If Deane Beman Was Commissioner (Again) For A Day: Equipment Regulation!**

Thanks to reader Ken for sharing the sequence from today's Morning Drive where Deane Beman and Adam Schupak were plugging their new (and of the many parts I've read, excellent) book. Co-host Tony Erik Kuselias asked:

"Tomorrow you get to be commissioner again and you are complete czar and you can do whatever you want and everybody will agree, what's the ONE thing you'd like to see get done that has not been done right now."

Beman's reply?

"My greatest regret is that I was not able to influence the direction of technology in golf. I think it has had a dramatic effect on how the game is played, on the cost of golf being played today. There's m-billions (Couldn't tell if it was M or B) of dollars that have been put into golf courses to try to accomodate the best players in the world. and it's not just tour courses, it's every course around the country. Just in case Tiger Woods happens to come and play your course and you don't want him to shoot 60.
 
"Everybody has increased the speed of their greens to levels that the average player can't handle. The cost of maintenance of golf courses has risen, therefore the cost of memberships, the cost of green fees have gone up. All to, in my opinion, the detriment of golf."

At this point co-host Gary Williams saw his rally kill light go on and jumped in to protect the best interests of baseball by asking him about appearance fees!

Update on 2011-04-29 19:51 by Geoff

**You can listen to the interview here.

St. Andrews Golf Club To Admit Women

The Guardian's Severin Carrell reports on the big change for St. Andrews. Naturally, despite the story describing the St. Andrews clubhouse, they ran a photo of...you guessed it...the R&A clubhouse, which is definitely not the St. Andrews Golf Club.

The committee at the St Andrews Golf Club, which is run from a handsome Victorian mansion overlooking the greens and fairways of the fabled Old Course, has written to its 2,000 male members recommending that it admit women to the club. The club, founded in 1843, has warned its members that under the new Equality Act, the club could face prosecution for failing to allow women to join. Keeping the ban would be a "retrograde step" as it would mean women would also have to be barred from its clubhouse as guests.

Its past club captains and trustees had decided that allowing all members, regardless of their gender, to have full access to all its bars and facilities would be "the best way, in their opinion, of safeguarding the long-term wellbeing of St Andrews Golf Club", the members were told.

Down boy, down boy. Contain your enthusiam!

"Why, one wonders, is there any need to lengthen a course the world's best found more than challenging at a time when the technological issue is apparently done and dusted?"

John Huggan looks at R&A Secretary Peter Dawson's various contradictory statements and actions on the distance issue in an excellent reminder of where the governing bodies say the game is and where we actually stand. The List also gets a mention!

"Driving distance is not increasing and we take that very much into account in course set-up and course alterations," said Dawson. "We do think we have this issue (distance) surrounded."

At first glance, Dawson is right. A quick look at driving distance statistics shows that, in 2005, the longest driver on America's PGA Tour was Australian Scott Hend with an average knock of 318.9 yards. Last year, Robert Garrigus of the US was longest, on 315.5 yards. Hang on though. A closer inspection of the numbers is less reassuring. If we go back to 2002 (when former Open champion John Daly was the biggest hitter on 306.8 yards) only one player, Daly, averaged over 300 yards from the tee and a mere 18 averaged over 290 yards. Three years later, 26 players were routinely over 300 yards and 86 averaged 290 yards or more. And last year, Garrigus was one of a dozen over 300 yards, with 73 averaging more than 290 (the slight drop can be attributed to course set-up "tricks" such as mowing the fairway grass towards the tee rather than the green).

"And so the whole damn game, people are saying let me out of here. They can't afford it. Instead of staying where we were and just slow the ball down."

I didn't see much coverage of Gary Player's Masters presser last night and only today after a couple of emails and reading Bob Carney's post did I realize why: he sounded alarms no one wants to hear!

And then you saw our era come along and then you saw this era came along and you'll see new era come along, and I've said this on British television on BBC about eight years ago: It's just a matter of time before players hit the ball 400 yards. And this good player and a good announcer said to me, absolute nonsense.
They are hitting the ball 400 yards now, never mind 30 years' time.

And so what we are going to see, we have not scratched the surface of golf yet. We are in our infancy. Unless we slow the ball down, you cannot put the tees back in the streets anymore, gentlemen and ladies.

You can just feel the Twitterers shifting in their seats! Go on...

They have got to their limit now so the next thing is you have to slow the ball down because the golf courses are going to be completely outdated which is happening now. Golf is suffering terribly. You see golf courses just weeds now closing down. You can buy golf courses for a dollar now because it's the maintenance of the golf course. Because they have seen what is happening: These pros hitting a driver and 6-iron to a par 5 so from Timbuktu to Tokyo to China to here, everyone is lengthening golf courses. And the members hate it; and greens are undulating and the members hate it; and the fees are going up and oil is getting more expensive and we are running out of water (laughter)

Just a note from watching the video: that (laughter) was not from Player, who was entirely serious, but from a few in the room. Nice touch lads. Keep laughing.

and so the whole damn game, people are saying let me out of here. They can't afford it. Instead of staying where we were and just slow the ball down. Not for the amateur. We must have technology for the amateur golfer who is the heart of the game.

The pro is a mere tiny part of the game. And this is going to happen; I can promise you, it is going to happen in time because hundreds of millions of dollars are being wasted on unnecessary programs.

I know this is a hard one for people to deal with. Yes, courses everywhere, whether they need to or not, are adding length to accomodate a few players. It's going to happen. And that length, means more cost, more maintenance, and there is also a safety component that has changed.

Now, if you do as Player says and change the ball for competition, this comes to an end, and courses might even get a little shorter (doubtful, but possible). And manufacturers still get to sell clubs, golfers still buy golf balls and the game goes on its very way!