I'm kind of surprised that we aren't seizing a little more on the "when the ball is rolling" part of the argument. As Erik (and others) have stated many times, "Angles don't matter unless the ball is rolling". It seems like a simple way to make angles matter as much as most of us want them to is a concerted effort to get the ball rolling.
I for one love fast, firm golf. Last year for about three weeks the course I play most often got really fiery. It was great. You could hit some low long-irons off tees and the ball would still roll out for quite a ways. You could still hit shots and stop them somewhat on the greens (though the first hop was still making that nice "thud" sound), but it changed the way the game was played. So fun.
It may be impossible to make courses firm and fast enough to get tour-level players to play along the ground, but I'm not really worried about them. For lower-trajectory, lower-spin players from the low-single-digits on up (i.e. most of the players on Earth), firm and fast conditions of the type that Ran and others have been advocating for decades would probably do the job.
Yup. But the USGA tried to get everyone else to be "down with brown," but the golfers out there still want their course to be their own Augusta National.
I loved what Pinehurst looked like in 2014… but it didn't even look like that in 2024.
I very rarely play courses and conditions where angles don’t matter.
You keep saying that, but… It's quite unlikely.
Angles do matter.
Just saying it doesn't make it so.
And, what’s more, shot tracking data proponents have used really just one thing to assume validity of their data. The sheer size of the data set.
That's not really true. I mean, you need a large enough sample size to make relevant, valid conclusions, but you can look at how 5-7 handicappers play one specific hole. etc.
We’re in shot tracking infancy and trajectory, ball speed, spin rate, firmness of turf, slope, etc etc ALL have a massive impact on how the shape of a golf hole and hazard placement affect golfers.
I think you're saying that in high hopes, and I think you're going to be disappointed. The simple fact is whatever spin rates a player is generating, we capture the results of that shot.
Just saying things doesn't make it true, Ben.
Ben, the "angles don't matter" believers use "data" to suck the soul and magic from the game. They can believe what they want, but I will always look for the best angle and weigh the risk/reward because it is more fun, way more satisfying, and how I believe the game was intended to be played.
And you're welcome to do it. Sometimes I take on the shot that's not as strategically smart, just because I want to, as well.
Nearly 20 years ago I began sharing my opinion on Tobacco Road. I don't dislike TR, but my opinion really seemed to bother some people. My opinion boiled down to "there's a lot of visual stuff going on, and a lot of crazy shots you're begged to try to pull off… tempted to, goaded into… but if you could avoid doing that, and play pretty strategic golf, it was a golf course on which you could put together a pretty good round even if you're not playing your absolute best.
Is that the most FUN way to play Tobacco Road? Probably not. Lots of people love to go for the second shot on 11… or whatever. And that's all up to them.
The "angles" discussion has, from my side, almost always been about scoring. Not what you like or enjoy or find stimulating.
Also, it's not about "belief."
I think that is fair enough. And whilst I genuinely think that angles matter less than all us golf architect nerds want to believe (because it’s such an easy touch point), I will always design and build a whole bunch of angles and “strategy” because even if it partially works - even just mentally - I agree it makes the game better.
And, like I said in my ASGCA presentation… 95% of golfers aren't aware of this stuff, and won't be for a loooong time. The game's best are, and a good chunk of the serious golfers are, but even among them, there are still plenty out there who think that putting is how you get from a 5 to a scratch.