Has equipment gone over the top?

css

Well has it? How much do the top golfers rely on their equipment?? Take for instance one of the great golfers of old, and give them current equipment, would they beat the lard out of the current top guys??

TheDoc

Equipment has ruined the game in my opinion and have my reasona t both professional and amateur level.

I think the biggest change is in the short game. We all know Seve Ballesteros was the greatest short game player that ever lived, he had the most imaginative mind around the green. In his time, you used a sand wedge and the shots he used with it was amazing.

Now you have all the different types of wedges. I go out and see 20 handicappers and 18 handicappers have a decent short game but only cause of their club, they hit the same shot over and over. Its very upsetting really.

I personally wasnt a very good short game player but added a lob wedge to my bag and a odysey 2 ball and im known as a very solid short game player 9/10 times getting up and down.

Another upset for me at club level is the driving. I've come up against players much shorter, skinnier and of less strength then me hit their ball outragously long and longer then me in cases, simply cause of their driver, end of story.

Even the makes of balls, prov v 1 makes short game a doddle in all honesty.

If I had my way I'd ban the lob wedge.

snoop_de_loop

The reason golfers of today are so good is because people nowadays have a chance to start playing at a very young age!! Clubs can obviously help, bt they dont help that much, its the amount of time and practice thats put in.

There are however drivers out there that do launch the ball miles, but anyone can do that, its been able to control it that matters, a pro should be able to shape the balls flight

okden

well the average handicap hasnt budged by even 1/2 a stroke in 40 years.
but because of equipment improvements more people are out enjoying the game.
so i think its a good thing.

J.R.HARTLEY

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

Another upset for me at club level is the driving. I've come up against players much shorter, skinnier and of less strength then me hit their ball outragously long and longer then me in cases, simply cause of their driver, end of story.

my club pro is only 5 foot 5 and can wallop the ball past me, technique plain and simple, strength has nothing to do with how well you drive, if you have a decent swing and create the proper torsion using your body and not your arms you'll get a big dig no matter who you are.
villegas and holmes were very close in driving distances in the FBR and the difference between them is phenomenal.

kc66

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

I go out and see 20 handicappers and 18 handicappers have a decent short game but only cause of their club, they hit the same shot over and over. Its very upsetting really.....
Another upset for me at club level is the driving. I've come up against players much shorter, skinnier and of less strength then me hit their ball outragously long and longer then me in cases, simply cause of their driver, end of story.

Don't dwell on it too much. You will be ok.

You can't say it is solely the club that makes a better shot. Technique is 95% of hitting the ball well imo. Newer clubs can help to a small extent.

TheDoc

but like im tlaking gainst guys whose swing dont generate alot of power at all, like my whole gamephilopshy is based more round acccuracy then power and thats how i play the game, but still getting out whalloped by lil dweebs is annoying.

swingking

Sam Sneed

You can't go in to a shop and buy a game of golf

The equipment will not make a bad player better but a good player will appreciate the benefit of new equipment

css

Doc you really gotta forget about the others! I love playing against people who are all into distance! I hit a long ball, and was playing a winter league match against two low handicappers, now I was out driving them with a 4 wood... It didnt bother me, but they changed their game to try outdrive me, result, they lost..

On the equipment front, my view on it is that it's going to have to be stopped somehow! Just the mention of these 'tour clubs', 'sharper grooves', etc.. Why can't the pros use the equipment us normal people do?

I was out playing at the weekend, and i hit a lobwedge from the semi-rough, from a range of about 25 yards or so, the ball landed and on second bounce it spun back about 6 feet. I've never done this before, the lobwedge is new, and i'm left thinking, 'so this is how the pros look so good'.. I must have played that shot hundreds of times, and never had the ball do that.. the difference? Equipment..

TheDoc

It really is that simple t odo man, like ebfore, you had to put spin on the ball yourself, you have to shape the shot so that it spun back or stunned dead. Now with these oil cans and spin mills, I'm just plonking the ball within 6 feet from round the green all the time, and from distance im within ten feet.

