Faldo wants to ban tees on Tour

This one is interesting. Faldo wants to ban tees on Tour to reduce distance. He says it would force pros to use higher lofted drivers and/or fairway woods off the tee to reduce distance. Stay at home cabin fever has people really thinking outside the box. ? Nick Faldo suggests a ban on golf tees to reduce driver distance

Stay inside Nick, you're drunk.

I think we should reduce golf analysts with bad ideas.

My favorite player ever, but he is off on this one.

Should have just hammered his statement about reducing the face.

Nick thinks players on the PGA Tour today are using 6 degree driver heads? LOL! Nick (and who is interviewing him) need to seriously brush up on equipment played on tour.

Yeah that's it. The tee. Makes perfect sense. Not like any of these guys can hit their 3W 275 off the deck or anything like that.

Nick says..

“Back in persimmon days, and balata ball, there were only a handful of really great drivers,” Faldo said. “Obviously, Greg (Norman) was great, and Jack (Nicklaus). Obviously (Lee) Trevino was great for his way, (Tom) Watson, Seve (Ballesteros) was a great driver; I know it went sideways at times… but you can name them. It was only a dozen max. Now there’s only a dozen poor drivers. There’s only a few… I hate to think of the percentage who can hit it 300 through the air.”

Another chicken or the egg equipment issue here. Were there only a dozen or so great drivers then because the general quality of play from the rank and file was less or because of the equipment? Are there more great drivers today because there are many more good players or because the equipment is easier to hit?

Dang dog keeps chasing his tail.....

Faldo’s out there inside the ropes, friends with a bunch of them, close acquaintances with many more, and here at WRX we know more than he does.

I love the internet.

I think, at least in this case, we can acknowledge that there are more good drivers of the ball today but yet disagree on the best remedy. Let’s say you cannot use a tee as he suggests....can you make a sand tee as referenced in the story? Can you make a turf tee like Laura Davies?

Sir Nick consulted with Jack Daniels on this one, I’d say ; )

Well Nick is right. Banning tees would have the desired effect. Yes tour pros can hit their 3 wood 275 off the deck. But that’s the idea. They wont be hitting it 320 with their drivers. But he’s wrong in trying to accomplish this by changing the way the game has been played since its earliest days. Will recreational players still be allowed to tee it up? Talk about bifurcation.

No need to ban the tee. Just make the courses more penal to discourage today's bomb-and gouge game.

From off the tee, the fairways get narrower and the rough deeper. At 300 yards, the fairways narrow to 28 yards with the primary rough at 4"; at 330-360 yards, they narrow to 20 yards and the primary rough at 8" tall.By all means they are welcome to bomb it at the Emperor's Course.

Not in favour of the "no tee peg" idea but it's definitely an equipment issue with regards to the overall improvement in driving that Faldo talks about.

If it was a choice between "no tee peg" or a rolled backed ball then the former wouldn't seem so bad. I wouldn't want either but the authorities are going to do something at some point in the near future.

Here's an idea. Eliminate the 50-90yds of roll guys are getting on some of the courses since the fairways are cut shorter than some muni greens. Penalize guys who miss the fairway with thicker rough. Amazing what a different approach to grass length could do for limiting distance.

How about we eliminate Sir Nick. Bloody blow hard.

The PGA Tour won't go down that route though.

If distance is going to be limited, l believe the governing bodies will definitely attempt to make this happen, it will be achieved via a change in the rules relating to ball and/or equipment and not via course setup. Just to be clear I'm not in favour of rolled backed ball but how could the USGA/R&A enforce course setup conditions to guarantee distance limitation across all courses in golf.

Here’s an idea...let’s take it back to really old school. Let’s get rid of cups and just do what they did back in the day, scoop some sand out of the hole and use that to tee up with on the next. The sand will make it more difficult to get clean contact and we can speed up the game at the same time by having holes that get bigger as the day goes on. Sergio and Adam Scott will love it, they will finally make some putts.

He is sorta in the ball park on that--- Now lets look at the recreational golfer--- At my course in my sitting spot I can watch a lot of players hit off the 10th tee. Most everyone regardless of age hits the driver well getting it airborne etc. I have a couple of players on my dogfight team that can murder the ball with a driver but that is where it stops. Most recreational players can like I said hit a driver but nothing else. I tell anyone to get a perspective get one of my 200cc persimmon drivers and try to hit it. Now I will admit I do hit persimmon a lot and practice it. Yep the drivers are why and to a good ball striker like a Tour player it is a no brainer to hit a big driver in the sweet spot. As big as the hitting area is on modern drivers they can be easy to hit.

In perspective I could care less what the Tour does and I can see where the larger drivers help the average Joe Golfer enjoy the game. I am not going to be a hypocrite either I use my modern metals in the dog fights and matches for the firepower. I also am not going to lie and say "ahhh my persimmon is only a few yards shorter" It is more like 20 or 25 yards shorter.

As much as I think that something needs to be done about this issue, removing tees is not the way to go and also not in the spirit of the game if you ask me.

I think driving the ball was not the end all be all it is today therefore you could still win and win regularly if you were short and accurate. You just had to be lights out with your irons and some of the rank and file were. Not that driving well and far did not give you an advantage but that it was not a requisite.

At one point in golf equipment history the driver was one of the hardest clubs for recreational players to hit. Thus there was lots of instruction advocating for taking 3 wood off the tee (more loft) and irons (easier for ams to hit presumably). Now the modern driver is one of if not the easiest club to hit to get the ball down the hole. Recreational player may get into more trouble with it but most get it airborne and moving in the general right direction as you stated.

This was suggested somewhere else (maybe fried egg?) because 1. it's super easy 2. courses wouldn't have to change and 3. it avoids all kinds of lawsuits from equipment companies. As they put it "there aren't wooden tee lobbyists out there."

What about making tees shorter instead of banning them outright?

Your idea is rubbish Nick - get me?

Sorry but getting rid of the tee peg, as Nick puts it, is the dumbest idea I've heard anybody come up with yet ... PERIOD

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Interesting idea with the graduated length at further distances. They've done plenty to narrow fairways and deepen rough and it can work, but at the same time we get the complaints about slow play.

I don't love Nick's idea, but it would certainly be effective in making courses more challenging without simply adding more length to them in a time where most can't be stretched out any further. Unfortunately it might make things even more difficult on the non-bombers as they might not have the swings to get much more than 275 out of a 3w.

I had a golf buddy from about 20 years ago that when 400+ CC drivers first started coming out called us all cheaters for using the new taller tees. I can't help but wonder what the game would be like had he had his way.

Wait, this is WRX, so you're saying we all can't hit driver off the deck? Clearly, we know more than a multi major winner who interacts personally with numerous Tour players.

Yes, the PGA and other top Tours literally steam roll fairways (I've seen it done pre-tourney start), and specify to superintendents speed of fairways and greens.

They won't grow rough cuz the players won't like it. Just like when they remove sand from bunkers prior to tournaments because what if the world's elite players got a plugged lie? The horror, the horror.

i wouldn't have a problem banning teas ... tried my best to like them ... hasn't worked so far ...