Were the governing bodies right all along?

http://www.golfmagic.com/features/pga-tour-driving-distance-its-worst-for-13-years/16883-2.html

We all know these guys are good, as the PGA Tour keeps telling us, but if the driving stats are correct for 2013, maybe they're just not quite as good as they once were.

Is distance really out of control? Do we need to change the ball for the future of the game? Apparently not


Read more: http://www.golfmagic.com/features/pga-tour-driving-distance-its-worst-for-13-years/16883-2.html#ixzz2g65wAZoX

Horlicks!

Just in case you didn't get it the first time guys.

Surely the driving stat number is more a case of more fairway woods, hybrids and irons being used off the tee - on some courses drivers can safely be left out of the bag.
Would think that the average distance from the shorter hitters is longer than ever.

Could it be that courses are getting ever more boring and penal in set up to counter the big hitters.

It was never about the actual number they hit it more about what those driving distances did for the type of golf we had to watch.

I am with Kwini, look at the distances they hit a 3 wood off the tee, barely lose distance and get more control. It will skew the figures a bit. Stenson has won the fedex with a 3 wood mainly, so will others follow suit more?

Exactly, course management is much more of an issue these days.
I used to hit driver at every opportunity, i.e 18- however many par 3's.

Now I maybe use it 4 or 5 times a round. Makes it look like I'm hitting it shorter.

kwinigolfer wrote:Surely the driving stat number is more a case of more fairway woods, hybrids and irons being used off the tee - on some courses drivers can safely be left out of the bag.
Would think that the average distance from the shorter hitters is longer than ever.

Hmm ... I was given to understand that when they assess driver distance they do so on the two holes where driver is most likely to have been used and extrapolate for a percentage who may have used less club.

Even if that were the case Gael, there are a hell of a lot of golfers these days, Stenson, Mickelson etc standout recently who have won tournaments without, or very rarely hitting driver.

Another thing to consider is that there now probably isn't a hole where people are "likely" to use a driver as technology has developed quite a way so that people can hit a fairway wood almost as far as a driver, say 15 yards shorter, but with far more consistency.
Which would you rather have, more fairways hit, or being top of meaningless stats on the internet but playing out of the semi, rough, woods?

super ...but  what does this have to do with driving stats and, more to the point, the distinct possibility that golf equipment is more than likely maxed out?

gael,
I checked eight PGA Tour pros (got bored after that!) and they ALL check out as having shorter driving distance in 2013 compared to 2012!!

All I can say is that the following may offer a clue:
~Four modest / moderate length guys (Donald, Clark, Zach, Stricker) average a 2-yard loss of distance.

~Four bombers (Dustin, Bubba, Tiger, Garrigus) average a more than 7-yard loss of distance.

Perhaps that suggests something in the courses used or an overall tendancy to use driver less which would naturally show up more for the bomb'n'gouge guys.

Either way, super_ is right, the distances the longer hitters are getting from fairway woods and irons is otherworldly and I'm sure continued efforts to turbo-charge the ball is a major reason.

Like I say Gael, if Drivers were more frequently used in the past to measure stats, but people these days favour slightly shorter hitting clubs with more accuracy instead then of course it will make it look as if driving distance is going down, where in fact it is club choice which has changed.

It's too simple to look at stats which show driving distance going down and linking it with to only one thing. i.e. not as long with the driver as before, without actually considering they might not use the driver from year to year.
I know myself that I don't use Driver as frequently as I used to.

I think the reason hinted at in the article is probably pretty significant - it's been so wet just about every week this year on the PGAT, so they've all been getting much less run.

I think SmithersJOnes is on to something... This has been by wettest year I can ever remember... and I mean by a LOT. They lose a LOT of distance with little to no roll out... and that has been the case sooooo often this year it could be enough to significantly skew the stats...

Avg. Driving in 2012 was close to 2013 though, so weather is probably not the only factor.
Maybe a combination between change of club and weather?

Bottom line with this is the technology has not been wound back so the reason that the distances are shorter is not to do with that but something else like weather, using fairways, etc. So you cannot say that the technology gains have been stopped or slowed.

Maybe the technology march has slowed a little but the problem goes back more like 10-15 years when courses were becoming unfit for purpose and I would argue that the distances that rule makers should be targeting are the ones that were been hit then.

As a completely unscientific study I changed from a Taylormade R7 (2007ish) to a new RBZ this year and added about 20-30 yards to my drives. No other changes. So if that is what 5-6 years of technology does for me, it must do that and some for the pros.

i moved from a 2007 cleveland hibore to an R11S in jan and i think ive added tops 5 yards.

Hend, 289, were the new drivers fitted to you? Otherwise it could've just been a different angle more suitable for your swing?

mine is off the shelf tho ive tried every one of the different head settings. (does that count as custom?!)

The R7 had a far more expensive Mitsubishi shaft fitted but the RBZ has the stock TM one. The only fitting done though has been the new shaft on the R7 and I had half an inch taken off the RBZ shaft.

As I said not very scientific! But speaking to the guy who I have lessons with and fits clubs and seeing friends using them my experience is pretty common.

Sounds good 289. A lot of people simply hit the ball 20-30 yards further into the cabbage though...

So then, in spite of the governing bodies having claimed for a number of years now that equipment, distance-wise, has been maxed out together with an article which would now seem to support said claim this is, what, irrelevant?

The whole point of the exercise was surely to determine whether or not distances have increased in the last few years or so.  Seems it hasn't.  Ball companies I'm sure will continue to try and further "turbo-charge" the ball but won't find it as easy, if not impossible, to get by the equipment rules these days which are far more stringent and effective than they were twenty years ago.  It would seem, thusfar, mission accomplished.

Having said that, I still think the governing bodies should roll the ball back.  The exponential loss in distance for the average amateur would be minimal compared to distance lost by the professional golfer.

Of course whether or not the game has been made easier by hot-faced 3-woods, hybrid/rescue clubs etc. is entirely another debate but it would seem the distance thing has at least been conquered ... for now!

twoeightnine ...  you are of course correct. The damage was done in the '90s.  Big-headed drivers and 'super-charged balls' quite literally got away from the governing bodies.  Trying to tackle the problem retrospectively, however, would in all likelihood have bankrupted them back then though.  

In so far as making the game tougher for the pros, I think we'd all benefit from a reduced club maximum.  I for one would like to see how Mickelson could reconcile five wedges with only five other clubs at his disposal!

navyblueshorts wrote:Sounds good 289. A lot of people simply hit the ball 20-30 yards further into the cabbage though...

 

Navy, you are spot on there.  To be fair its a little bit straighter but it is also responsible for some of the biggest misses too!  Generally if I am not playing too well or it is a tighter course I use my 20 year old Callaway Warbird 3 wood and leave the driver alone!  Maybe that says something?

Having just thought about this further I wonder if this is partly the reason that players are driving shorter that they have now reached the point where the courses are being over powered so much that pros are now looking for accuracy as they know that they can pretty easily get to within 150 yards/9 iron of the green so getting another 30 yards is irrelevant, or possibly even getting them too close?

Most courses where they have a drivable par 4 its a 3 wood for most of them, not a driver.