Ernie Els Masters Q&A

Ernie Els attempted to talk about the course changes and the impact of technology, but seemed to be holding back.  His Masters Tuesday session with the intrepid inkslingers:

Q. What's the most extreme of the course changes out there, which hole do you think is the most extreme change, and which of the changes do you possibly disagree with the most?

ERNIE ELS: You know, I think that the changes have been made, we've all talked about technology, it's changed so much, and I think Augusta National has made the biggest changes to compensate that, basically.

We haven't really played many Masters with dry conditions yet. We might find it this week.

I think with technology, with all of these golf courses changing, I think we just hold back and see where it goes. See how we play the game on this new Augusta National. I think we've just got to give it some time and see where it goes. I don't think anything should be rushed now with technology or anything. Let's see where it goes.

 With all due respect Ernie, we've been doing that for about 10 years now, and look where it's gotten us.

I think the changes they have made, I've played with Gary Player this morning and he was saying that they were playing certain clubs into certain holes, and we're basically playing the same clubs into those holes 20, 30 years later. So I guess that's where Augusta National is trying to go, is to make us play a 5 iron into 11 where they were playing 5 irons into 11 in the '60s, '70s. So that's what we're doing now.

They have a couple more trees to look out for, but we're playing those clubs into these holes now. No. 4, Gary was saying that he was playing a lot with Jack, who was the No. 1 player back then, same as Tiger now with us and Jack was hitting 3 irons back then. I'm sure you're going to see Tiger is only hitting 3 iron at 4. That's basically their plan is to bring back the course where they used to play the shots into the greens back then.

 And...

Q. Do you think the fact that they have lengthened the course has reduced the number of people that can win here?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, it's a tough one. You know, I think with technology, I've got a 5 wood out this week, I can hit that club 245 and hit it quite high. So I can stop it on the greens from that distance.

I think a lot of guys have got those kind of clubs, 7 woods, and all kind of different stuff. I think technology will help a lot of players like myself. It's difficult to say. As I say, we haven't really played Augusta the last five, six years in very firm, fast conditions. We haven't played a new course, so to speak in firm, fast conditions.

I think the players are so good, there's going to be a mix of players in there.

Comments

[St. Pete]

I'm still trying to get the hang of this Geoff.

He must have had some of those branding sessions with the LPGA Life Coach. Now he's a product, and can't speak for himself, like he did a few years ago.

ERNIE ELS - In the February, 2003 Golf World: "I am not totally against technology but they do have to put a governor on the golf ball ... perhaps even the administrators should just consider bringing back wooden-headed clubs."

Wally and Titleist would go nuts.

[Smolmania]

Does anyone truly think that bringing back wooden heads would have any impact on this whole subject? Even my old Macgregor MTs had a hard (looks to be some kind of plastic) insert. If, and that's obviously a big if, I could swing those things at 120 mph, I could compress the core of my Pro V, and the wooden head's composition would be irrelevant.

The point is, Ernie was correct 3 years ago when he talked about the ball. Time to stop the talk?

[Sean Murphy]

The players on the PGA Tour need to take a stand, these conversations are meaningless. Smols, your right, aluminum bats should have never been allowed in the first place. If you guys remember, Arnie and Calloway had the R&A convinced it was a good idea, and it was the USGA that was reluctant.

The irony is that the courses in the Open rotation are basically obsolete as Jack Nicklaus has pointed out about Carnoustie. The "only" thing defending them are the "redicilous" course set up's, where we are never going to witness a driver being pulled ever again. Those courses do not have the luxury of buying up all the existing neighberhoods. Maybe the R&A could start the return to common sense, by reversing itself on spring like effects being built into the club face, by simply adopting its first founded position on clubface carateristics. It would be nice to see Arnie come out and agree with this situation. After all, Arnie helped generate this fiasco.

[J.P.]

It's a strategy by Hootie and Jack, they have spent millions on AGNG in order to prove a point. We can stretch out the golf course, where only 10 players have any real odds of winning this thing, to prove our point to the manufacturers, that people don't want to watch 10 players being the only ones with any real chance to win. Time to flip it over to NASCAR, where cars are set up with parity, and we get to witness the real drivers winning.

As Jack has said, he was the longest, but was only about 20 yards in front of the average length players. Average length players today are about 55 yards behind, and when you put that into a two club context into par 4's and par 5's it isn't hard to figure out who has the best opportunities to win. Not only are average length players 55 yards behind but their now required to compete with players where there is a 4 and 5 club difference into the green for regulation.

Does anyone here think Jack was happy with his 20 yard gap over average length players? Now we all know why Ernie, Tiger, Vijay, and Phil like things just the way they are now. They are enjoying a 55 yard gap, and are using 4 to 5 clubs less for hitting greens in regulation.

This is ruining golf from every standpoint.

[Smolmania]

Sean,
You may well be correct about the clubfaces, but it's got to be a whole lot easier to rein in the core speed of the ball than it will to make illegal an entire generation of thin-faced drivers. I can get a dozen balls for $35, but a new driver's going to cost me $300. . .

And JP, I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but I don't believe that that the record will justify your assessment that Tiger and Ernie have expressed "enjoyment" over the distance the modern ball will travel. Especially Mr. Woods, who didn't convert to the oversize heads and graphite shafts until it became apparent that he was giving up too much distance to the floggers of the world. From where I sit, he does it because he has to, not because he wants to -- he'd still be number 1 in the world with featheries, because he's the most talented, not because he swings it at 120+ mph.

[Sean Murphy]

Smols,
It most assuredly is easier to rein in the core of the golf ball, but the manufacturers are going to cry foul all the way to the Supreme Court. Ok, no problem there, the USGA and R&A could come back and say we are reversing our position on spring like effects after the trial period that we agreed apon (meaning the R&A-USGA). Of course you and I know there was no trial period. But, those claims can be validated by the fact that they did have a rule clearly stating "no spring like effects". That ends the trampoline era, and they would have to go back to putting all of the "spring" in the golf balls compression all over again. How do you like that for an angle Smols?