Chuck
I am not sure what that means. How far do you want the ball rolled back because of technology? A lot of golf is about technology - from the clubs we hit, the balls we use, the courses we play on and the gadgets we employ to figure out yardage and to improve our swings. The game of golf and technology are hopelessly meshed. You cannot take one away from the other.
I don't have a problem if you want to change the rules. I follow the rules and will follow them whatever they are. My problem is with folks who say the game is compromised by technology then use the stuff. Its very bizarre behaviour for those that don't make a living at the GAME (golf is a game- no?). Furthermore, then these golfers blame somebody else for creating rules which allows them to compromise the game. Stand back and give this concept some thought. From my perspective two things should happen if golfers really believe the game is on the rocks because of technology - unfortunately, both require action on the part of golfers which is why any success on this front will take a long time.
1. Stop supporting a system which runs counter to your beliefs. If equipment is a problem, don't use the equipment or find another way limit its effect.
2. Start creating competitions with other like minded golfers in which equipment is negated.
I do differ from you in that I don't really care how the big boys play the game, I don't really care if there are two sets of rules depending on how good a player is and I believe that lengthening courses due to a few long hitters is a terrible knee jerk reaction on the part of clubs that is mostly driven by ego on the part of members to have their club be seen as the best and toughest - enough so to take on the pros. I think this sort of thinking is silly and in the long run, if acted upon, a great disservice to most members.
Once again, the power of choice lies with each golfer. Sometimes, we are forced to make uncomfortable choices in matching our behaviour with our beliefs. It may not be ideal, but golf is afterall, just a game.
Ciao
Sean I don't honestly know "how much" of a rollback there should be. I know that I don't have a percentage in mind and never have. I don't think like that. I am not thinking about protecting par, or scoring, or anything else like that. Rather, it is a qualitative determination. It is an aesthetic question.
As for my using the latest driver and a Pro V1, as I said before, no course, be it TOC or Maidstone or Merion has anything to fear from me. The only point of a rollback is to contain elite-level players and I am assuredly not one of those. If you say that you wouldn't mind it if the rules were bifurcated, it makes it easy for you. You could advocate one kind of rolled back ball for TOC, another for Riviera, another for Oakland Hills, etc., if that's what anybody wanted. The USGA doesn't want to do that and I agree with them. Where is the hypocrisy on my part if I say that I will play by the rules (including the best equipment legally allowable under the rules) but that I advocate a change of the rules...? I think it is a bit of a silly and specious argument to say that before I can advocate for an adjustement in the rules, I should first play by changed rules. No one would ever accept that kind of thinking if, for instance I advocated a rule change to allow 500cc driver heads and just to prove my point I used an illegal 500cc driver head.
As you say, there is an element of choice in the game and with equipment puchases, and if a golfer didn't care to play by the rules, he could easily buy himself some illegal bandit balls or some other model of illegal technology. If a golfer has no care for the rules, but has a fascination with technology, I suppose he could satisfy that urge if he chose to do so. That has no bearing on me. I advocate that the USGA would better serve the game and protect its core values if it rolled back its fail-point for ODS testing. For no reason other than to protect a certain kind of game on existing golf courses. Others are welcome to disagree, and there is no right or wrong. Certainly no 'hypocrisy.'
But where is technology taking us? With few serious improvements to the Pro V1 over the past 3 to 5 years, and with the advent of limitations on driver head size, CT and MoI, there has not been much new in teh way of technology and therefore not much new in distance gains. But I trust that technology will find a way to crack whatever performance barriers there are now, and that distance gains will again be seen, sometime, in the future. The USGA and the R&A have already made their declaration, in a Joint Statement of Principles. They say that any substantial new gains in technologically-produced distance would be undesirable. So now, they must either wait to see what happens and then re-act, or else take the matter in hand with a rollback now, and allow the R&D wizards to go back to work, which is inevitable.