to see a professional organization actually implement and maintain control over its equipment.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I would think hitting a baseball, (at the speeds and as well-disguised as the pros throw them), is the most intrinsically difficult thing to do in pro sports.

Most baseball players say that golf is much more difficult. The margins are certainly much smaller.

[Ben Hollerbach]

Remember, in golf we have to play our foul balls.

[David_Tepper]

"The topic brings to mind Gordon Sherry, who as an amateur was going to be the "next big thing"."

Kevin -

At 6'8" 1995 British Am champ Gordan Sherry was perhaps a forerunner of things to come. After all, Palmer, Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino & Player ranged in height from 5'6" to 5'10".  Faldo, Mickelson, Singh, Els, johson, Rahm & Spieth are 6'1" to 6'4".

Back in their day Rod Laver (5'8") and Ken Rosewall (5'7") dominated tennis for a decade. At 6'2" Novak Djokovic has won 22 majors.

And keep an eye on the 18-year old 7'4" kid from France who can cross-over dribble and make 3-point shots!

DT

 

[Pete_Pittock]

Phil Blackmar was reportedly 6'7" and he won multiple times.  A tall person quite often would have bad posture to accommodate regulation length clubs. With the recent restriction on club length height will be more of a barrier than an advantage. But there are plenty who don't pay attention to the rules.  Pretty sure AJ could afford to get someone to make a custom set

[Wayne_Kozun]

James Hart du Preez has played on the tour in recent years - he is 6'10" .  He apparently averaged 373 yards off the tee in SA.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/pga-tour-6-foot-10-golfer-american-express

[Tim Leahy]

I played a round of golf with Bo Jackson at Cog Hill in the 2000s and while he was good and shot in the mid-70s, he was not long off of the tee by any means.  He had an impeccable short game though. 


BTW, there's a video circulating of Mike Trout crushing a ball over the back net at a Top Golf in Arizona in 2020.  He told Golf that he drives it between 330-380 generally if he hits it straight.

Trout hit a homer today in Oakland that calculated out to 490 ft. Longest of the year not hit in Colorado.

[Brian_Ewen]

The topic brings to mind Gordon Sherry, who as an amateur was going to be the "next big thing".  My apologies if you need to look up his name.

Why?

[jeffwarne]

Taller players-6 foot five and above, will not dominate golf until there are more of them made.
Sheer numbers.
Secondly, players of that height and above often/usually have other sports options, and pressures, to play other sports.
Sure golf is cool, but it's not a sport that one can excel(at a lower level such as high school) in with minimum 3-4x a week effort, as a 6 foot 8 player can in basketball or a large kid in football.


At 6 foot 5, I certainly was towering amongst my peers in jr. golf.
Golf was mostly a niche, nerd sport then, and it wasn't hard to be considered a long hitter.
Those were the days....

[SL_Solow]

For 10 years in the 90's I chaired a charity tournament where Chicago White Sox players were the celebrities.  Their skill at golf varied considerably.  But the distances they hit the ball in our long drive contest was astounding and it was not entirely dependent on size.  These individuals were well coordinated and knew how to make the end of a stick move quickly.  In the end, that speed along with the ability to hit the ball squarely is what makes the ball go far.  Length of levers and strength help create the speed but it can be done at various heights and weights

[Kevin_Reilly]

The topic brings to mind Gordon Sherry, who as an amateur was going to be the "next big thing".  My apologies if you need to look up his name.

Why?

Because he didn't do much at the professional level, putting it mildly, while being highly touted as the prototype for a super-golfer due to his height and skill as an amateur.  I'd say the average golf fan has never heard of him.

[Anthony Butler]

Tiger Woods has taken batting practice at Dodger Stadium and one or two other MLB Venues.

According to reports he had "warning track" power.

Most of the good ex-MLB golfers tend to be pitchers.

I played behind Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine at CC of the South one day in the 90s. Surprised Smoltz didn't go further in the game... tee to green his game was impressive. Pro Golf is a tough business.

