Adam Scott on why driving is no longer a skill in pro golf

I think Adam has a very valid point here that many have been saying for years now.

[https://foxsports.com.au/golf/bmw-championship-adam-scott-blasts-unfair-courses-stars-continue-to-exploit/news-story/b2b1f4c962145771c6639ed615ef913f](http://https://www.foxsports.com.au/golf/bmw-championship-adam-scott-blasts-unfair-courses-stars-continue-to-exploit/news-story/b2b1f4c962145771c6639ed615ef913f "https://foxsports.com.au/golf/bmw-championship-adam-scott-blasts-unfair-courses-stars-continue-to-exploit/news-story/b2b1f4c962145771c6639ed615ef913f")

He's right.

He absolutely is right. Grow the rough in those places that guys are going to miss taking a risk so it isn't easy to just gouge out. Let the brush grow under the trees as well. You can have the big payout drive and also the higher cost of missing. They should go together.

“They haven’t figured out yet that long means nothing to us; you can’t build it long enough,” Scott said

Everything was on point and what so many have been saying for quite a while. Lengthening the courses or even the nonsense about rolling the ball back are not the answer.

Would certainly help if they took all the water that they use to soak the greens and watered the fairways so these guys don't get 30 yards of roll.

Been saying it here for a long time - shorter courses with more angles and hazards to make landing areas less accessible and poor shots penalized.

The flip side is that the tour boys play at a course once a year-if that. The members or public have to be able to play, and enjoy, the course the rest of the year.

Course designers shall study and approve Dogleg 101 & 102 at least

> @Shilgy said:

> The flip side is that the tour boys play at a course once a year-if that. The members or public have to be able to play, and enjoy, the course the rest of the year.

this ... pros exploit the technology to a much greater degree ... also is a bit pricey to have subsystems on greens the way augusta does if you want to guarantee firm/fast ...

and while lengthening might not be the only answer, it's part of it ... the pga courses probably need to be 8000 yards ...

not sure there's a solution to the problem ... the head size/tech specs have been set with drivers and balls ... might just be time for new courses to pop up ...

Thanks Adam Scott for telling the truth they don’t want to accept. Apart for some rare exceptions course we see every week are dull and lead to boring tournaments.

I remember when the adage was (for amateurs/handicappers) "if you want to score well, leave your driver in the trunk". Today my driver is my most forgiving, and my most reliable club. Technology works.

The issue for the Tours is -- kind of like the current ball and HR explosion in baseball -- is it good tv and for ratings? That is a big factor that has to be balanced against competitive issues.

> @imakaveli said:

> Thanks Adam Scott for telling the truth they don’t want to accept. Apart for some rare exceptions course we see every week are dull and lead to boring tournaments.

Things will not change as long as the audience like watching easy birdies. Why the masses would prefer to see 7 pitch and putt easy birdies instead of 3 long iron hard earned birdies I cannot understand but I like hard courses.

> @PZero said:

> “They haven’t figured out yet that long means nothing to us; **you can’t build it long enough,**” Scott said

>

> Everything was on point and what so many have been saying for quite a while. Lengthening the courses or even the nonsense about rolling the ball back are not the answer.

>

>

I would like to see them play at 8,500 yards - I think that Adam's opinion might change.

It's time to shrink the size of the driver head for elite golfers. 230 cc or less. That would change the game, and require more skill off the tee. You say that would be like hitting 3-wood; I say, not so fast. They would be hitting a small headed club with 9* or 10*; no margin of error there.

What I don't understand is why they won't roll things back a little? Go from 460cc to 400cc with the driver. What would be the harm in that? You could go a step further and bring the MOI limit back to 4500 or so. Max length of 45". Small changes in each parameter will add up to a noticeable difference. 8000 yard golf courses are not the answer. It's not smart fiscally.

He’s 1000% correct.

We even see it at the am level plenty. Take a group of top ams to a long wide open course wnd you’ll see -15 ish leading for 3 day event. Seen it many times in last 4 years. Take that same group to a tight old tree lined course and the score will be -6 at best. And the pack will be bunched around even par. You haven’t seen anything yet. There is a crop of kids coming out that will make a full field on tour of Brooks Keopka and Rory drivers. And the game willl suffer for it.

Part of the answer is scaling down driver heads. The fact that they are the easiest club to hit is the main issue. They hit the ball too straight. Most good ams I see nowadays do not have a real shot shape. It’s straight unless a big mishit occurs. But with 3 wood you’ll see s shape. That’s where it has to be dialed back to. Where there is no straight ball every swing.

Option 1) New Golf ball that flies shorter, that really doesnt fix the problem

Option 2) Long Rough, doglegs/pinch fairways in to force irons off the tee on longish

Option 3) who cares

Billy Horschel with great insights on twitter, go check him out

The first metal driver - the TaylorMade Pittsburgh Persimmon - was 151 cc. Plenty of pros changed from wood to that club. Titanium changed everything - size and COR. A steel head at less than 200 cc would put more skill back into the game.

