Phelps Goes Retro, Will A Golfer Be So Brave?

Amy Shipley reports that Michael Phelps decided to go retro early to prove his point that high-tech suits were helping swimmers and boy did he make the case.

He blamed Tuesday’s performance on not being sufficiently fit and failing to adapt to the increased number of turns in short-course meters (25-meter pools instead of 50), events in which he has rarely competed. Bowman acknowledged that Phelps’s choice of swimwear – he wore a textile, waist-to-knee “jammer” rather than a long, high-tech model that will be banned as of Jan. 1 – likely contributed, and U.S. officials who declined to be identified because they did not wish to appear to be poor sports said it was the suit choice, period, that slowed Phelps.

I wonder if we'll see anyone openly tout the use of new grooves during the Silly Season so that we can perhaps see some performance differences? I know Stephen Ames and some other Nike players made the switch a while ago, but it would be fun to know more specifically who is playing what.

And nice catch by Deadspin to get this photo of Phelps sporting facial hair and the new/old suit.

Comments

[thusgone]

i'm with phelps; technology needs to be rolled back. that's why i will no longer wear my lzr or jaked suits to play golf in. somebody had to take a stand.

[court]

I'm not sure I understand that paragraph. Phelps admits that he's not in shape and not used to making twice the number of turns - pretty honest. So what's the point of asking the officials ? They can't speak to his conditioning or turn training, but they do know the advantages of the suits they wear.

PGA Tour prediction - the guys who drop in earnings and rankings will blame the equipment. The guys who hold position or gain will say they worked hard and made the necessary adjustments....and Tiger will still be winning tournament after tournament.

[E.P. Richardson]

It's going to be difficult to see the effect of the new grooves, I think. I read something in another blog quoting some PGA Tour players as saying that the effect of the new grooves will be dramatic, while others - tour players - are saying there is very little performance difference. Scoring, and even the results of individual shots, depend on so much more than just something like the grooves, I'm not sure how much difference we'll see. In contrast, changing the suit in swimming has a dramatic effect, because there is little else that varies in the environment: water is water, a pool is a pool, and if you change your "skin" you are changing 99% of what is "changeable." Not so with grooves. 2010 will be an interesting season.