Have the improvements in club technology made the game of golf easier?

[ek59]

Hello everyone,

I am a college student in Ireland and I am currently undertaking a final year project. The main subject matter of this project is about the performance of wooden materials such as hickory and persimmon and compare them to newer materials and technologies such as graphite and stainless steel.

Basically, I would like to hear any feed back that you may have from playing with the two types of clubs. Did you prefer the older bladed type irons, the small heaed wooded drivers? etc etc, and do you feel that with the changes in club making through out the years that golf has become easier.

My project is based on wether or not the newer golf clubs have made the game to easy and taken some of the skill factor out of the game.

Any thoughts or comments you may have I would be delighted to hear them.

P.S This is only ground work in my research so plese excuse the poor structure of this post.

 

[duncan mackie]

You don't take the skill factor out; however design elements (some influenced by and others facilitated by material technology) as well as the use of analytical tools such as slow motion cameras/ track man etc all contribute to more effective tools and a better understanding about how to use them.

There are parallels with many other things - joinery being an obvious one - where the same thing applies but the craftsman still operates at the absolute edge ie a machine can only do so much.

However, rather than start again you might research all the papers written on this subject already; but take care not to be led astray by the clever use of statistical evidence to prove anything!

Starter for 10 would be that the ball is the single biggest technological advancement, and has been since the game started.

 

[Maninblack4612]

In answer to the title of the post, yes absolutely. I started playing golf, age 10, in 1956 with hickory shafted clubs. I have played the same course since then. When I was 21 and 5 handicap there were two 290 yard par 4 holes I could drive on a good day, with a persimmon driver fitted with a steel shaft. Nowadays, in spite of arthritis in both knees & hips, I can still do it - occasionally. There is no way I could possibly do this with the equipment I used to use.

As far as the likes of periphally weighted irons is concerned, personal experience & a knowledge of physics says this must be so. I can still hit a game improvement 3 iron, I'm sure I couldn't get a blade version off the ground & I'm not going to try just for the sake of your research!

 

[Maninblack4612]

Starter for 10 would be that the ball is the single biggest technological advancement, and has been since the game started.

Too true! I remember trying the larger ball when it first came out over here. It went nowhere!

 

[MashieNiblick]

Having played with wooden headed clubs and traditional blades until I was about 30, I'd say that as far as clubs are concerned the main improvements are in relation to the driver and hybrids. To that extent I'd say that it is easier to hit a better shot with these than their older wooden or bladed equivalents. I can still hit bad shots with these clubs but a poor contact with the modern versions will generally give a better result than it did with the old versions. With a small headed wooden driver with a relatively heavy steel shaft you had to be a very good player to hit it consistently well.

Are you going to try some direct comparisons between players using older equipment and current equipment?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Tennis is quite comparable here I would have thought. The change from small wooden rackets to larger graphite rackets. More sweet spots, more speed generated, altogether more forgiving. Similar story for golf clubs. Still blinkin difficult but they have made the game more accessible for the poorer player certainly, and yes I do consider myself in that category.

 

[Crawfy]

I started about 30 years ago and my first (hand me down set) were leather gripped blades. Unsure of the flex but it felt like it was made from lead. The woods were Persimmon and I shrudder to think of the comparison of heads size to my presnet Nike Vapor.
I agree with above that ball development has taken the game to a new level - allowing distance and control we did not have previously.
For me, the development of 'metal woods' and their larger sweet spot and the development of cavity back irons have helped immensely (especially with amateurs) in getting the ball launched and airborne.
This makes the game easier, but for me what is more significant is that modern clubs are far more forgiving and therefore make the game less penal.

Not scientific at all - just my opinion.

Good luck with the project !

 

[FairwayDodger]

Could be a short project. Modern equipment makes the game miles easier than it was. An absolute no brainer.

I took an old driver up to the range last year because they were doing a minimum trade in deal. Wasn't even a persimmon, just one of the early small headed metal drivers. Both the pro in the shop and myself were at least 50 yards shorter with that than with modern drivers. I hit my hybrid further than I could hit that.

 

[Hacker Khan]

I started about 30 years ago and my first (hand me down set) were leather gripped blades. Unsure of the flex but it felt like it was made from lead. The woods were Persimmon and I shrudder to think of the comparison of heads size to my presnet Nike Vapor.
I agree with above that ball development has taken the game to a new level - allowing distance and control we did not have previously.
For me, the development of 'metal woods' and their larger sweet spot and the development of cavity back irons have helped immensely (especially with amateurs) in getting the ball launched and airborne.
This makes the game easier, but for me what is more significant is that modern clubs are far more forgiving and therefore make the game less penal.

Not scientific at all - just my opinion.

Good luck with the project !

I'd agree with a lot of that. Technological advancements in the equipment have made it easier to get the ball in the air and increase the distance on an identical shot with older clubs. But this is one factor in how easy the game is. It's a big factor, but golf is still hard, and it will remain that way as long as the ruling bodies put restrictions on what the manufacturers can do.

To me the main thing is that it has made the game more enjoyable for more people, rather than directly easier.