[David Kelly]

P.S. It doesn't seem like distance has changed all that much in terms of outfield fence distances and how far pros hit it. 

Off-topic but, they definitely hit it farther but the parks for the most part have gotten smaller. 

There were always parks that had short dimensions throughout or in certain parts of the park but there were also stadiums that had huge outfield dimensions.  There's a reason that other than DiMaggio the Yankees never had a right handed hitter who hit a lot of HRs in the original Yankee Stadium - it was 460 to left-center and 490 to CF. Now there are no parks with large dimensions but a lot with short dimensions.

Comerica (DET), Petco (SD), Citi (NYM), Safeco (SEA) all opened in the last 20 years and after a few seasons drastically moved the fences in and/or lowered the walls.

[Mark Smolens]

Phil Blackmar was reportedly 6'7" and he won multiple times.  A tall person quite often would have bad posture to accommodate regulation length clubs. With the recent restriction on club length height will be more of a barrier than an advantage. But there are plenty who don't pay attention to the rules.  Pretty sure AJ could afford to get someone to make a custom set

A college buddy of mine was 6'6" tall. When he got custom fitted by an outfit in Monterey (John Riley or something like that), his clubs ended up being about 3/8" longer than mine. Just because you're tall doesn't mean that your body isn't similar in proportion to a shorter person. Taller body, longer arms = not much different in length (tho they did give Rick what would be today's JumboMax grips because his hands were so big).

[Tommy Williamsen]

A bunch of years ago I was in the group in front of Mark McGuire at Shady Canyon. On many of the holes he never teed of until we got on the green. I’d turn around and see his ball bounding toward me. It was astounding. Yesterday I played with a young fellow at Ballyhack. From the white tees on 8 a straight line to the green is 322 yards. He flew his ball on the green. Yikes.

[Garland Bayley]

P.S. It doesn't seem like distance has changed all that much in terms of outfield fence distances and how far pros hit it. 

Off-topic but, they definitely hit it farther but the parks for the most part have gotten smaller. 

There were always parks that had short dimensions throughout or in certain parts of the park but there were also stadiums that had huge outfield dimensions.  There's a reason that other than DiMaggio the Yankees never had a right handed hitter who hit a lot of HRs in the original Yankee Stadium - it was 460 to left-center and 490 to CF. Now there are no parks with large dimensions but a lot with short dimensions.

Comerica (DET), Petco (SD), Citi (NYM), Safeco (SEA) all opened in the last 20 years and after a few seasons drastically moved the fences in and/or lowered the walls.

Wikipedia gives left center at 399 ft and center at 408 feet in 1923. How does this mesh with your stats?

[David_Tepper]

My guess is modern golf equipment, especially lighter weight shafts, makes fitting a taller golfer easier than it used to be.

I would bet that at least a quarter of the men currently ranked in the Top 50 in the world in tennis are 6'4" or taller. And a lot of the women are 5'10" or taller.

[David Kelly]

P.S. It doesn't seem like distance has changed all that much in terms of outfield fence distances and how far pros hit it. 

Off-topic but, they definitely hit it farther but the parks for the most part have gotten smaller. 

There were always parks that had short dimensions throughout or in certain parts of the park but there were also stadiums that had huge outfield dimensions.  There's a reason that other than DiMaggio the Yankees never had a right handed hitter who hit a lot of HRs in the original Yankee Stadium - it was 460 to left-center and 490 to CF. Now there are no parks with large dimensions but a lot with short dimensions.

Comerica (DET), Petco (SD), Citi (NYM), Safeco (SEA) all opened in the last 20 years and after a few seasons drastically moved the fences in and/or lowered the walls.

Wikipedia gives left center at 399 ft and center at 408 feet in 1923. How does this mesh with your stats?

It doesn't because that is what the dimensions were on the POST-renovated Yankee Stadium from 1988 until it closed.  Scroll down a little further in the Wiki entry, read the section called Outfield Dimensions and consult the helpful chart of Yankee Stadium dimensions through the years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Stadium_(1923)