Into the Twittersphere – Does the golf ball go too far?

Does the golf ball go too far? That is the question.

Twitter Fights are Fun

On Sunday, I got into a nice little debate on Twitter about the current state of professional golf. 

My original argument was that comparing professional golfers to recreational golfers in regard to the difficulty of a golf course is not a fair comparison. My position is that the pro golfer has a vastly different skill set and therefore, what is difficult to a pro is very different from what is difficult to a recreational player.

Over the course of the final round, I received quite a bit of feedback on this position and the conversation quickly shifted to, “Does the golf ball go too far?” After some further thought, here is where I shake out on the golf ball debate. 

Does the golf ball go too far?

The ball 100% flies too far on the professional level, but I don’t know that their is a good solution to fixing this “problem”.

I put problem in quotes, because a majority of golf fans would argue that the golf ball is perfect the way it is, and it is not a problem at all. In a lot of ways they’re not wrong, but I still hold the position that the ball goes too far on the professional level.  

Case and point. Hole number nine at Winged Foot is a par five measuring 558 yards. During Sunday’s final round, both players in the final group made eagle. Bryson hit a drive of 374 yards and left himself 182 yards into the hole. Matt Wolff hit his drive 388 yards and had 168 yards left to the hole. Bryson hit his approach to 37 feet and proceeded to make that putt for eagle. Wolff, from 14 yards closer, hit his shot to 10 feet and made the putt to match Bryson’s eagle. 

Think about what I just described for a minute. Bryson hit his drive 374 yards and was out driven by Wolff. 

The two players in the final group hit drivers of THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FOUR YARDS and THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT YARDS.

That kind of power is really cool to watch, but is a little ridiculous at the same time.  

I absolutely agree that longer drivers should be rewarded for that skill, but good grief. Does the ball really need to go 380 yards?

I think the game on the professional level is a little out of balance. Hitting it far has become a massive advantage and it is completely changing how the game is played professionally.

The question is, is there a workable solution to rolling the golf ball back?

Can we fix the golf ball “problem”?

I tend to think the answer to that question is no and here’s why.

The golf ball flying as far as it does is only an issue on the professional level. Pro golfers are the 1%. Are we really going to roll the ball back because 1% of golfers hit it too far? That would not make sense to me.

Which then brings us to the subject of bifurcation. Should the pros play with the same set of rules as recreational players?

In other sports, the answer to that question is yes, the pros should absolutely have their own set of rules. However, in golf I don’t believe that to be the case.

Take the U.S. Open for example. Every year, anyone with a handicap of 1.4 or better is eligible to qualify for the U.S. Open. But what equipment gets used in those qualifiers? Better yet, how did someone eligible to qualify earn their 1.4 or better handicap? Were they using the pro equipment, or the recreational equipment? Pro rules or recreational rules?

When you put bifurcation to the test you realize that multiple sets of rules would cause a lot more issues then the golf ball currently does. And so, I think we are kind of stuck right where we are.

It’s time to move on

I am still of the opinion that the golf ball goes too far, but again, without a workable solution, I am starting to feel like I am crying over spilt milk. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the U.S. Open this week and that really is all that matters. At times, it feels like the golf course does not stand a chance against the current pro, but then again only one player finished under par this week.

On Sunday I was firmly of the position that we need to make some changes to our game, but after giving it some thought, I don’t know that the possible changes make any sense. I think I need to accept the game for what it is and focus on the positives.

With that being said, leave me a comment and let me know where you stand? Do you think the golf ball is an issue and do you have a solution? Or, do you think the game is in a great spot and we should leave things how they are?

Let me know.

As always,

Enjoy the chase!