Cernunnos
Journeyman Pro
Hi Echloon, yes a lot of amatures are now able to hit the ball further, perhaps due to modern technology, big sweetspot cavity backed irons, the advance in bal technology mean we can get the ball a bit further & with less dispertion than in years gone by.
That said, many amatures now have lessons which also help give us distance on the course, where our parents would barely have thought of the idea of lessons. There is more emphasis in health & fitness these days.
Now we are at risk of getting off topic a little, but I really am not keen on this current fad for lengthening courses to silly distances, that mean the 5 hour round is perhaps a commonplace event. The excuse being its to protect against the big hitters.
Now, Okay it does mean originally designed hazards are now back in play for the longer hitters, but shorter hitters are also penalised due to the length of the course itself.
Surely instead of lengthening courses, designers that come in to make changes instead make accuracy the main object to reaward & waywardness punished . Narrow down those fairways, put in doglegs so that long hitters are made to take the lesser club. Ad hazard to penalise longer hitters in the form of ditches/burns. Deep put bunkers to make them a hazard once more, where skill with the bunker shot is rewarded & the larger bunkers defended from the bigger hitters to mean getting in them in the first place is still at least worth a half shot penalty in distance out of them. How many of us have used 7 or 9 iron out of a fairway bunker & barely felt penalized. Make getting offline something that the budding Tigers amounst us will think twice before attempting the wonder shot with these etra forgiving irons & balls we have.
Yes, lenthening courses to protect against the longer hitters, but is more of a penalty for the shorter hitter who may be more accurate than the longer hitter & surely we should be leveling the playing field to reeward accuracy & real skill, than out & out testoterone.
That's my viewpoint anyhow on that side subject & definitly worth a seperate thread in its own right.
That said, many amatures now have lessons which also help give us distance on the course, where our parents would barely have thought of the idea of lessons. There is more emphasis in health & fitness these days.
Now we are at risk of getting off topic a little, but I really am not keen on this current fad for lengthening courses to silly distances, that mean the 5 hour round is perhaps a commonplace event. The excuse being its to protect against the big hitters.
Now, Okay it does mean originally designed hazards are now back in play for the longer hitters, but shorter hitters are also penalised due to the length of the course itself.
Surely instead of lengthening courses, designers that come in to make changes instead make accuracy the main object to reaward & waywardness punished . Narrow down those fairways, put in doglegs so that long hitters are made to take the lesser club. Ad hazard to penalise longer hitters in the form of ditches/burns. Deep put bunkers to make them a hazard once more, where skill with the bunker shot is rewarded & the larger bunkers defended from the bigger hitters to mean getting in them in the first place is still at least worth a half shot penalty in distance out of them. How many of us have used 7 or 9 iron out of a fairway bunker & barely felt penalized. Make getting offline something that the budding Tigers amounst us will think twice before attempting the wonder shot with these etra forgiving irons & balls we have.
Yes, lenthening courses to protect against the longer hitters, but is more of a penalty for the shorter hitter who may be more accurate than the longer hitter & surely we should be leveling the playing field to reeward accuracy & real skill, than out & out testoterone.
That's my viewpoint anyhow on that side subject & definitly worth a seperate thread in its own right.