prestigious Captains Club writes a letter...

[Paul Richards]

from the June 6th issue of GolfWorld, in an article about Kenny Perry winning at the Memorial:



Before the tournament Nicklaus also met with members of the prestigious Captains Club, and they agreed to write a letter to golf's governing bodies about the necessity of doing something to temper the ball, and soon. That's one of Jack's favorite causes.

[Paul Richards]

[Paul Richards]

BTW at the LaSalle Bank Open (Nationwide Tour) this weekend, Victor Schwamkrug AVERAGED 350.8 yards per drive AND hit 80% of his fairways!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jack is completely correct!

Someone PLEASE tell me that technology isn't ruining the game!?!?!?!

[Dan Kelly]

Forgive my ignorance.

What's the "Captain's Club"?

[SPDB]

The Captains Club is the group that puts on the Memorial Tournament.

[Dan Kelly]

Thanks, SPDB.

What makes them "prestigious"?

[SPDB]

Not certain. At most it can only have existed for as long as the Memorial Tournament has, which, when you consider the avg lifetime of a PGA tournament, is an eternity. I think its membership rolls are what make it prestigious (e.g. Bush, Sr.m Bill Campbell, et al.). Better bet is that it is self-proclaimed/ordained

[Jim_H]

Paul--
Before you draw any conclusions from the distance numbers of Victor Schamkrug, did you happen to see him swing?  He swings harder than any golfer I have ever seen--including the long drive contestents.  He makes Daly look like a powder puff.  He only hit as many fairways as he did because of the course.  Swinging the way he does, he will never last--or make anything of himself.  There are always people like him who come along--remember George Bayer?  I'm still a believer that the biggest cause of the increased distances is that the players on the tour are just better athletes than we ever had before--what's the matter with that?  and why is that surprising?

[Rick Shefchik]

I always get suckered into this one...

JimH, even if it is just the athletes -- and I don't agree that that's the most significant reason for the increase in distance -- at some point the way the game is played is going to overwhelm the playing field.

I think the NBA would have to do something if the average height of its players reached 7-5 -- the basket would just be too close to the floor. Or take the NHL -- Martin Giguerre may well be the great goalie in the history of the game, and the size of the goalies compared to those 30 and 40 years ago has also helped decrease scoring by filling up more of the nets. But the pads the goalies now wear fill up the rest of the net, and if the NHL wants to do something about all those 1-0 overtime games -- which isn't helping the league attract new fans -- the first and easiest place to address the problem is the technology. In other words, reduce the allowable size of goalie pads. You can't stop the players from growing, but you can open up a little space between the pipes by rolling back the padding.

Same with the golf ball.

[Paul Richards]

Rick:

Well said!