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What if clubs only get more forgiving, and the balls get rolled back?

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OldandStiff

OldandStiff

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To go with this thread. Say distance gets reigned in across the board with the ball and things only get more forgiving going forward?

This is a legit question. How would you feel about that? For you? For the game? For competition?

And how do you separate which tech advancement is actually better for who and why and the future of the game?
 
OldandStiff said:
To go with this thread. Say distance gets reigned in across the board with the ball and things only get more forgiving going forward?

This is a legit question. How would you feel about that? For you? For the game? For competition?

And how do you separate which tech advancement is actually better for who and why and the future of the game?
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You are going to make my head explode. That's a lot of questions that really it boils down to the individual. lol
 
The THING I would like to know about Club Forgiveness is how does every release of a new club be more forgiving than last years model. Does this mean in 5-8 years we wont even have to swing it - it will do it for us? How much more forgiving do we have left on the CAD system ( AKA Drawing Board) ?
 
For me I would love it, if I could play boring golf all of the time I think I would be getting better scores. My lack of consistency hurts me - which is offset by more practice with purpose but if you just say all of my clubs get 20% more forgiving and 8% shorter I will still get more GIR I think.

I'm just making up those numbers, so don't kill me.
 
ttucliffhanger said:
You are going to make my head explode. That's a lot of questions that really it boils down to the individual. lol
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Haha

Well we're potentially crossing into some weird and really gray areas where the governing bodies will decide which skills decide outcomes, which tech is allowed to help which ones, and that all can shape what the future of golf tech and actual golf players look like. How do you see this scenario playing out, and do you like what you see?
 
OldandStiff said:
To go with this thread. Say distance gets reigned in across the board with the ball and things only get more forgiving going forward?

This is a legit question. How would you feel about that? For you? For the game? For competition?

And how do you separate which tech advancement is actually better for who and why and the future of the game?
Click to expand...
I mean that's what the teams in NASCAR do.
Define the rules and find a way around them
 
I’m guessing the path forward is going to be true customization of clubs to your swing.

That or they discover new materials for construction.
 
OldandStiff said:
Haha

Well we're potentially crossing into some weird and really gray areas where the governing bodies will decide which skills decide outcomes, which tech is allowed to help which ones, and that all can shape what the future of golf tech and actual golf players look like. How do you see this scenario playing out, and do you like what you see?
Click to expand...
No I don't like what I see. I like the advancements each year. Technology is cool. Let it be. Like I stated in another thread. If it's -5 or -40 that wins the tournament, who cares? Like Happy Gilmore once said, "Green jacket, gold jacket; who gives a $*(t." lol But I'm not buying new equipment or balls than what I have currently just because they feel they need to control distance. lol
 
So do you mean that the regulations placed on clubs are removed and club tech is unrestricted, no more 'conforming'?

If that's the case I think we start trading one problem for another.

edit: I don't think that distance is a 'problem'
 
CorvetteGuy said:
The THING I would like to know about Club Forgiveness is how does every release of a new club be more forgiving than last years model. Does this mean in 5-8 years we wont even have to swing it - it will do it for us? How much more forgiving do we have left on the CAD system ( AKA Drawing Board) ?
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I mean depending on how you define it for any one person it's probably only limited by imagination and materials. Changes are usually incremental more than dramatic though.
 
That post said:
So do you mean that the regulations placed on clubs are removed and club tech is unrestricted, no more 'conforming'?

If that's the case I think we start trading one problem for another.
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No I mean no more speed from clubs. Capped. Up against the ceiling. But they can get more forgiving. Raise the floor and level results.

And the ball gets rolled back.
 
Iceman! said:
I mean that's what the teams in NASCAR do.
Define the rules and find a way around them
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I don't follow NASCAR. Do they take away advancements they've been using and developing for years often?
 
FatChance said:
As I have gotten older, I have valued accuracy more than distance for my game.
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But as you get older you tend to lose some distance. You okay with them taking some more from you tomorrow, permanently?
 
OldandStiff said:
No I mean no more speed from clubs. Capped. Up against the ceiling. But they can get more forgiving. Raise the floor and level results.

And the ball gets rolled back.
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Nah, I don't want both. I know that I can train to squeeze more clubhead speed out of my swing but if the ball gets rolled back too it feels like a double whammy.

And I still think that if the 'issue' is that scores are too low then once clubs become essentially 'point and shoot' scores are going to get even lower.
 
I am at the point where I will cope with whatever changes come and hope my game comes out better at the end. Do I think it could hurt golf overall? Potentially but is that so bad for the everyday golf nut? What I do potentially see the importance of club fitting being magnified if say the ball becomes spinnier then the current ball. Thus optimization would be come a bigger market then it currently is.
 
forgiveness is great but doesn't mean hitting the ball straighter? if it does, gimme some of that.
 
Theoretically with drivers we are already there right? Isn't that what COR was supposed to do? Stop more peak distance and only allow forgiveness gains. Also it must be noted more forgiveness will certainly increase average distance for humans because humans never hit the ball 100% optimally anyway.
 
DataDude said:
Theoretically with drivers we are already there right? Isn't that what COR was supposed to do? Stop more peak distance and only allow forgiveness gains. Also it must be noted more forgiveness will certainly increase average distance for humans because humans never hit the ball 100% optimally anyway.
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Do that sums this theoretical up pretty well probably. Everyone hits it less far but closer to 100% optimally. Does that sound like a fun competitive future to the game for you?
 
OldandStiff said:
Do that sums this theoretical up pretty well probably. Everyone hits it less far but closer to 100% optimally. Does that sound like a fun competitive future to the game for you?
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I'm all for just keeping up down the road we're on right now. I like watching the pros get better and better every year and I like the gear I play right now and might get to play next year.
 
OldandStiff said:
But as you get older you tend to lose some distance. You okay with them taking some more from you tomorrow, permanently?
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Well, I am 74 and have had two shoulder surgeries including one replacement, so I have already been humbled concerning distance. But you originally asked about two different things. I would be more opposed to having the forgiveness somehow rolled back (I realize that is not being suggested) than the distance rolled back. For me, distance is relative (how long is a piece of string?), but accuracy is more of an absolute, the center of the fairway is definitely a good place to be.

My practical solution is to not roll back anything, but in my personal world, rolling back the ball's disance would not affect me because I would play nonconforming balls just as a protest of this made up problem, were it to happen, but that may just be my orneriness.
 
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Honestly I may be one of the few that doesn't really care. Regardless of what these regulating bodies do I'm going to continue to love the game. If that means my 9-iron now goes 130 instead of 145 then so be it. Pros will continue to be amazing even if they lose 10% of their distance. I don't think the growth the game has seen will suffer either. I suspect most that have come to the game (for better or worse) and fell in love with it won't walk away over a distance change.
 
I"m so lost with all of it. Do they test drivers and the time the ball stays on the face with a conforming golf ball or with a steel ball? If they do it with a conforming ball and the ball gets rolled back will the new ball stay on the face too long thus making the drivers now not conform? I really don't know how any of it works?
 
I may have skimmed over it but how much distance reigning in are we talking for golf balls? 10%? More?
 
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