The course in question was designed by Seth Raynor in the 1920s. I don’t think the words poorly designed and Seth Raynor belong together in the same sentence.
USGA and R&A - Distance Rollback Proposals
The course in question was designed by Seth Raynor in the 1920s. I don’t think the words poorly designed and Seth Raynor belong together in the same sentence.
At the professional rank sure. I have yet to see an amateur completely over power the course when playing from the right tees. Not that I am playing with a lot of top ams though either.
No, some of the old courses are still capable of being a challenge even to today’s players.
skujan
Active member
Could bifurcation with for instance the tour players having to play a new "tour -" ball be enough to satisfy the governing bodies?
but why should tour pros have to?
But on-course out of bounds and poorly designed do. Like I said, I’m just not a fan and I would really hate to see that used as a solution to the distance problem to make golfers play the course the way it was designed to be played.
skujan
Active member
Because the courses are too short for the bombers.
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Pretty much any course that doesn't have 100 year old trees and fairways that bounce upwards of 100 yards upon landing are too short for bombers.
I think there are plenty that, with proper prep/setup, can manage the tour game easily. Force them to shape the ball.
Unfortunately, the venue has already changed... a tree or trees have been moved; tee boxes have been moved back... and I agree, the changes shouldn't be made... but changing equipment for a perceived distance issue that only affect a small portion of players is a waste of effort and money. But this is my opinion.
And if a course is hoping to win the nod from the PGA tour for an event or from the USGA for an event, more power to them. Maybe some of these older courses need to be put into a rotation with newer courses for events.
I definitely agree. And I think that playing the course the way it was designed to play is an huge underlying issue in this debate. I think the USGA is motivated by this in how it is approaching the distance issue.
And many courses, although very well designed from their inception, simply are not designed to accommodate today’s style and to present a challenge to a small segment of golfers.
Are they though? What’s the problem, that the top guys have too much of an advantage? There isn’t much overlap on the FedEx Cup Top 10 and the longest driving distance Top 10.
To be fair to the Driving Distance stat, is so poorly collected.
skujan
Active member
Of course a "tour -" ball would hurt the shorter hitting pros where they would have trouble reaching the ideal landing zone inbetween the fairway bunkers for instance.
How’s that? I’m not well informed to how the stats are compiled.
I believe the PGA Tour uses one par 5 with the wind and one par 5 against the wind and average them out as a means to collect that number.
bigskyirish
Well-known member
Completely agree. Personally, I couldn't care less if course architect snobs are concerned that the very best players in the world might not play some template holes exactly the way Seth Raynor or his contemporaries designed them. Especially since we're primarily talking about super exclusive private clubs that the average golfer has no chance at all of ever playing.
It still makes me smile that this "far too short" course posted an above par winning score. There are plenty of shorter par 4's at Merion, but the layout is what provided the challenge, not length.
There is so much that is true in what you have stated.
JT said he thinks the governing bodies of golf are being selfish because of the way the tour pros play the game.
Bryson said he's ok with them looking at change, because he'll still be the longest on tour
Bryson said he's ok with them looking at change, because he'll still be the longest on tour
Guy In Lyon
Active member
Not really the point of my argument.
That's why Bryson has no issue with it. He knows he's still gonna be 40 yards ahead of everyone else and will be hitting 2-3 clubs less than the field.
Guy In Lyon
Active member
Okay.
May I suggest a thesaurus?
Interestingly, the word "thesaurus" has no true synonym.
titleist981
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