Are big hitters ruining golf?

[timgolfy]

Are big hitters ruining golf? Not talking about the professional level, but standard amateur courses.

Driving short par 4s, driving over hazards designed specifically to force a managed approach, hitting par 5s in two. Is this not taking the character out of courses and spoiling the game for the smaller hitters?

 

[G_Mulligan]

no

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Let me think.....................................NO

 

[Alex1975]

IMO No, not at all. You start driving par 4s and over hazzards and you will get yours(ones)soon enough. Its just another style of play, its not even a batter style of play.

Who do you think leads the world in par 5s in the PGA this year? You will be shocked!

 

[brendy]

Here is a selection, I have hundreds!

 

[G1BB0]

each to their own I say. Surely the whole point of golf is the challenge to yourself against the course. if you are long and hit par 5's in 2 then good luck, if you score an eagle or birdie then fair do's. If I know I need 3 to reach then if I do get on in 2 its a bonus, if I am on in 3 with a chance of birdie then great.

Yes golf is about how low can you go but its also about enjoyment and now and again a sense of achievement for the individual

 

[jeardley]

Decent players have always been able to hit it long.
When one of our local courses was opened in the early seventies by Tony Jacklin he drove the first (now the Tenth)

Its not a new thing.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

No

 

[Tommo21]

Are big hitters ruining golf? Not talking about the professional level, but standard amateur courses.

Driving short par 4s, driving over hazards designed specifically to force a managed approach, hitting par 5s in two. Is this not taking the character out of courses and spoiling the game for the smaller hitters?

Never mind all these lot taking the mick…….Surely a big hitting amateur like yourself would be better placed to answer this. Me, I just nudge it round.

 

[Matty]

No chance, they doing a pretty good job of mucking up this forum though

 

[HawkeyeMS]

No - big hitters aren't necessarily good players the same way short hitters aren't necessarily bad players

 

[User20205]

I may have lost track, but I didn't think you'd been out on the course yet.

Does your range have water hazards at the 300 yard mark ?

 

[Alex1975]

I watched the scrach comp go off this weekend, I would say I could hit the ball as far or more so than most of the scrach players I saw go off. Being long off the tee really is most golfers least important attribute. I dont tend to even practice with my driver.

 

[freddielong]

No big hitters are not technology is

 

[turbowoowoo]

No, definately no. John daly vs Luke Donald ?
Risk and Reward, how many times would the 'Big Hitter' land on the par 5 green in 2 opposed to being bunkered, shut out, in rough or in water?

Sometimes a long game helps, sometimes it hinders, otehrs times its and option.

 

[Region3]

I don't think this is as silly a question as it first seems. I remember quite a sensible and long debate about making the 17th at St. Andrews longer because the R&A didn't want pro's hitting 7 or 8 iron in to the green, thus making the hole far easier than originally intended.

Pro's now hit the ball farther than 20 years ago, which in turn leads to better scores, which in turn leads to courses moving tees back even further (as shown in the history of holes at Augusta which was recently linked to on here) or making the penalty for being off-line even greater.

Pro's mainly hit the ball farther than years ago because of technology. That same technology is available to us amateurs as well, therefore presumably we also hit the ball further than 20 years ago. I know I do. A good drive for me when I packed up 20 odd years ago with a steel shafted small metal headed driver would be anything over 200yds.
A 380yd hole for me back then might have been a good drive and a 4 iron. Now after a good drive it would be a wedge or 9 iron tops.

I'm not saying courses should make new tees further back, or even that it's ruining golf for us, but how many of us would rather play off the white tees than the yellows?

 

[G1BB0]

doesnt matter what club you have to take whether a 7 iron or a wedge, cos if its a level playing field for everyone then its the guy who plays that club better or better positionally off the tee.

an average par 3 (240yd plus monsters excluded) is 1 shot for most of us just a different club. therfore its the guy closest or who putts best, same for every other hole regardless of length/par

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Thing is, surely the distance you hit the ball off the tee defines which iron you predominantly use for your approach and therefore which irons you hit better. Let's say for instance one guy hits it miles usually leaving him a wedge to the green and another fella, not hitting it quite as far usually has an 8i. It stands to reason that the longer hitter would be better with his wedge than the shorter hitter and vice versa with the 8i. But does that mean the longer hitter's wedge is more accurate than the shorter hitter's 8i?

 

[Mongoose]

Most of the longer hitters are so obsessed with distance all they want to do is smack driver and then tell everyone over every available medium how far they hit their one drive in play today. What the deluded dears cant grasp given that most of them only have a handful of brain cells, is that the really great thing about having distance in your armoury is that you can hit safer clubs off the tee on harder holes without really compromising the ability to score.

 

[timgolfy]

... is that you can hit safer clubs off the tee on harder holes without really compromising the ability to score.

Finally someone agrees with me.