Who here prefers the pro game 20-30 years ago compared to today?

[jholz]

I think it is perfectly fair to criticize the style or culture of play on the PGA Tour these days. The PGA Tour game we have today is only partially a result of equipment and players. Much of it has come about from deliberate decisions to market the game on Tour in a particular way with the intention of appealing to the widest audience possible - including a ton of people who have little to no direct experience of playing the game.

 

In this light, I think what has happened on the PGA Tour is analogous to what has happened in pro football and baseball over the past few years. All of these sports are trying to appeal to audiences, and like Madison Avenue geniuses, they are using the most base and simplistic ways to do that. Whether it is privileging distance on tour, increasing home runs in MLB, or ensuring that quarterbacks can pass the ball in the NFL, these games have all been simplified, or flattened out, in an effort to appeal to the widest audience possible. In doing that, each has also lost some nuance, perhaps even some of the things that made them special and appealing for those who actually play the game.

 

All they need to do now is start pre-determining the outcomes and we will have professional wrestling - which, of course, bears no resemblance to actual sport of wrestling.

 

 

[Shilgy]

The spinny ball would make a bit of difference...but not 240cc head. Can you swing hard at a 3 wood and keep it straight? I bet the pros can. And a 3 wood is smaller than 240cc.

[strug'-a-ling]

You hope to never see a person with a beer belly swinging a golf club?

Don't ever expect an invitation to play at my club. It was built by Donald Ross in 1906, and since then, beer bellies have prevailed!

I used to watch professional golf. I don't anymore. It's purely a social and recreational game to me now, and the tour players are irrelevant to that.

 

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[bladehunter]

If sure love to see the experiment take place. after all if it doesn’t make a difference. Then no harm right ? Just smaller headcovers!

You and I both know that if you tried to make them play with a tiny driver , many would complain . But why ? If it makes no difference. ?

[slprince67]

change the club limit from 14 to 9 and you would see shot making and creativity comeback......

[Shilgy]

Just like here on golfwrx many would complain-just because. But changing the ball would get much more of their deserved wrath.

[dlygrisse]

Hitting the ball with less spin, or controlling how much spin....used to be a learned skill. Now it’s called getting fit in a simulator. Shot making with irons is different now as well. Hitting knock-down shots used to an art form.

[bladehunter]

Yep. All one has to do is watch tiger or Phil today to see the difference. You’ll still see them carving in mid irons to back pins with more club than the distance suggests.

[Irishman1979]

The best shot in golf is when you have a tucked pin against the wind and a tour player shapes the shot to hit the green and spin towards his target. Guys like Tiger can do that time and time again and its what makes them great.

[Shilgy]

IMO(lol, see I learned from the Reed/Chamblee thread) you are confusing talent and skill with equipment based performance. Yes, the old balata ball(I played it for years) spun more and was affected more by the wind. That said...it is just as much a skill to read the wind and control trajectory and fire straight at those tucked pins. It may be more interesting to you to see the ball curve into those tucked positions but to suggest in many posts that the current crop of players don’t have that shot would be incorrect imo. They do and use it at times but most often it really is not the “best” option today. Some of the older players still do so simply because that is the shot they “see” when face with certain situations.

[Titleist 670]

I want to dial equipment and the ball back so that drives max out at 145 yards and pros shoot 90 plus. Then I want them to rip heaters and hang out with groupies after the round. That's my dream.

[Irishman1979]

Oh cmon man your party sounds lame. Lines off hookers and shots of Jack! WTF man play hard on the course and in the mens lounge! ;)

[2putttom]

I'm with Jeff, I've been playing since 76' it was hard then. I enjoy playing now and with all the equipment developments and course improvements, I can see myself playing into my eighties.

[BIG STU]

Me too and I already have the equipment for it ( Sic ). NOTE: Had a certain set of Macs flag hunting today in a scramble/ dogfight. Had one of my partners exclaim " How in the H e l l does he hit those things?"

[BIG STU]

ROTFLMAO--- The get off my lawn mentality---- You are hanging around me too much

[Titleist99]

Then you long for 1908 …..LOL~ Let's roll 'em back!

