"It's hard for a player to tell the spouse they need to buy a brand-new $300 driver."

Kevin Manahan of the Star Ledger suggests that even for all the great "game improvement" technology out there, golfers aren't getting better.

The average golf score still remains at around 100, according to the National Golf Foundation, and that number hasn’t changed since your grandpa was knocking balls around with hickory sticks.

“I’ve tried to bring down my handicap,” Thomas says. “It’s not going to happen. I don’t have the time to practice a lot, and I’m not that good, anyway. I’m going to shoot 95 or 100 or so — whether I have new clubs or garden tools in my bag.”

Bottom line: Americans spent nearly $4 billion on drivers, putters and other golf equipment in 2011, according to the NGF — increased from $3.4 billion in 2007. But science and money aren’t helping duffers get the 1.62-ounce ball into the 4.5-inch hole any quicker.

And this...

Handicaps (a scoring index based on a golfer’s most recent rounds) haven’t budged much, according to the United States Golf Association in Far Hills. The average handicap for U.S. men, 14.7 in 2007, was 14.5 last year. Women have improved more (27.6 in 2007 to 26.8 in 2011), but not a lot.

Meanwhile on the same weekend, the Orange County Register's Jonathan Lansner featured this argument for even more deregulation of equipment from Cleveland and Srixon CEO Greg Hopkins, who blames the USGA. For something.

To Hopkins, the game's playing popularity suffers because of what he sees as misplaced fears that further advancements in equipment will allow professional players to unfairly rewrite the record books. While a noble concept for the professional game, Hopkins argues that such design limits on equipment advances keep the already challenging sport too difficult for many novice players.

And Hopkins admits equipment isn't the sport's only challenge.

"This isn't a cheap hobby -- both the cost of equipment plus the daily greens fee a player may incur. That was a bad formula for the prolonged economic downturn. And when families are struggling to meet bills, Hopkins admits "It's hard for a player to tell the spouse they need to buy a brand-new $300 driver."

So Cleveland/Srixon's sales have suffered, forcing job cuts at the company. Hopkins speculates golfers are simply holding on to equipment longer to stretch their golfing budgets.

Most worrisome is a drop in sales in the mid-priced equipment. That's the gear primarily used by a key demographic for the sport's future -- the golfer who's raised his interest level toward becoming a frequent player.

"The game is at a crossroads," Hopkins says. "We need to get a consensus of what's the best way to grow the number of golfers."