R&A/USGA report on equipment standards

[cliveb]

A summary of my thoughts:

1. Suggesting that course setup should be toughened up for tour events won't happen. Setup is controlled by the tours, not the R&A/USGA. And since the American TV audience loves to see birdie fests, the PGA tour isn't going to kill that particular golden goose. Therefore if excessve length is a problem, it can only be addressed by the ruling bodies, not the tours.

2. Excessive length is not a problem for the vast majority of club golfers. In fact, we need all the help we can get. Therefore any change to equipment regulations must not affect the club golfer.

3. Ideally we'd like to avoid bifurcation of the rules between elite players and club golfers.

4. Extreme length requires extreme swing speeds. And extreme swing speeds generally require ultra stiff shafts to maintain control. If the R&A/USGA specified a maximum shaft stiffness, it wouldn't affect club golfers. And if a tour pro can control a more flexible shaft at extreme swing speeds, good luck to him - his skill will be rewarded.

 

[Imurg]

A summary of my thoughts:

1. Suggesting that course setup should be toughened up for tour events won't happen. Setup is controlled by the tours, not the R&A/USGA. And since the American TV audience loves to see birdie fests, the PGA tour isn't going to kill that particular golden goose. Therefore if excessve length is a problem, it can only be addressed by the ruling bodies, not the tours.

2. Excessive length is not a problem for the vast majority of club golfers. In fact, we need all the help we can get. Therefore any change to equipment regulations must not affect the club golfer.

3. Ideally we'd like to avoid bifurcation of the rules between elite players and club golfers.

4. Extreme length requires extreme swing speeds. And extreme swing speeds generally require ultra stiff shafts to maintain control. If the R&A/USGA specified a maximum shaft stiffness, it wouldn't affect club golfers. And if a tour pro can control a more flexible shaft at extreme swing speeds, good luck to him - his skill will be rewarded.

I think 4 would be virtually impossible to monitor as stiffness can be the whole length of the shaft, butt stiff, tip stiff, mid stiff etc etc ...
Far easier to limit the loft to, say, 10°. The extra spin will kill quite a few yards straight off the bat.

 

[USER1999]

I think 4 would be virtually impossible to monitor as stiffness can be the whole length of the shaft, butt stiff, tip stiff, mid stiff etc etc ...
Far easier to limit the loft to, say, 10°. The extra spin will kill quite a few yards straight off the bat.

I used to think a simple bend test on the first tee would suffice. If it doesn't bend enough, it's out. New shaft developments like Autoflex will render that meaningless.

 

[The Fader]

In my view, tinkering with the equipment is not the way forward. To do that you've got to get all stakeholders to agree - the governing bodies, the manufacturers, the players... never going to happen. And it is definitely not the way forward if it is going to affect the club and social golfer. The game is hard enough as it is for mere mortals

And we are talking about a faction of 1% of the golfers in the world that are presenting a problem and a fraction of 1% of worldwide courses that are affected.

So, tackle it at source and set up those courses that want to host professional golf and elite amateur events to test the world's best in all facets of the game.

Off the top of my head:

Narrow the fairways - at all distances, so as not just penalise the long hitters. If someone can bomb it 350+yards dead straight - great. It's a skill just like a red hot short game
Grow the rough - miss the fairway and its a severe penalty to get back in position. It should not be possible to gouge an 8 iron 180 yards out of heavy rough.
Tuck pins away so that you can only get at them from being in position.
Make adjoining holes and areas say more than 20 yards wide of the intended hole layout internal out of bounds

And I'm sure there are other things that can be done to protect golf courses rather than relying on limiting driving distances.

The course can easily be put back to "club golfer" playability immediately after the tournament.

We have lads at our place who can put it out towards 300 yards at times - are they overpowering the course - not according to the scores that are returned!!

Why impose change on the 99+% of golfers who pose no threat?

 

[rulefan]

We have lads at our place who can put it out towards 300 yards at times - are they overpowering the course - not according to the scores that are returned!!

They wouldn't be playing at your place if they did

 

[Golfnut1957]

Would he be more or less happy if all players were playing a ball with exactly the same specification ball as him.

Obviously I don't actually know. But my guess would be that he couldn't care less what ball any other golfer is playing as long as the one he is playing suits him in terms of spin, launch, feel and any other characteristics that he thinks important.

I'd also guess that he would also think that as long as his ball meets his needs then nobody is gaining an advantage over him regardless of which ball they play.

Interesting to see B Dechambeau's take on this. On the BBC website and paraphrasing; bring it on, just don't mess with the human element of it all.

 

[Golfnut1957]

In my view, tinkering with the equipment is not the way forward. To do that you've got to get all stakeholders to agree - the governing bodies, the manufacturers, the players... never going to happen. And it is definitely not the way forward if it is going to affect the club and social golfer. The game is hard enough as it is for mere mortals

And we are talking about a faction of 1% of the golfers in the world that are presenting a problem and a fraction of 1% of worldwide courses that are affected.

So, tackle it at source and set up those courses that want to host professional golf and elite amateur events to test the world's best in all facets of the game.

Off the top of my head:

Narrow the fairways - at all distances, so as not just penalise the long hitters. If someone can bomb it 350+yards dead straight - great. It's a skill just like a red hot short game
Grow the rough - miss the fairway and its a severe penalty to get back in position. It should not be possible to gouge an 8 iron 180 yards out of heavy rough.
Tuck pins away so that you can only get at them from being in position.
Make adjoining holes and areas say more than 20 yards wide of the intended hole layout internal out of bounds

And I'm sure there are other things that can be done to protect golf courses rather than relying on limiting driving distances.

The course can easily be put back to "club golfer" playability immediately after the tournament.

We have lads at our place who can put it out towards 300 yards at times - are they overpowering the course - not according to the scores that are returned!!

Why impose change on the 99+% of golfers who pose no threat?

They won't do it because it is not in the interest of the PGA Tour to do so. See post 27 for a full rationale behind this.