[NJpatbee]

I have no problem with today's equipment and the increased athleticism of the pro golfers. The courses played today are long enough to challenge the pros but I would prefer the fairways be slowed down and the rough a bit thicker. Bomb and gouge should be bomb, get it to the fairway, and then approach shot if you are wild with the drive. That being said, today's pro golfers can work the ball as well as the golfers pf 20-30 years ago.

[isaacbm]

When I first turned pro, I played on tour with a persimmon driver, magregor blades and balata balls. . I personally like every part of the game better now. It’s just more fun. The new ball especially. The thing I like most is that it rolls true every time and that it lasts for at least an entire round. I also like agronomy better in every way.

I still play all of the “shots” that I used to play. Knock downs, Low spinners, shots held against the wind with sidespin. And I see guys on tour doing that every round. Also, the idea that generating over 115 mph of swing speed and still matching face to path is somehow not a skill is completely beyond me! There’s just more people that can do it now because there are more people chasing Golf at the highest level mostly due to money and GOLF becoming a global game.

Most people have a glamorized idea of the past. It’s kind of like the grass is always greener on the other side. The grass wasn’t that green back then. In fact it was quite a lot more yellow. And also a lot longer!

[Bad9]

C'mon man don't let your personal knowledge and experience of what happens on a pro tour think it trumps what a bunch of mid and low handicap golfers on an internet forum say.

[nicelife]

 

[isaacbm]

My bad...

[Obee]

Hear hear!!!!

 

[Hawkeye77]

Longer and ...... yellow back then? Fungus.

[Hawkeye77]

Us non-pros still play all the shots we used to play, and grew up learning, too! And almost just as far and better!

I thought I'd sold out going from my Staff Tours to Ping Eye2 + irons shortly after we were married, but I'd just gotten serious about some lessons and it was close between the Pings and some Titleist DCIs, but the Pings were the bomb for me at that time and really made a difference in my golf - also got my first (small headed as I recall) TM metal driver. No looking back!

Exploring the differences in new stuff as been part of the journey - but what I'd give to have MY Staff Tours back, just to look at them . . . .

 

 

 

 

[Sean2]

Didn't you have to wear a suit jacket and tie as well? ;-)

[Nard_S]

I don't think it's romanticizing the past to desire greater influence of wind and initial spin on the ball. Keep hearing ther PGA steam rolls fairways and that's why Pro's drives have so much kick and roll. It's not the reason, it's the low spin tech and lower initital ball spin and the not talked about much better aerodynamics. The ball IS straighter, yet we now have to build new tee boxes, narrow fairways and bikini wax greens to make maybe a handful of tournaments finish under -15.

The much maligned Greg Norman once said modern tech helps the Pro & better golfer more than the average. He was pretty spot on about it. Maybe 10% of duffers truly benefit from all the enhancements. The rest really haven't seen their index going down or have found 300 on the fairway. I love the new ball and modern Ti, love the multitude of shafts across the board. But the game is not just about mano a mano contest. It's about ball command and the self command to execute that. There's been a lot of true progress made in the game but that does not mean that nothing has been lost or you're some romantic Luddite to point it out.

[mocokid]

Bomb and gouge sells in the pro shop, but on TV week in week out, it gets boring. I enjoyed watching the Bahamas event last eve, the 3 gents playing in high winds and navigating their way around the back nine (Arnaud, Hirshmann, and McGreevy) trying to make the cut, it was a real battle, and I enjoyed televised golf for the first time in quite a while.

[mocokid]

What were the pros hitting from 250? 6 or 7 irons? LOLOL.

[isaacbm]

Fair points. Don’t agree with all though... the game has gotten much easier for the average player. Every single player I know hits it further now than they did with wood and balata. Handicaps have improved it’s just difficult to tell because courses are so much more severe now than they were 30 or 40 years ago. If we were playing todays equipment on yesteryears courses, it would be much more dramatic. Old 6000 yard (from middle tees) Munis with no deep bunkers and greens rolling seven vs 6400 yards (middle tees) severe hazards and fast greens.

I agree there could be more required of the best players in the world but for the average player, many think the game is too hard! At the end of the day, GOLF at the highest level has been and always will be strictly about ball control. Maybe the ball used to curve a little more but the players today who control their ball the best are still the ones to come out on top. (Ball control includes putting and carrying it 300 yards. )

[QuigleyDU]

Small head with loft is very different from a small head and not much loft.