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Mike asked:
I would put golfers into 3 categories:
1. Pros
2. Good golfers 0-18 handicaps
3. Everyone else
I would put golfers into 3 categories:
1. Pros
2. Good golfers 0-18 handicaps
3. Everyone else
IMO equipment has improved the game for everyone, but mainly for the 0-18 handicaps.
Equipment has made the game easier to play. The balls go further, clubs are more forgiving.
Equipment has made the game more accessible i.e. the equipment is not as expensive as it was 30 years ago.
Good swings are helped more by equipment than bad swings or perfect swings.
I should say that equipment has made it possible for more people to enter the good golfer, 0-18 handicap level and thereby make golf more fun.
Comments?
Added thoughts?
Does anyone think equipment is too good?
Why?
Kansieo.com
Tags: Game · Improvements · Swings5 Comments
5 responses so far ↓
I think that the equipment is definitely responsible for golfers getting better but keep in mind that the courses on the PGA Tour have been “Tiger Proofed” in a sense - (1) longer courses, some are over 7400 yards (2) much much narrower fairways (3) longer rough (4) strategic sands traps (5) guarded pins with super slick greens, over 12 on the stimp (6) much much better players - - - if equipment makes the golfers of today so much better, than why hasn’t someone shot a 18 under yet? if golf was as difficult as it used to be, than it would be very difficult to have a amateur following - even more than equipment, you can point to Tiger Woods as the one who gave the amateur the hopes of making golf be as easy as it looked when Tiger did it - I would say that equipment actually appeals more to the high high handicappers - I am a 10-12 handicap and I play with 10 year old Titleist Blades - if I switch to brand new, would I all of a sudden be a 5? Probably not - I would say if your handicap is 18 or over, that is where equipment actually makes that player able to actually play golf - Tiger is so good, he could play golf with a broom stick and still stuff it - great question, though
Pros and only pros. USGA stats indicate no change in amateur handicaps with the newer equipment. Pros however have the huge advantage of being able to carry 3 wedges, and eliminating long irons. The hardest shots, or most crucial at least, are those shots from 120 yds and in. A full swing is far more accurate than a 3/4 or 1/2 swing. So the pros of today are able to take more full swings.
The New York Times ran an article last year entitled “It Don’t Mean a Thing If You Ain’t Got That Swing”. It said although 2 billion bucks are spent on new golf equipment each year, amateur handicaps have remained the same. It really comes down to hitting the ball straight and where you want it to go. New equipment will not fix a skulled shot, won’t get you out of the bunker any better or hit it a whole lot straighter. And if you have that deadly slice, why you will just send it farther to the right.
So, in answer to your question, I think it’s the very good golfers who have benefited from the new stuff. Those folks who can shape shots, do magic around the greens are the most affected. You and I, (well, me anyway) we can’t buy our way into single digit handicaps with new equipment.
yes i think that its improved the game for the average golfer because the pro’s could play with clubs that were 30 years old and still shoot par or better
Improved equipment has benefitted the long hitter in greater proportion to anyone else, so in that sense, improved equipment has made it harder for everyone else to compete.