"The entire sport of golf likely will be faced with a fork-in-the-road decision in charting its future."
Jim Achenbach assesses the U.S. Open at Congressional and concludes that the "gulf" between regular golfers and the professionals has "grown dramatically" in recent years with the need for a resolution appearing more evident than ever.
Several technological developments have aided golfers with high swing speeds much more than golfers with slower speeds. On the 2011 PGA Tour, 37 golfers are averaging more than 295 yards in driving distance. The longest hitters, if not constrained by accuracy concerns, can crank 340-yard drives at will.
So golf courses for the pros are growing longer. Meanwhile, the USGA is teaming up with the PGA of America on a new program called Tee It Forward, telling ordinary golfers that they will have more fun if they play shorter courses.
To amateurs who watch the pros in person or on television, such a suggestion doesn’t make much sense. The entire sport of golf likely will be faced with a fork-in-the-road decision in charting its future.
On this front, it sounds like Taylor Made is continuing to move toward wanting bifurcation of the rules to innovate for the everyday golfer, even though there is nothing stopping them from doing so now. Ryan Ballengee reports on Hank Haney's introductory teleconference to announce his signing as a Taylor Made fanboy.
In a call announcing his deal with TaylorMade, Haney said he thought equipment makers could have a bigger impact on the enjoyment factor of the game than instructors. Naturally, then, he would like to see the governing bodies of the game de-regulate equipment rules for the amateur.
(I fully support bifurcation of the Rules of Golf in a formal capacity – not just an unspoken understanding.)
“I wish the equipment manufacturers could be as innovative as they could be so they could make the game easier and more enjoyable.”
Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 09:13 AM 47 Comments | in 2011 U.S. Open, Golf Business, State of the Game, Technology 
Reader Comments (47)
On the first hole have the tee markers in the same place on the tee and place coloured stakes on each edge of the fairway, say blue, 230 yards out and black, 270 yards out. Vary these distances for an uphill or downhill fairway. Those who hit the first tee shot past the black stakes (5%?) play back tees the rest of the round. Hit past the blue stakes (20% of players)- blue tees. Those who hit short of the blue stakes- play the white tees for the rest of the round.
For me, the pleasure of golf comes from hitting greens in regulation.
A low score comes from holing from 10 feet and less, on that day.
I'm pro at a club with 1500 members which would mean that we had nearly 300 members at 5 or less!!
In the UK the figure is more like 10% at 9 or better.
Tournament ball.Smaller drivers and max 56 degrees for pros/elites and golf would be much more fun to watch.
Case in point, when I got my first full set of proper clubs (PING knockoffs...they were SWEET) as 13/14 golf obsessed kid, I didn't just go to the pro-shop and say "I want THESE clubs!!!" I ended up having one of the assistant pros do a profile of my game (what club do you hit 150yds, do you like to hit it high/low, draw/fade preference, my height, hand size, handicap, and my goals/aspirations) and after watching me hit balls with my old clubs for 20 minutes only then did he recommend a set of clubs that were best for my game...and they were perfect for a short chunky kid like me who loved to whack the ball.
These days, it's the amateurs who TELL the club pros what they want/need regardless of their ability and skill level...who cares if the clubs aren't right for the golfer..the customer is always right seems to be the prevailing attitude.
Also...slow play was easily mitigated in those days by the club pros singling out the slowpokes (AND sandbaggers!!!!) and taking them aside and instructing them how their actions affect the rest of the golf club. Nowadays...club pros are just glorified sweater salesmen/greeters who dare not to offend the paying customer regardless if the customer is in the wrong.
However....since the technological cat is out of the bag in terms of these new "cheater clubs"...I say go the route of baseball for the pros...you can use any driver head you want...as long as it's not bigger than say 215cc and is made out of wood. A tournament ball is also a good idea and can be decided by the Tournament Director each week. I'd like to see the TOUR play Harbor Town using Balatas...and the next week a big long modern course (8000yds) with them using Pinnacles! THAT would help identify the best players week in week out by seeing how they can adapt to different conditions instead of the same ole same ole every week.
Lastly...it would give the manufacturers motivation to create a whole new genre of equipment. Amateurs can continue using these "toasters on a stick" clubs all they want thus creating TWO pools of golfers to market their products.
Almost 7% of make golfers have indexes below 5.
BTW, one of the huge problems with growing golf IMHO, is found in this chart http://www.usga.org/handicapping/articles_resources/women-s-USGA-Handicap-Indexes/
To include 7% of women golfers, you need to get to a 14 index.
I play a LOT of golf with my wife, who has been in the upper 10% of women's indexes for decades. Watching her and her friends play, I can state without reservation that golf courses are too damned hard for women golfers.
K
The USGA handicap statistics show that the average man is 14 and woman 27. So most golfers, if we include "casuals" with no handicap, are worse than that.
Every course should have a set of 6000 yard tees for average guys (like me!)
I'm not too concerned about the elite sub 5 and better guys who are the minority.
Majority rules OK?
changing the rules so I can use an plutonium faced/atomic warhead driver is just ridiculous, I'll tee off from shorter tees KthxBai