I played Cypress on Saturday and Mike Hulbert was in our group. I didn't see anyone else.

On Monday there were a few out at Cypress including the brodcasting crew of McCord, Costas etc. The only other star to play there that I know of was Mickelson, on Wednesday.

We held the Boys and Girls Club of the Monterey Penisula Fundraiser on Monday at MPCC. One pro and three amateurs, shotgun start, all holes in use on both courses. We raised about $200,000.00. Davis Love was the headliner, not too many big names after that.

In my experience it's actually a bit higher...

There are a lot of really good players who play stock equipment out there....

They may not win a lot, but they do win and they do succeed, they also tend to lurk in Top 25's.

Loren Roberts comes to mind.

While there are a few exceptions...

There are not alot of guys on tour that are playing "stock" clubs. These players are catered to in every respect.  There are special "tour only" heads for the majority of manufacturer's drivers and fairway woods. The majority of tour wood heads are weighted differently.  They do not have a "draw bias" internal weighting as do alot of retail heads, and also the face angles on tour heads are usually square to slightly open, unlike their retail counterparts. Most of the irons, these guys play are tweaked in some way or another-  they have special grinds for iron heads, which include special sole grinds for proper bounce, special grinds for appearance, like the top line and toe, etc.  The clubheads may have the same markings as their retail counterparts, but they are far from being what you may find on your local golf shops shelves.  The one component that is the same as the majority of retail clubs is the steel shaft.  Dynamic Gold & Rifle shafts make up the large majority of steel shafts on tour.  As for the Graphite shafts in tour players woods, they have access to so many different models, that you can't imagine.  A fair number of which are created specifically for tour players only and are never released to the public for sale.

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about golf professionals getting access to better gear...this happens in EVERY sport...and it extends down to the high-end amateur ranks in every sport!  About the only difference is most of the other sports don't have considerably better balls than lower levels, although professional baseballs are somewhat harder and the seems are often different (raised) than lower levels.  

We used to have the Rawlings and Easton reps at our college practices about once a month, with a truck load of gear and catalogs to get use anything spec'd (at least gloves) to anything the guys in MLB had.  

Mark Brown,

I completely agree with Ted Kramer and don't see any reason ball manufacturers can't build a golf ball that guys like Phil can hit maybe 270-275 (with their drivers).

The Titleist boys should be able to build a golf ball that doesn't require modifications to existing courses or building ever longer new courses.

Obviously, the essence of the game when it comes to distance is "relative distance".

"Absolute distance" has no real value except to make playing the game more expensive.

See Kyle...on GCA, not only do you get to learn about great, cool looking natural bunkers, you also learn about high performance "tour sounding" drivers that have rendered the cool looking bunkers OBSOLETE!

Sure, Titleist could build a golf ball that Phil Mickelson couldn't hit 200 yards with a driver. They could also build one that Phil can hit 20 yards farther than the ball he's playing right now. Ball-manufacturing ability is not the issue.

I for one would not be in favor of the ball I play suddenly flying 10% shorter. I don't think Phil Mickelson would be in favor of a ball that flies 10% shorter. I don't think more than one in a thousand golfers would be in favor of a ball that flies 10% shorter, as you are suggesting.

What would probably be acceptable to most golfers is a testing procedure that keeps any ball in the future from flying farther than the current-available balls do.

What might possibly be acceptable to the majority of golfers is a ball that goes maybe a yard or two shorter than the current balls for short-hitting high-handicappers and three or four yards shorter for Phil Mickelson. Maybe. With the right PR spin. For a majority of golfers. You're not going to find giving up distance to be a popular idea for very many people.

I like the fact that I play, or could play if I wanted, exactly the same ball and clubs that the guys on Tour use. I just want the USGA to implement a test procedure that keeps the distance available from growing and growing and growing with no real limit.

Titleist Balata.

-Ted

Why aren't more people getting behind Duval?  The masses all seem to love John Daly because of his constant comedy of tragedies, so why isn't the Average Joe getting behind Duval since they shoot the same scores?  If he would just get fat and bring back the goatee.....

I dunno, I don't find anything cold about a man whose golf game demises because he spends more time with his wife and her three kids that he absolutely adores and loves...

Maybe I'm missing something...

I really fear for bowling.  All of the major American sports, I feel like it's changed the most and the professional game is taking it way away from its roots.  The minimalist in me really longs for the days of Mark Roth's plaid pants and that smooth arm swing of Earl Anthony.  Now lane owners are bringing in disco balls, strobe lights, gutter guards and electronic scoring.  

What is an old Polish, beer-drinking purist supposed to do?  

If we may digress to the serious side of bowling and its connections to golf, you will see that bowling and golf are similar in that there are not enough regulations on the construction and materials that can be used in the ball.  Furthermore, in bowling, you can use more than one type of ball in a match.

Would bowling be better if there was only one-type of ball, a competition ball?

Would golf be better if players were allowed to switch balls throughout the round?

I'll be back in a minute as I jump to www.bowlingballatlas.com to search for this topic

Yeah, I understand the Daly thing, and can't really see a comparison to Duval's troubles. Just saying, Duval isn't nearly as cold as he appears to be.