The Average Golfer Speaks Out

[Doug Siebert]

Question for you all that think bifurcation is the best option...what percentage of golfers NOT SUBJECT[/i] to use the competition equipment would use the same stuff the Tour guys use?   I'd bet it would acount for well more than half the annual revenus generated by the equipment companies.

Do we really have any idea how much, percentage wise, the ball going 20% further than it used to adds to the cost of building and maintaining golf courses? Somehow, I don't think it's 20%.

Buildings did not continue to get taller just because people have.

The ceiling heights on lower end houses seem to be higher today than they were 50 or 100 years ago.  Try and find a new house built in the last 10 years that has ceilings under 8' (not counting finished basements)  They are all over the place if you look at houses built before 1950.


As for the distance problem, I still think the problem is more due the massive increase in carry distance off the driver, rather than the smaller but still too large increase in total distance.  Fix the changes to the ball that caused that carry distance increase and you'll make it harder to hit the ball straight, make hitting fairways more important because of the loss of roll when you land in the rough, make long irons fly less far, and the game will be in much better balance.  Its all about the spin rates!

[Steve Lang]

 
Yipes.. if I hear another general simplistic solution to this psycological distance problem / irrelevent course architecture malaise I'm gonna be sick.. let go of these old courses!  The world will not end!  Perhaps if they'd stop trying to be immortal, their architecture could be preserved.

My first real exposure to the pros was 1979.. my most recent was this past spring.. pretty much an annual thing.. they have always amazed me with their shot making, good, bad, and rarely but sometimes ugly..  I have seen many jaws in the crowd drop at the sight of high, curving, and  long flying balata and surlyn covered spheres.. what i have enjoyed the most is the pure tone of their ball striking.. flight & sound are two things that don't really translate well on tv..  let them be, they rarely care about you or the "average" golfer.. just where is the next tourney they're scheduled for..

it is merit which normally wins at any level, maybe with a little luck thrown in, but as the cliche goes.. winners never quit, quitters never win.. kinda wish jesper had won yesterday, he almost deserved it, but not quite..