Wednesday
Jul082009
The Great Groove Misdirection
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 04:28AM
Last Tuesday the PGA Tour decided not to interfere with the USGA's new rule on iron groove specifications. Rather, the members of the Policy Board decided to not go on record with an actual vote and left the matter to Commissioner Tim Finchem. The end result is that beginning January 1, 2010, professional golfers must use irons and wedges that conform to the new rule, clubs that should reduce the amount of spin the player can generate.
In recent weeks there has been the predictable outcry from the manufacturers that the new rule will be bad for everyday players, bad for golf in general, and bad for their bottom line. Aside from the last, their arguments are specious. The manufacturers are not now, and have never been stewards of the game of golf. Like all large corporations they are interested in selling product at the highest possible profit margin. That is what a Ping or a Titleist should do. For those entities to argue that they are somehow protecting the game of golf through their product development ranks right up there with the global warming profiteers who preach the "settled science" of climate change.
If any entity has the ability or the credibility to protect the game, it must be the joint governing body, the USGA and the R&A. In this regard they have been remiss in their duties, but are attempting, by this small step, to do the right thing. The chief culprit in the current crime against golf is the golf ball. It flies too far and too straight. Several years ago the USGA entertained the idea of a golf ball rollback. The manufacturers shrieked and the USGA dropped the issue. To curb the golf ball was then and is now the best course of action, but the change in groove specifications is better than nothing.
To understand the way the game has been undermined by the manufacturers one must take a long view. It is a cumulative effect of many years worth of "innovation." The changes of the last two decades have rendered many fine old championship course obsolete and forced many others to make changes that diminished their interest and undermined their architectural value. Championship golf has become a slave to length and now the majority of championship venues stretch to 7400 yards and beyond. But even at such extreme lengths, given the characteristics of the modern ball, the courses are still vulnerable. So green speeds have become outrageously fast and rough has become revoltingly long. To accomplish these ends have cost untold millions in everything from design fees to irrigation costs.
However, perhaps the most nefarious effects of the equipment changes lie in the ridiculous way many new resort and daily-fee courses are built. It appears the PGA Tour course has become the model that developers and architects follow. New courses must be long, severe and have fast greens. Otherwise they stand little chance of garnering attention. Where many of these course, despite initial rave reviews, fail miserably is in playability. Simply put, most of them are too difficult for the average player and, due to length and layout, take far too long to play. At some point, the people building new courses must have decided that five hours is a reasonable pace of play. Otherwise they would not have stuck the third tee some five hundred yards from the second green. However, for working people, no matter the color of their collars, such an investment of time is prohibitive, as are the green and cart fees. Although many areas are awash in golf courses, players have too few reasonable course options. One result of this is that the game of golf is struggling with negative or flat growth rates.
What the industry insiders, both manufacturers and media, have lost sight of is that the equipment does not make the game more enjoyable. To be sure, there are golfers who enjoy equipment for equipment's sake and insist on having the latest and greatest, just as the technology geek enjoys the fastest computer and the newest i-gadget. However, having a driver with the biggest head and the highest COR does not make the game more fun. Actually, we may have reached the point where the opposite is true. Too many have bought into the siren song of Wally Uihlein and the like, poured absurd amounts of money into equipment they do not have the skill to operate, and subsequently have become disillusioned with the game.
The little known and seldom mentioned secret of all these new balls, drivers and wedges is that in order to perform to their optimum level the golfer must possess a swing speed that few amateurs can attain. This is true of the wedges in question. Put an average 10-handicapper in three-inch rough, let him play pitch shots with a new Vokey wedge and a Wilson Staff wedge from the 1970s, and you won't see much of a difference. This player generates neither the speed nor the accuracy of contact that allows the groove design to be effective. Of course, another component of the spin equation is the golf ball. The majority of amateurs do not play a ball with a high-enough spin rate to benefit from the grooves in question -- a Top-Flite cannot tell the difference between a U-groove and a V-groove. For many players those golf balls, like so many of the game's components, are prohibitively expensive.
According to the USGA, the average men's handicap is 16.1. But that number is reflective only of those golfers who maintain a handicap. According to the National Golf Foundation, among all golfers the average score is 100. Therefore, the odds of the average golfer playing an 80-yard shot from deep rough that takes one hop and checks by the hole is roughly the same as the odds of winning the Powerball lottery. Yet the equipment manufacturers insist the rules change will hurt the average golfer and make the game less fun.
Perhaps the definition of fun lies at the heart of the problem. In the game of golf, fun is enigmatic. It is fun to hit good shots, but not all good shots are fun. A drive struck on the toe of one of the new big-headed drivers may carry a reasonable distance and leave a good result, but it is unlikely to be rewarding to the player. It is the shot struck on the mythical and elusive sweet spot that is truly fun. One's playing partners will remember the poor shot that got a lucky bounce to win the hole, but the player will remember the well-planned, well-struck shot no matter its outcome. Fun in golf is inextricably wedded to skill, for golf is essentially a game of process rather than outcome. Improving one's technique is fun. Playing a hole properly is fun. Using equipment that may provide a temporary result that exceeds one's skill level is not.
Further, the most enduring form of golf fun has nothing to do with the clubs, the balls or the course. Great relationships are the key to great and fun golf. No other game provides the setting, time and pace that allows a relationship to take seed and flourish during the contest. In yet another way that the game of golf imitates life, at the end of the round the companionship provided or received outweighs the score we accomplished.
