Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters by overpowering Augusta National. On the 510-yard par-5 15th hole, he hit driver-wedge on his way to victory. Suddenly, tournament directors were lengthening their courses in an effort to “Tiger-proof” them. Bobby Jones watched a young Jack Nicklaus bash his way to victory at the 1963 Masters and commented, “He plays a game that I am not familiar with.” Arnold Palmer was a power player. The triumvirate of Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan were the dominant power players of the 1940s and 1950s. The same can be said of Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones in the years after World War I.
All of the aforementioned greats are at the top of the list when it comes to golfers with major championships and professional wins. There is a direct correlation to power golf and major title success. Nowadays, the top golfers such as Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlory, each with four major titles, are also atop the statistical scoreboard when it comes to driving distance. If you think about it, it’s a whole lot easier to hit driver-8-iron into a 475-yard par-4 than to try to attack the pin with driver-3-iron. True, there have always been exceptions to the rule such as Gene Sarazen, Gary Player and Nick Price, but they are few and far between.
Two weeks ago the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient produced a lengthy 102-page report as well as a 15-page conclusive report entitled “Distance Insights Project.” It is a study with heavy emphasis upon statistics regarding the overall changes in driving distance among golfers at the highest levels as well as the average bogey golfer who plays the game on a recreational level. Without getting too bogged down in numbers and percentages, the overall result of the report is that because of improvements in technology, the golf ball travels much farther. Therefore golf courses have had to add distance to their holes to maintain some level of competitive balance for the game’s best players.
In last weekend’s column, we talked about Walter Hagen and Chick Evans bashing drives at the 1914 United States Open. Their driving distance way back then would put them at the very bottom of PGA Tour driving distance statistics today. Yet the dilemma for entities like the USGA and the R&A, the keepers of the game, is that while professionals continue to hit the ball much farther, the average golfer hasn’t been able to keep up with the gains in length. The game is at a junction as far as technology and distance.
In 1930 at the beginning of the Snead-Nelson-Hogan era, the top pros of the day hit tee shots between 220-260 yards. Women professionals were in a range from 175-225 yards. Average amateur men topped out at 180 yards while the ladies hit it 150. Some 50 years later during the Palmer-Nicklaus era, the top pros were hitting it between 240-280 yards because of the advent of the steel shaft and persimmon woods. Meanwhile the average male golfer topped out with tee shots of 200 yards. In 2019 the average distance for members on the PGA Tour was 297 yards. Cameron Champ of Sacramento, a two-time tour winner, was the leader of the pack with a tee shot average of 322 yards. According to the distance study, the average male amateur golfer with a handicap of six or less (70s golf) hits his tee shot on the average some 239 yards. A 21-handicap golfer (90s golf) averages just 177 with his driver.
The USGA and R&A report only offers statistical data. It does not offer any conclusions with how the game should adapt or change. However, it does present some startling issues of concern. First and foremost is the concern that current golf courses will become obsolete. For local area golfers, the first hole at Hidden Valley Lake is a tough opening hole. It is an uphill dogleg right par-4 that measures out to approximately 435 yards. For local bombers such as professionals Doug Quinones and Jonathan Carlson, they can usually hit a driver with just a short iron or wedge left into the green. For the average Lake County bogey golfer, they are hitting driver down the longer left side and usually have a hybrid or a 5-wood into the green … at best. Obviously, the USGA and the R&A worry that some iconic courses with a longtime pedigree such as Merion in Philadelphia or Pebble Beach on the Monterey coast will become obsolete. They worry that tour pros will hit 350-yard tee shots and that courses will need to be stretched out to 8,000 yards. Most courses don’t have the extra space.
Another concern is that longer courses will cost more money to maintain. Added yardage means more acreage to cut, rough to maintain and a greater amount of bunkers and hazards for the staff to maintain. Golf is already expensive enough without adding to the cost. Finally, the third concern is that the average golfer, the people who support our local public courses, will find the game impossible to play. Is it really fun to play a 450-yard pa-4 when you have to hit driver-3-wood-6-iron and then find yourself with a 40-foot putt for par?
During the next year, the USGA and the R&A will take commentary about their report from conflicting forces such amateur golf groups, professionals and equipment companies. The keepers of the game are attempting to avoid “bifurcation” where the game would be played under differing rules and conditions. On top of that, the USGA and the R&A are trying to avoid lawsuits and court proceedings with the big-money manufacturers of golf balls and clubs. Next week we’ll explore the implications of the report and some of the factors involved.
Wotherspoon doing well
During the course of the next few months we will keep our readers updated about the exploits of Cypress College sophomore Matt Wotherspoon. A four-time All-Conference golfer at Kelseyville High School and a five-time Lake County Junior champ, Wotherspoon has placed third and second in his first two college events. Eleven days ago at the Eagle Golf Classic at Soboda Springs Country Club in Jacinto, Wotherspoon shot a 2-under-par 70 and carded the low score out of 72 collegiate golfers in the field. His Cypress College team finished atop the team standings as well.
This past Wednesday at Sycuan Golf Resort in El Cajon, Wotherspoon shot a 1-over-par 73 at the Cuyamaca Classic to finish tied for seventh place in a field of 66 golfers. The Cuyamaca had an elite field of 11 teams and once again Cypress finished atop the standings, beating a talented Santa Barbara City College team by two strokes and third-place finisher Palomar College by three shots. In the world of having every shot count, Cypress College’s thin margin of victory at the Cuyamaca pencils out to less than a one-half shot margin per golfer. That’s pretty intense stuff, especially when you consider there are no leader boards on the course.
