"If the powers that be do not stop the golf ball arms race...you can say goodbye to the glory that is the Old Course at St. Andrews."
The technophobic agenda is running rampant here in St. Andrews as not only was I able to point out for Golf World that Saturday's wind-fueled fiasco has strong roots in regulatory cowardice and vision, but the chorus has been joined by Joe Posnanski at GolfChannel.com.
Posnanski made the connection between greens just a bit too fast for the slopes and wind which, rumor has it, sometimes blows here. Three straight majors and the folks in charge still stick to the same old speed. Cue that Einstein bro, he was on to something.
Posnanski considered the same thing I did: was play halted at the various nearby courses. Of course not.
He writes:
Companies fully understand that there are too many people out there willing to pay for longer golf balls. They will find ways to cut drag, to enhance lift, to defy gravity — or whatever else they can do to get a little bit more golf ball air.
And it will be up to the R&A and USGA to act and not just talk. Conditions are expected to be pretty mild on Sunday, which could mean it will be a shootout. Dustin Johnson and Jason Day and other long hitters will be hitting little wedges into holes. Guys will be driving par 4s. We could watch player after player overwhelm a defenseless St. Andrews.
And it comes back to Jack Nicklaus again. He has been warning about this possibility for years. Maybe St. Andrews can hold up now, but what about in five years? What about in 10? Everyone wants to see the Open Championship at St. Andrews. Everyone also wants to hit their drives farther. And, for the people who run golf, a choice will have to be made.
Beyond the usual stuff about the entire integrity and soul of the game being put at risk, there's another component in this as it relates to Jordan Spieth's historic quest. This in no way is meant to take away from Dustin Johnson's 36-hole position or use of his immense talent. But it's becoming apparent that he's using extreme distance versus to take most of the design elements out of play, as Graeme McDowell had predicted would be a key this week (Phil Casey's report here).
And I go back to this from Spieth from his post-first round press conference, a telling (and in no way bitter) statement about realizing he's got to be perfect to overcome DJ's advantage:
I saw a 65 in our group, and if D.J. keeps driving it the way he is, then I'm going to have to play my best golf to have a chance. It's hard to argue with somebody who's splitting bunkers at about 380 yards and just two-putting for birdie on five or six of the holes when there's only two par-5s. I don't have that in the bag, so I've got to make up for it with ball-striking.
Sunday, July 19, 2015 at 01:56 AM 25 Comments | in 2015 Open Champ., Jordan Spieth, State of the Game, Technology 
Reader Comments (25)
Your honour, I rest my case.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11rzWABoU6yOHRI6kAL3DX_LW8LJM2_tfIROfl-Aw0sY/pub
Or we could just let them tear it up?...I believe if the course was dry and firm, the scores wouldn't be nearly as low as is anyway. Wet makes it play very easy.
You could swing as hard as you want, but the risk for a less than perfectly struck shot would be once again be OB. Perfectly struck shots would still fly a mile, but the renewed fear of a slicing /hooking shot would change behavior - lower swing speeds. Player's driver swings are now violent rotations that were not seen pre1990 due to reduced side spin. Players bomb and gauge today because they can with little risk. I learned to play with clubs (persimmon) that demanded you be in control.
Manufacturers could still claim their balls are as long as ever (perfectly struck) but golf distance and behavior would both change with old side spin levels.
Forget how far the damn thing goes.... put the spin back on it. That fixes half the problems in a heartbeat.
Follow the money. Equipment companies make their money by selling dreams to choppers.
And yes, Geoff, it's a shame not to see Jordan demonstrating his skills in the wind, and pitting that skill against the mega-bombers. Yet another example of the distance explosion costing us fun and diversity.
Only Jack (funny he is one that complains about this, he was long then most) and Tiger could over power courses and also have the mental strength and short games to win consistently. Maybe why they are the two greatest ever.
Jordan Spieth is a tactician, and once again close to winning another major.
Again I write this as I have before, but records aren't being shattered. Every now and then you will see a "wow" low round. Are they shooting 59's weekly? No. Has scores at Augusta changed much over the years? Nope. Augusta is a great example as it's played there every year, and the winning scores and the final scores in the field...haven't changed in time
Same with TPC. Every year, the average score is the same
Sure, an amazing score will happen, but that has happened forever. Who cares if some hit it longer, are they winning all the time? Does the rest of the field not have the same advantage? If someone has the physical gift to be longer, we should hurt them? Stupid
Should banish all 6foot6 basketball players for life then. And raise the rim. Or move the pitching mound back 5-7 feet now as well since everyone is throwing 95mph and hitters have no chance (hence in stats, after steroid era), or make the football field longer cause the players are surely faster then the those playing in the black and white TV era. Nope, but golf is s "gentleman game" and only the non athletic should be able to win? Make it fair for the less physically gifted? Or why??!
These players aren't wearing suits and ties like they did when they built these courses. Nor are they the "non" athlete that started golf. Yet...these courses have stood up to the test of time for 50-100+ years. Of courses some changes to a course needs to be made throughout time...what sport doesn't that happen in? Every single one!
This article should be reposted with Jordan Spieth's picture instead of Dustin Johnson, as he just personally ruined the argument for the author.
And most importantly, bedsides the facts above... Do you want golf to keep in the decline?? This will only enable that. Growing the game. Not everything was better years ago, and doing something like this will just show the ignorance or the decisions makers in golf. Hence why the game is declining.
Watching Dustin and Jordan okay together, we saw a few things
One person was a power player with an amazing touch. The other a tactician
Bother played two very very different styles, and both had ups and downs. I wish I could say they both are tied as of right now, but the golfer with all the power that is ruining the game, fell apart, not the mentally strong tactician
As the case has been for 50+ years
The power player that doesn't fall apart all the time, we know them as Jack and Tiger. Only two ever
Power can only do so much.
These "distance" arguments will never hold up. And if the powers have their way, well even less people will watch and play golf.
So the game is in decline, right DP? So you're saying if everyone could hit it 350 yards the game would suddenly not be in decline?
First, we are not talking about "TigerProofing" or "DustinProofing" anything. This has nothing whatsoever to do with any given player. It is about the entire general level of play at the elite level. Including everything from the NCAA, to the Walker Cup, to the Tour.
Second, it is all about protecting the architecture of the great classic historic championship courses. If you want to suggest that Augusta National has provided a consistent test against distance and scoring over the years, I have very bad news for you. The only way ANGC was able to do that was with nearly annual renovations, lengthening, green speed enhancements, tightening, etc. The Old Course has done much the same. They have begged, borrowed and stolen land to stretch their golf courses for modern driver distances.
Having caddied for Jack in his prime in the early 70's, and having spoken to him since, I can assure you that at least one of Jack's concerns is that even in his heyday (when you correctly point out that Jack was VERY long, with massive power held in reserve most of the time), the distance difference between Jack and a top-performing club pro was not all that great. Nowadays that's no longer true. Jack has much more than that to say, of course; he rightly notes the differences in today's distances from his own in 1986.
But back to your main presumption, which is wildly off base. I don't care if the longest hitters in a competition win the tournament. All I care about is that the entire field can play comfortably on the historic courses without tricking them up. That's all. And it is no longer even an arguable point. Every single links course in the Open rota has, like Augusta, been pulled and pinched and stretched and glazed in order to host championships in the modern era of the solid core urethane ball. Period. It is a fact, and beyond argument. You are free to argue that it doesn't matter. (And I'd argue that your position is silly and insulting to my intelligence and sense of aesthetics.) But you can't argue that it hasn't happened, because it has.
Normal hackers play a more honest game these days since we can't fly over all the trouble.