Distance
- Thread starter DCgolf
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drewitgolf
New
Number 18 currently plays to 465 yards.
Kevin Shields
Super Moderator
Shortest I ever saw on 18 was Scott McCarron in 1996 had like 70 yards to a back pin. Knew it had to be lengthened soon.
My point exactly. The golf ball is going 60 yards further! So we added all this real estate to get the hole to play the same! And every yard on 18 is 36 inches!
Frans@France
New
Dariusz J.
New member
Lengthening old courses is a barbarity and ruining the designer's job. It's like solving a problem by finding the easiest solution that is not the best at all. People governing golf should be wiser than that having so powerful instruments in their hands.
Cheers
Kevin Shields
Super Moderator
That's obviously only partly true. Courses need to be lengthened just to keep up with technology. Even great strategic courses like Harbour Town are much longer than they used to be. I would like to see more strategy in architecture, more doglegs, smaller greens, tighter fairways, etc as well. So I agree somewhat.
mgranato
New
Would a 10-15 year old wound ball give accurate numbers compared to when it was new? Wasn't there a reasonable shelf life on those balls, or all balls for that matter, before performance dips?
Dariusz J.
New member
Well, not necessarily, Kevin. The technology might have been controlled in the sense it should not yield for changing historical courses and adjusted to the increasing level of human athleticism. My light athletic example with javelin is still en vogue in sports.
I would like to hear about serious reasons against this approach in golf - imagine CoR not bigger than in case of persimmon heads, heavier ball, etc.
Cheers
birly-shirly
New
Careful what you wish for Dariusz. I think you actually want a lighter ball.
I don't see why the ball mass would need to change, just play with its mechanical properties to get the COR down.
I've got to agree with Darius on this one, given that the R&A/USGA can set whatever limits they want, it baffles me why we have even got to this situation.
Dariusz J.
New member
Depends. The heavier the object is the shorter is the way it goes when the energy transferred is the same. But understood also why a light ball won't fly that far taking into accout air resistance. I am leaving it to physics experts.
Leon, my take is that the lobby of OEMs, in its hopeless run for artificial increasement of distance for hackers put USGA/R&A in a vicious circle, because every yard of added distance for a hacker is double for a pro. And neither these organizations nor OEMs are paying for lengthening courses labour. IMO, it is a stupidity.
Cheers
Ostensibly, yes, but the legal chaos/fear of losing a court case that ensued after the unseemly tiff with Ping has probably made both governing bodies a little gunshy...
birly-shirly
New
Fear of L-I-T-I-G-A-T-I-O-N.
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