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  • 2 hours ago
With modern drivers being so forgiving, has the true skill of golf been lost? We discuss how making drivers harder to hit could reintroduce jeopardy and better separate the most talented players.
Transcript
00:00If you were stood on the 6th at Bay Hill, you know, that par 5 that goes around the corner,
00:05basically the U-shaped dogleg,
00:07and you're taking on a line that you need to carry at 280, 290 yards to get across,
00:14you're doing that with a 460cc head where we've seen you can hit it on any part of that club
00:18base and it's going to make that carry.
00:20Correct.
00:21Well, you know, is that that exciting?
00:23You want to take that line on with that 130cc drive ahead, knowing that for missing the middle by 2
00:31or 3mm,
00:32you're going to lose 15 plus yards and simply not make that carry.
00:36Well, if you're willing to take that line with that, the jeopardy that introduces, the emphasis on skill,
00:41and I think we've just got to the point now where we talk about, I mean, it's been spoken about
00:47a lot,
00:47that the sort of playing fields become rather bunched at all levels of professional golf,
00:55because ultimately everyone can hit it now, because the drivers are so easy to use,
01:00so everyone flies it 300 yards, and if you don't, like, you're very much a short hitter.
01:06It made Russell Henley look pony at Augusta, because he doesn't hit it that far.
01:11He hits it 285.
01:12Yeah, exactly right.
01:13It's absurd.
01:14And everyone's like, well, this guy can better get it off out of his shadow.
01:16I'm so sure, yeah.
01:17What?
01:17You limit that at 44 inches of a driver's shaft and put it at 130cc, so you're not...
01:23Because the professional game is peg it up as high as you like, swing out your boots as hard as
01:28you can,
01:29because if you get that clubface on the ball, which you will, it's going to be fine.
01:32So it's just a matter of who can swing the hardest, who can make it go straight.
01:35It doesn't matter where it comes off the clubface.
01:37Let's get back to emphasising how important strike is.
01:40I can't tell you how much that would create that clear division of who are the most talented people here,
01:49who have the skills, and I wish that would be a thought about.
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