A game of such pleasures cannot be enhanced by longer and straighter golf balls, bigger clubs or sharper, deeper grooves. Those who maintain otherwise reveal only concern for their bottom line and utter disregard for the mysteries and the beauties inherent in the game of golf.
In recent weeks there has been the predictable outcry from the manufacturers that the new rule will be bad for everyday players, bad for golf in general, and bad for their bottom line. Aside from the last, their arguments are specious. The manufacturers are not now, and have never been stewards of the game of golf. Like all large corporations they are interested in selling product at the highest possible profit margin. That is what a Ping or a Titleist should do. For those entities to argue that they are somehow protecting the game of golf through their product development ranks right up there with the global warming profiteers who preach the "settled science" of climate change.
If any entity has the ability or the credibility to protect the game, it must be the joint governing body, the USGA and the R&A. In this regard they have been remiss in their duties, but are attempting, by this small step, to do the right thing. The chief culprit in the current crime against golf is the golf ball. It flies too far and too straight. Several years ago the USGA entertained the idea of a golf ball rollback. The manufacturers shrieked and the USGA dropped the issue. To curb the golf ball was then and is now the best course of action, but the change in groove specifications is better than nothing.
To understand the way the game has been undermined by the manufacturers one must take a long view. It is a cumulative effect of many years worth of "innovation." The changes of the last two decades have rendered many fine old championship course obsolete and forced many others to make changes that diminished their interest and undermined their architectural value. Championship golf has become a slave to length and now the majority of championship venues stretch to 7400 yards and beyond. But even at such extreme lengths, given the characteristics of the modern ball, the courses are still vulnerable. So green speeds have become outrageously fast and rough has become revoltingly long. To accomplish these ends have cost untold millions in everything from design fees to irrigation costs.
However, perhaps the most nefarious effects of the equipment changes lie in the ridiculous way many new resort and daily-fee courses are built. It appears the PGA Tour course has become the model that developers and architects follow. New courses must be long, severe and have fast greens. Otherwise they stand little chance of garnering attention. Where many of these course, despite initial rave reviews, fail miserably is in playability. Simply put, most of them are too difficult for the average player and, due to length and layout, take far too long to play. At some point, the people building new courses must have decided that five hours is a reasonable pace of play. Otherwise they would not have stuck the third tee some five hundred yards from the second green. However, for working people, no matter the color of their collars, such an investment of time is prohibitive, as are the green and cart fees. Although many areas are awash in golf courses, players have too few reasonable course options. One result of this is that the game of golf is struggling with negative or flat growth rates.
What the industry insiders, both manufacturers and media, have lost sight of is that the equipment does not make the game more enjoyable. To be sure, there are golfers who enjoy equipment for equipment's sake and insist on having the latest and greatest, just as the technology geek enjoys the fastest computer and the newest i-gadget. However, having a driver with the biggest head and the highest COR does not make the game more fun. Actually, we may have reached the point where the opposite is true. Too many have bought into the siren song of Wally Uihlein and the like, poured absurd amounts of money into equipment they do not have the skill to operate, and subsequently have become disillusioned with the game.
The little known and seldom mentioned secret of all these new balls, drivers and wedges is that in order to perform to their optimum level the golfer must possess a swing speed that few amateurs can attain. This is true of the wedges in question. Put an average 10-handicapper in three-inch rough, let him play pitch shots with a new Vokey wedge and a Wilson Staff wedge from the 1970s, and you won't see much of a difference. This player generates neither the speed nor the accuracy of contact that allows the groove design to be effective. Of course, another component of the spin equation is the golf ball. The majority of amateurs do not play a ball with a high-enough spin rate to benefit from the grooves in question -- a Top-Flite cannot tell the difference between a U-groove and a V-groove. For many players those golf balls, like so many of the game's components, are prohibitively expensive.
According to the USGA, the average men's handicap is 16.1. But that number is reflective only of those golfers who maintain a handicap. According to the National Golf Foundation, among all golfers the average score is 100. Therefore, the odds of the average golfer playing an 80-yard shot from deep rough that takes one hop and checks by the hole is roughly the same as the odds of winning the Powerball lottery. Yet the equipment manufacturers insist the rules change will hurt the average golfer and make the game less fun.
Perhaps the definition of fun lies at the heart of the problem. In the game of golf, fun is enigmatic. It is fun to hit good shots, but not all good shots are fun. A drive struck on the toe of one of the new big-headed drivers may carry a reasonable distance and leave a good result, but it is unlikely to be rewarding to the player. It is the shot struck on the mythical and elusive sweet spot that is truly fun. One's playing partners will remember the poor shot that got a lucky bounce to win the hole, but the player will remember the well-planned, well-struck shot no matter its outcome. Fun in golf is inextricably wedded to skill, for golf is essentially a game of process rather than outcome. Improving one's technique is fun. Playing a hole properly is fun. Using equipment that may provide a temporary result that exceeds one's skill level is not.
Further, the most enduring form of golf fun has nothing to do with the clubs, the balls or the course. Great relationships are the key to great and fun golf. No other game provides the setting, time and pace that allows a relationship to take seed and flourish during the contest. In yet another way that the game of golf imitates life, at the end of the round the companionship provided or received outweighs the score we accomplished.
A game of such pleasures cannot be enhanced by longer and straighter golf balls, bigger clubs or sharper, deeper grooves. Those who maintain otherwise reveal only concern for their bottom line and utter disregard for the mysteries and the beauties inherent in the game of golf.
in Golf
Golf
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