(You might see more driver heads made in the US.)

> @airjammer said:

> > @imakaveli said:

> > Thanks Adam Scott for telling the truth they don’t want to accept. Apart for some rare exceptions course we see every week are dull and lead to boring tournaments.

>

> Things will not change as long as the audience like watching easy birdies. Why the masses would prefer to see 7 pitch and putt easy birdies instead of 3 long iron hard earned birdies I cannot understand but I like hard courses.

>

Agreed, pitty

For one reason or another I imagine the majority of players wont agree with Scott.

Adam Scott, truth. You're forgiven for that silly looking broomstick you call a putter.

I'd like to see them play balata anyway. That was bifurcation back then so why are they worried about it now? Never played with anyone that played a balata

> @gvogel said:

> It's time to shrink the size of the driver head for elite golfers. 230 cc or less. That would change the game, and require more skill off the tee. You say that would be like hitting 3-wood; I say, not so fast. They would be hitting a small headed club with 9* or 10*; no margin of error there.

I'm not sure about that small of a clubhead. I have a 983E, which I think is about 340cc, and I would say it is noticeably worse on direction when you hit it on other parts of the face. Of course it is still more stable than the size you are talking about, but I think it would do something that changed things a bit (realistically, I don't even know if this is an option and even if it is there will be some limits on what practically can get done).

I do think this would be a better change than the limited flight ball or the 550 yard par 4.

> @Loki said:

> I'd like to see them play balata anyway. That was bifurcation back then so why are they worried about it now? Never played with anyone that played a balata

Exactly, if they don’t want to grow the rough then the best option is to make the ball spin a lot more.

It is all Very Cool and Very sad at the same time. Jack tried to tell the governing bodies when they rolled the First ProV-1 out. He said that ball would Change golf forever if they went ahead with it, Well he was right and the Big Boys said whatever to Jack and rest is History. In my opinion Golf is following baseball of the Steroid years, The big home run hitters are ruling the sport, and the Pga is turning a blind eye because its socalled Fun to see these guys hit it miles destroying old courses and scoring records. they will keep it going till the bottom falls out of coursed too short or the equipment gets really absurd( which it already has). Unless you run out of bounds down both sides of every fairway, or they really roll back the equipment. Bomb and Gouge is the new sport of golf, just pull driver and Do Not look back!!!

> @Loki said:

> I'd like to see them play balata anyway. That was bifurcation back then so why are they worried about it now? Never played with anyone that played a balata

I simply can't envisage any kind of "rollback" with the ball happening under any guise or circumstances.

Pretty much every handicap golfer I knew playing to a 5 or better played a balata ball.

Lol. The machine isn't rolling back anything.

"Golf club manufacturers report robust sales in 2018"

https://golfoklahoma.org/golf-club-manufacturers-report-robust-sales-in-2018/

"For this year and knowing club and ball sales nominally mirror the U.S. economy if healthy growth continues equipment sales should increase also. Using driver sales as an indicator we can make some generalizations.

Callaway is touting the early success of the Epic Flash line and Acushnet has introduced new versions of the bestselling Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x plus had good acceptance of the TS line of metalwoods. We are also seeing a broadening of the separation in price levels. Flagship drivers for Callaway and TaylorMade were increased in price $30 and $50 respectively over 2018 models while Titleist kept their pricing of the new TS drivers the same.

PING easily set the record for year to year price increases with the 2019 G410 driver selling for $500 or $100 higher than the comparable 2018 model."

The TPC style of design has contributed almost as much to the phenomenon as the ball/driver combo. All of these courses have super wide fairways, little rough, and vast amounts of open space to accommodate crowds, vendors, grandstands and everything else that comes along with a tour event. Even if TPC isn’t in the name, the course has been designed or renovated to accommodate it. This has taken all of the fear out of the tee ball and long approach shot. If a player misses 6 fairways per round, he gets a drop once, has to play for safety once and has a clean lie and clear path to the flag 4 times. Being wild off the tee just isn’t a penalty any more. The once or twice per tournament that a player has to take a penalty drop or pitch out sideways isn’t a deterrent to the advantage of every par 5 being reachable in 2 or the 6 wedge approaches available every round if they just blast away with driver. If there was real fear for a miss you would see equipment being switched out and swing speeds come down a bit. As it is now, they are free to bomb away 14 times every round so they have groomed 100% max effort swings to be their stock move. You will see this dialed back if the result of their 6 missed fairways every round were flip flopped to 1 clear shot, 4 pitch out or unplayable and 1 with options that require skill and experience to pull off.

But we won’t see that, the pga tour is a circus and events need to be able to accommodate 25,000 - 110,000 people per day. Add that to the player outrage we see when the rough is thick and you have a product that won’t sell. The time of the golf we see on tv being relatable to what we all play has passed, and the players will never allow it to return.