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What has changed more in golf over the last 20 years?

e1iterate

e1iterate

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So last night the wife and I were able to get the kiddo down and I talked her into watching Golf’s Greatest Rounds last night where it covered the final round of the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla.

She looked at me and asked a great question as she was laughing...What has changed more in golf over the last 20 years? The Equipment or the Apparel?

She joked about how baggy the clothes were back then and now how some look like their shirts have been airbrushed on. Then she mentioned how much smaller the woods were and I told her Tiger still had a steel shaft in his driver.

I was just like wow, great question.

What say you, THP?
 
I'll say apparel. While sure, clubs have gotten bigger they're nto hitting the ball much further on average than they did before... but watchhing some of the older footage from the late 80's... the polos... :sick: the colors...:sick::oops::eek: the style:cry:(n)(n)
 
I knew I liked her.

This is an interesting one, and I am going to have to put more thought into this. Apparel has done a complete change, but more flowed with the times as they changed and a lot of those are not good. See mocks, blade collars, etc. Basically Nike haha.

The equipment didn't necessarily flow with the times, they stepped outside of the box on a number of occasions.

Hmmm. If it was a year or two earlier, it would easily be equipment, because the solid core golf ball brought to market. Although in 2000 (late compared to Top Flight and Bridgestone), the first ever Pro V1 came out, which changed the ball on tour.
 
Apparel. I think equipment changes at the pro level have mostly changed at the top of the bag and the ball.

We moved from one extreme of the 90s baggy clothing to the early teens of having undersized shirts. Pants used to have pleats and patterns to now neutral colors that have 5 pocket designs. Also the introduction of performance fabrics pretty much eliminated natural materials. Lastly, sponsor logos went from being limited to the hat to being stitched on collars and sleeves.

I think old clubs can still be played. Though woods definitely have changed quite a bit from 2000 and shafts have come a long way as well.
 
I told her I needed to think about it to give an honest answer. I went back and forth a bunch last night. I’ll share some of my thoughts in a bit when I can focus.
 
The obvious is equipment and apparel with all the new technologies and materials. Something that has changed a lot and often overlooked is agronomy. Look at courses from yesteryear and compare them today. Firm fast greens and fairways, mowing patterns, tree removal, different types of grasses, etc.
 
The equipment and balls are really amazingly better. Fashion is fashion ;)
 
Wow, good question here. I think possibly apparel? Moisture wicking is huge for me. I will probably have a better time with a set of irons from the 2000s and no under-boob sweat than the alternative.
 
I think it's apparel too. Tough call though because any of my 'baggy' y2k polos still hiding in my closet would look to be 'air brushed' on me now:(
 
Good question. My guess is equipment. Apparel has a funny way of repeating itself.
 
shoes, balls and graphite shafts.
 
ddstanford said:
The equipment and balls are really amazingly better. Fashion is fashion ;)
Click to expand...

I'm going with this. I think it's a no brainer. Fashion has changed, but no one would think twice if I wore a polo from 2000. You'll get weird looks playing with a club from 2000 though.
 
I'm not golf apparel guy by any stretch of one's imagination. Pants are pants, as well as shirts are shirts.

Scores have not changed that much. Maybe a stroke or two, if that..

So, with those thoughts, I'm going with equipment as having the biggest change. Especially in the ball line up. They seem to go further. Then again, there's that score thing I mentioned above?
 
I'm with the equipment non-votes (where's the poll?). My wife and I laugh our butts off at the clothes, but they were just a part of the times. Some of the sport clothes we wore back then were just so stupid. Ombre tie-dye is a thing, so really, how far have clothes really come?? :p

I didn't play for those 20 years and my golf shoes were still fine. Gloves, hats, etc. The clubs on the other hand were so changed I barely recognized how new ones looked and felt.
 
Fun topic. Both have changed so much. I see golfers sporting clothing from 20 years ago and they look rode hard, put away wet after a round. I still have several cotton golf shirts that I avoid wearing like the plague. Today’s materials, moisture wicking and such look so much better before, during and after around. Today’s golf shoes are also considerably changed. More comfortable and much more contemporary styles.
Equipment also hugely different,but still those Eye II’s, 845’s, or old big Bertha irons.
Who’d think we’ve become fashion snobs? LOL. And equipment fanatics. I don’t know, but I can’t pick which has changed more.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
OGputtnfool said:
I'm going with this. I think it's a no brainer. Fashion has changed, but no one would think twice if I wore a polo from 2000. You'll get weird looks playing with a club from 2000 though.
Click to expand...
I do still play my persimmon 5W from the 90's and a 1998 putter haha, the rest are all new
 
ddstanford said:
I do still play my persimmon 5W from the 90's and a 1998 putter haha, the rest are all new
Click to expand...
Play them on a daily? I'd love to have a full set of persimmons and some '60s blades.
 
I'll say equipment, because I'll bet 20 years newer equipment would have a bigger impact on my game than 20 years newer fashions.
 
I'll say apparel, especially for tour use. That has drastically changed, but I mean, more than half of the pros bags in terms of irons, wedges, and a decent amount of their putters, haven't changed much. So if it's basically down to woods + the golf ball vs apparel, I'm going apparel.
 
Regarding apparel What once was will be again! I still ha e some will sweaters I wear when it’s chilly in the course
Equipment, you will never see a 255 CC driver head again.
As far as I am concerned, Equipment has drastically changed
 
The loft on a PW....

(ducks underneath the tomatoes being thrown)
 
I think golfers have changed a lot over the last 20 years (probably goes back more than that).

I believe many "newer" golfers, not those on this or other forums, have taken up the game without knowing much about etiquette, or the history of the sport. There are of course exceptions, and I don't want to generalize too much, but I do see a lot of golfers that do not show a lot of respect for the game, other golfers, or the course.
 
OGputtnfool said:
Play them on a daily? I'd love to have a full set of persimmons and some '60s blades.
Click to expand...
I still have persimmon woods that were either mine, my dad's or my grandad's from a custom maker from KC. 1,2,3.4.5 woods. Using only the 5 wood for sentimental reasons, because it is beautiful and I still hit it really well and a distance that fills a gap for me.
 
I feel like clothes just have followed everyday fashion changes. Everything was baggier 20 years ago. But not a huge change. I don't think it has changed as much as it did from the 70s to the 90s.

Equipment is hugely different. I feel like it is unrecognizable for woods and drivers. Drivers were the size of FW. Hybrids were barely a concept. Everyone had a 2 or 3 iron which don't even exist in sets hardly.
 
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