Taylormade "make the hole bigger"

[edgey]

I think that Taylormade should just make more accurate putters.

Or maybe adjustable putters ?

That's actually not too bad an idea! You should be able to change the lie on your putter.

Couldnt agree more with this. I recently adjusted the lie on my putter and shot 79, 76 this weekend with the best putting i have ever had.

Adjustable lie would be great, save bending the club

Edgey

 

[colint]

I think that Taylormade should just make more accurate putters.

Or maybe adjustable putters ?

That's actually not too bad an idea! You should be able to change the lie on your putter.

Couldnt agree more with this. I recently adjusted the lie on my putter and shot 79, 76 this weekend with the best putting i have ever had.

Adjustable lie would be great, save bending the club

Edgey

Right, I'm off to the patent office before TM beat me to it !

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think TM have lost a degree of credibility here. Whilst I'm all for innovation and to some extent they've led the way (certainly in adjustable drivers), tinkering with the core fundamentals of the game would be a big no in my book. Unless ALL the major manufactureres were to get together en masse and say to the R&A that they see it as the only sure way of maintaining golfing interest and growth then no. As golf seems to still be enjoying growth globally and particularly at grass root level that day is a long way off

 

[Bacardibatman]

Sorry Colint
just looked adjustable putters up and apparently a Mark King has already patented the idea

along with white putters to make it easier to putt into 15" holes

 

[TaylormadePhil]

I always thought the hole was a bucket

 

[G_Mulligan]

the pro ranks have just had the groove rules changed to try and promote short game craft and take the advantage away from the long wayward hiters. A rule like this would just be a step back towards that taking emphasis away from accuracy and short game skills.

 

[Bacardibatman]

I always thought the hole was a bucket

does to me after a few minutes putting practice with

 

[SwingSlow]

I'd still lip out on the right

 

[Qwerty]

I can only think that TaylorMade presume that by doing this the game would become more popular,and by doing so them selling more equipment, and making more money.

I can't think of any other reason to make such a silly suggestion.

 

[HickoryShaft]

I always thought the hole was a bucket

Dustbin lid surely

 

[EZprophet]

I would really, really hate to see it happen but it would be really interesting to see the effect it had on the proffesional game if you added like an inch or something to the hole diameter.

The pros would probably go from averageing 75% of 5 footers to like 98% so guys like Brian Gay and Casey who make like 98% of their 5 footers anyway would be in trouble... even though they will probably still make more 10 and 15 footers than everyone else, they just simply dont have as many 15 footers as they do 5 footers and will lose their main way of gaining strokes on the field.

AI reckon all of the good "scramblers" in the game like Tiger, Phil, Luke, Casey, Gay etc. would slip down the rankings while all the good ball strikers F Molinari, Ernie, DJ, John Senden, Adam Scott would move up...

Imagine having to watch interviews with Adam Scott after every tournament... yeah, exactly...

 

[ianshearin]

I can see there would be a lot of resistance to making the hole larger but to provide an alternative view I dont think it would be a bad idea in certain circumstances.

For instance it could be used to speed up play in friendly matches, being able to leave the flag in and putt quicker would speed up the game.
It might also encourage newcomers to try out Golf knowing they would have to 'move up' to the smaller hole later on.

The problem of course would be management of the hole for the green keepers, they would have to figure out how to swap them without disruption, maybe 2 holes on each green
with different coloured flags...

I like the hole as it is but I am also happy to see the game develop and help with newcomers and having fun.

 

[FourPutt]

I'm sure I read somewhere that back in the day, they tried a bigger hole as one of the big names felt that there was too much emphasis on short game and that good ball strikers were not properly rewarded.

Can't recall who was involved, but a match was played with bigger holes and the short game expert still won over the better ball striker and the idea was shelved.

I'll try and see if I can dig out the story...

 

[Bacardibatman]

I'm sure I read somewhere that back in the day, they tried a bigger hole as one of the big names felt that there was too much emphasis on short game and that good ball strikers were not properly rewarded.

Can't recall who was involved, but a match was played with bigger holes and the short game expert still won over the better ball striker and the idea was shelved.

I'll try and see if I can dig out the story...

do you mean that one?

There is an ongoing debate on the merits of a larger hole, which would reduce the emphasis on putting and give more reward for accurate approach play.

The legendary Ben Hogan, who suffered greatly from the putting "yips" in his later years, although arguably the greatest ball-striker of all time, was a great advocate of this, as was Gene Sarazen, but it is not high on any official agenda at the time of writing.

 

[FourPutt]

Yeah, it might have been, I really can't remember! :S

 

[viscount17]

i cant think of any many who would like the hole bigger....

Apparently Gene Sarazen campaigned for an 8-inch hole because he thought golf would be more popular if the hole was bigger.

Whoever originally suggested the hole size got it spot on in my opinion.

don't think anyone actually 'suggested' it, it was just the size of the piece of pipe used to make the hole at St Andrews. Muirfield (?) had a bigger pipe but when it came to a p'ing contest as to what the standard should be St A won.