Same thing nearly happened in the 2009 OPEN at Turnberry.
Bring the game back to 6700 yards anyone can win. Take it to 7400 many can't. It is the 580 yard par 5 holes where the big hitters are getting up with irons over 72 holes you can't give the big hitter an eight shot start.
Adrian,
Agreed that did happen in 2009,
but I think we can agree that as much fun as that was, modern equipment being ahead of course size made that possible.
Not too many other sports where a 60 year can hold his own against the game's elite in THEIR primes.
I mean why not bottleneck the fairways to 5 feet wide and grow the rough to a foot at 270 and invite the women and all seniors.
At some point it is nice to see who can attempt to control and work a driver not a 3 iron, which is my pet peeve against poorly regulated equipment changing the nature of golf and course demands at the elite level and creating the need for never ending elasticity of courses, not a peeve against firm and fast
Being a a big proponent of USGA mandated fewer clubs (maybe 8 or 9) allowed, which would mean many people would not carry a driver, why do you think it is so important to test the driver? I never really cared much about which clubs are hit from the tee as a form of "testing" the golfer because I don't think length should be overly emphasized.
Ciao
Sean,
throughout history, the greatest players have been also the longest hitters
Jones, Snead, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus,Norman, Woods,
McIlroy.
I don't think length should be OVER emphasized either, but I do enjoy seeing a great driver such as Norman or Nicklaus separate themselves by hitting driver farther and straighter than another player.
Fairways that consistently run out at 3 iron length for long drivers allow a disproportionate # of players to hit their second shot from the same place and place of the onus of skill separation on the approach shot, short game and putting, thus robbing the bold long straight driver of what I believe should be a distinct advantage, relative to the risk taken.
Simply put, technology has reduced the importance of long straight driving as it can now be done with irons and hybrids and still leave a short iron in many cases on classic major courses.
I'm aware this doesn't affect your game or most others, but I get a lot of enjoyment watching the majors and we can certainly agree they play a different game than before, even if we disagree about how much that matters.