I know this might sound really dumb, but what if we nerfed shaft flex instead of the ball? I'm not sure, but shouldn't you still be able still crush the ball, but it would be much, much less controllable. Slower ideal clubhead speeds would mean shorter distances, but players over-swinging with a big margin of error in the fairway could still get a bit more out of it.
I dunno, it's just an idea I wanted to get some feedback on. I'm sure there are a hundred reasons why it doesn't make sense.
Matt, with respect, it's not that it doesn't make sense.
It's just that there are so, so---many solutions(errr theories) which don't address the actual thing the governing bodies want to address--how far the ball travels.
Many suggest smaller heads-but that assumes the elite can't hit the sweet spot-they can.(put a 3 wood on a driver length shaft and they will bomb it, as they already do with a 3 wood.
Many suggest more spin etc. etc.
Hey, I'd be all for a return to balata and persimmon(seriously) but I'm a realist and know that with all the howling about a simple 5% rollback(about 1/3 of what has been gained in the last 20 years)there would be tenfold whining about having to show the skill it takes to hit a wooden driver and spinny ball.
a whippier shaft-sure it will hurt some(but that's not the goal)
There are plenty it would have no impact on-Freddy Couples had a ladies 3 wood for years.
Narrow fairways,knee deep rough, ditches at 300 across the fairway-everybody has an idea.
But the easiest way to make the ball travel less distance, is to reduce how far the ball goes-regardless of why it goes so far.
the rest are simply theories that will impact different players different ways(of course that could also happen with the rollback)
Nobody seemed to shed many tears when an arbitrary rule was passed because anchoring "didn't look good" and a few players fell off the map, but there were very few of them.
Isn't it interesting that something ruled as giving an advantage, and therefore deemed illegal, was used by so few?
Every single player adopted a hot, long, light shafted driver and multi layer ball.
LOL-I guess because everybody does it, it's not an advantage.