Now I grew up using the sand wedge and I do have a nice shortgame i like to think and buying a lob wedge is gr8, its one of my favourite clubs and makes it even easier for me, but for people who never had a shortgame to be able to do these shots =/

It is very evident in some players how their equipment helps them. Like f you have sky digital look on the golf channel at the clubs they sell. Wedges that guarantee you to hit out of the bunker with ease. a guy i played with once had the Lovvet wedge and i had a few pops from the bunker and it was disgusting how easy it was, and he landed the ball within 10 feet every time, then i told him to take my sand wedge and try get out and he flopped and ahcked every time.

The knife woods that allow people easily knock a wood miles and straight. =/ even from the bunker of heavy rough =(

I do think the technology has to stop somewhere. Skill has really gone from the game on proffesional view also.....thers no one who is "godlike at chipping" everyone has the same short game, they can all put it close, they can all make putts, there is no clean cut god like a Seve or anything.

milltown

I'm with Okden on this one. Anything that widens the appeal of the game for the average, or below average, player is a good thing.

The issue for DM appears to be that lesser players are using advances in equipment to catch up with his game but he is not using it to maintain the advantage his skill used to give him.

Wedges seem to be a hot topic lately and part of the equipment debate in one of this month's golf mags. I'm too lazy to dig it out to confirm details but one of the top players is quoted as saying there's no punishment for finding the rough these days as the wedges are so good from any lie. IMO, at club level at least, there isn't a problem. My dad went out and bought a wedge and waxed lyrical about how it had transformed his game around the green, yet whenever I play with him he catches at least half his wedge shots fat or thin and has to use it twice to find the green!

The biggest variable in any game of golf is the squishy bit at the other end of the club. If somebody is prepared to put in the time and effort to work on fitness, posture, muscle memory and any other number of things required to make their swing as robotic and repeatable as necessary to make the club the deciding factor, and are willing to spend the money on the newest and best equipment then I think they deserve to reap the rewards. They are not the guys I go out for an enjoyable round with and in competition, if we have faith in the handicap system, they should be in a different category to me or at least have fewer shots.

One last thought - Balls!
If the premium balls are threatening the sanctity of the game, how come I keep finding ProV1s, Callaways, Nikes and Srixons in the same places I'm looking for my own?

okden

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

I think the biggest change is in the short game. We all know Seve Ballesteros was the greatest short game player that ever lived, he had the most imaginative mind around the green. In his time, you used a sand wedge and the shots he used with it was amazing.

seve rarely used a SW, he always picked the best club for the chip in front of him, normally a "sheven, ake or nign ion" but ive seen him chip with every club.

i know this came up before but all the best chippers do this. for chipping the lobber comes into its own in fluffy lies, the big problem is the way the courses are set up in america all lies around the green are fluffy (although this is changing) so pros are forced to choose a LW. then its easy for us hackers to think drop and stop chipping is better than chip and run, if the lie is good, the LW is normaly the worst choice.

if you count your up and downs youd see youre not getting anything close to 9/10, then by practicing chiping like seve with every club, depending on the lie, youd start to widen the gap between you and the high handicappers that always use the LW.

okden

milltown wrote:

One last thought - Balls!
If the premium balls are threatening the sanctity of the game, how come I keep finding ProV1s, Callaways, Nikes and Srixons in the same places I'm looking for my own?

DIEGO WORST

milltown wrote:

If the premium balls are threatening the sanctity of the game, how come I keep finding ProV1s, Callaways, Nikes and Srixons in the same places I'm looking for my own?

slightly off subject.... but related to strange places where you can find ProV1s.
I go to the driving range in Celbridge about once a week. Recently I'm finding non-range balls in my bucket of balls - Maxfli, Pinnacle, Top Flite....but the last two times I've been I've found perfectly good ProV1s. They are €4 ~ €5 a ball rite????? What golf shop is selling them for half-nothing?