Distance Debate Reminder: Golf Pros Are Not Paid To Think
/As we await an impending USGA/R&A reversal of position on swelling professional driving distances, we have to remember that the first professional reactions will range from smart, to reasoned, to embarrassingly shallow. While there will be lame takes, I’ve heard a subtle shift in player opinions on two fronts.
The first: a realization that the game is slower because of course reactions to distance (new tees, faster greens, narrower fairways), or courses not able to handle players hitting the ball longer and therefore causing bottlenecks.
There is also concern from some elite players on the skill front, namely a view that great ballstrikers may no longer be enjoying rewards commensurate with their skill or physical strength. But there will also be reactions reminiscent of gun owners any time a common sense piece of legislation is suggested: don’t you dare take my guns away under any circumstances!
So even when it’s in a player’s interest to perhaps see some minor tweak to the rules to restore skill (a ball that spins more, a driver head size restriction), we are likely to hear mostly shallow, incoherent or financially-driven declarations that the governing bodies are evil people out to ruin lives.
Discussion of solutions has been stifled for so long that those of us who have watched the issue unfold have to remember that most assume extreme worst-case scenarios, when we know that even a small dent in the driving distance of today’s player would reap huge benefits for the sport’s sustainability. We also must not underestimate how many of the players actually believe they are in such prime physical shape and that NFL teams may be scouting them to fill out their linebacking core.
This is all a precursor to sharing with you the first of many of these rants by players, with James Hahn taking to Twitter to air his grievances. Will Gray reports for Golf Channel.com. Here is Hahn's mini-Tweetstorm:
The oddball takes won't be limited to players, as Brandel Chamblee displayed in a Morning Drive roundtable with Jaime Diaz, hosted by Gary Williams. Chamblee mostly stuck to his recent position that the ball is unfairly targeted, but then meandered off on some nonsense about the cost of green fees at Pebble Beach and the need to pay golf pros more money. What either had to do with the distance debate, is not certain.
The video:
