Equipment Rules: Totally Optional

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Rick Arnett on SI.com:

...I'm displaying my birthday golf wish for all to see --especially to those conservative officials at the USGA and Royal & Ancient who rule over how the game is played.

My desire is for the official honchos to forgo all equipment limitations. No size regulations on drivers or groove depth of irons or ball-distance confines next year. No restrictions on shoe spike patterns, rangefinder use, grip or special alignment considerations. Let the golf equipment designers go nuts and think way outside the box.

Hate to be the bearer of tedious tidings here, but the golf equipment manufacturers may do whatever they want.

Following the equipment rules of the USGA and R&A is completely, 100% optional.   They are free to sell as many "non-conforming" clubs and balls as they'd like.

No one in Far Hills or St. Andrews is stopping them from doing that.

Elling on Thomas Study

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Steve Elling talks to Frank Thomas about his recent study and also offers a sidebar of Thomas's ways to grow the game. Plenty of great ideas and a wonderful message. 

But it's hard to understand how he can lament the commercialization of the sport while also suggesting that the answer to increased distance is in restricting course setup or lowering the 14-club limit, not through sound rulesmaking.
 
"We've completely lost touch with why we play the game," Thomas said.

Other highlights from Elling's story:

The survey revealed nothing that will shock the cropped socks off most golfers but bolstered every theoretical notion about the drain of players from the game. Most golfers play from the wrong tees, vastly overestimate how far they can hit the ball and spend five hours enduring their masochism. Then they go home and put the clubs away for a month.

Thomas' fundamental fix will cause golf developers and course owners to recoil. Simply put, he wants to build or modify existing courses to more capably -- if not forcibly -- suit the everyman, not the .55 percent of the population that are scratch golfers.

He mentioned to designer Jack Nicklaus at the Father/Son Challenge last month that he'd like to see more courses built at a maximum of 6,500 yards in length, not the 7,500-yard monsters carved for tour-quality players. That way, John Q. Publinks would have more fun and play from more reasonable tees, likely at a lower cost.

It's insanely logical, to coin a phrase.

"He laughed and said, 'Frank, if I built a 6,200-yard course, I wouldn't have any more clients,' " Thomas said.

And...

As it stands, new courses have turned into a veritable arms race, with designers and builders often trying to out-glitz the next guy. The average player needs the opportunity to roll the ball onto the green and should not be asked to execute a 5-iron to an elevated green over a yawning bunker complex into a stiff headwind.

"We've got to turn this corner because commercialism has taken a severe toll on the game," he said.

The results of Thomas' survey are posted at franklygolf.com, with honest suggestions and his analysis of current trends set to be unveiled over the coming months.

"The object is to get people to enjoy the game more," he said. "The work we're doing, we hope to accomplish that."

He's just getting warmed up. Given his old pedigree as the USGA's equipment gatekeeper -- no legal balls or clubs reached the market without his department's say-so -- he's been mulling the hot-button technology issues of the day, too. You think his course-design ideas sound like heresy?

"I am going to propose that tour players compete with only 10 clubs," he said.

Kostis: Tiger, Please Talk To Me

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Okay he didn't write that, but Peter Kostis' subliminal attempt to reach out to good ole buddy Tiger contains just the kind of raw emotional soul-bearing that will keep Kleenex in business (and maybe cost Mike Hulbert a job...if Tiger were to be as moved as I was).

Well it wasn't that moving. And Kostis won't win the GS.com promised award to the first golf writer daring thinking to suggest that the new TV deal was a wake-up call about the "product." However, he gets a big honorable mention for a noble suggestion (and I just know Peter'll be adding it to his resume!).

But first the subliminal message to Tiger:

If the tour and television truly are partners, then the players have to do their part. Tim Finchem evoked the success of NASCAR in creating the FedEx Cup points race, which begins in 2007. But the success of NASCAR isn't only derived from a season-ending points race. It's also from drivers willing to share comments with television viewers while in the final stages of strapping themselves into their seats and risking life and limb at over 200 mph. Most tour players, however, are reluctant to talk to television hours before they play or warm up because it might ruin their mental state! It only takes a matter of seconds to lend some insight, so no more of this "I'm too busy to talk" stuff on the range.

Paging Dr. Freud? Dr. Freud to the CBS compound please.

And here's where Kostis takes himself out of the equation and makes a great point:

Variety is a good thing, whether it's in the form of fast, firm greens, slow, soft greens, long rough, or hardly any rough at all. This would also allow us to return to a time when practice rounds at courses meant something, because you learned about the individual characteristics that made that week's venue different from last week's.

Easy there Peter. If they play more practice rounds, and that means less time on the lesson tee with you! 

The point of these suggestions is not to look back on the way things have been done with a hypercritical eye. It's to point out that golf is an exciting sport for television spectators, and can be made even more so with a few alterations.

Right, it's all good. Oh, but you better take a hard look at the product Mr. Commissioner. 

Kratzert: Losing ESPN Was A Step Backward

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Garry Smits talks to Bill Kratzert about the new TV deal and as expected, the reality is setting in: "Losing ESPN was a step backward," he said. And...

"You can say what you want about ESPN, but when guys travel, and get to the hotel room, or when they go into a bar, ESPN is on," Kratzert said. "They've got almost everything now -- Monday Night Football, college football and basketball, the NBA, Major League Baseball -- and golf was right there."
But Kratzert did agree with the Tour's stance on what was obviously the deal killer, and understandably so: 

Several published reports since the Tour's contract was announced said one stumbling block was that ESPN was demanding the best players in events it covered be given afternoon starting times in each of the first and second rounds. The Tour balked, according to the reports, because it would be a competitive disadvantage for those players to get late starting times two days in a row. By starting in the afternoon both days, they would likely get more mercurial weather conditions (such as the afternoon sea breeze in Ponte Vedra Beach for The Players Championship) and greens spiked up.

"I had heard that," Kratzert said. "If that's the case, it was the right thing to do for the Tour to tell ESPN they couldn't have their way. I understand a network wanting to showcase the top players. But you can't penalize those players by making them putt on spiky greens and windy weather both days."

USGA Private Air Travel, Vol. 2

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In the original post on the USGA Executive Committee's need for private aircraft travel, the cost was considered using the NetJets model. But now that it has been confirmed that the USGA contracted 50 hours of flight time with Citation Shares' Jet Card program over an 18-month period and another 50 hours has been purchased, the minimum cost can be considered.

Though the USGA will not confirm the cost of the jet card program nor the specific trips taken, according to this March, 2004 U.S. News and World Report story, Citation Shares (then) cost $84,995 for 25 hours on a five- passenger Citation CJ1. This October, 2003 Wall Street Journal story put the price for 25-hour cards at somewhere between $85,000 and $145,000.

So assuming the absolute smallest plane and not factoring in a likely increase since due to rising fuel costs, the program has cost at least $340,000. 

Some would say that's just a couple of corporate tents at the U.S. Open, big deal. Perhaps, but if the trips are all USGA related and approved by the Audit Committee, then why can't this 501(c)(3) share the details? 

Lanny On Young Players

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Bill Nichols in the Dallas Morning News talks to Lanny Wadkins about the next generation of 20-somethings. He echoes what many have noticed about Tuesdays at a PGA Tour event: European and Australians out playing money games, Americans beating balls.

"They all look like worldbeaters, but when they go on the golf course, they have that same practice-tee mentality," said CBS golf analyst Lanny Wadkins of Dallas, winner of 21 PGA Tour events.

And...

Wadkins theorizes that many current prospects are suffering paralysis by analysis. Armed with space-age technology, some young players spend too much time breaking down videos and too little time playing. He doesn't discount the competitive edge he developed playing for lunch money at Wake Forest.

"If I beat my buddies in school out of six bucks, that meant I got an extra meal at McDonald's or Itty Bitty Chicken," Wadkins said. "We learned on the golf course how to hit shots, make things happen, play with imagination, curve the ball. These kids today go stand on the practice range and hit 7-iron after 7-iron. I don't think it's enabling them to learn the game that it takes to win." 

Golf.Curling?

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p025.jpgThanks to reader Steve for this see-if-you-can-not-roll-your-eyes press release.

DENVER -- When the USGA changed Rule 16-1a(i), it meant a sweeping change for PUTT PAL USA - literally.
PUTT PAL™ and POCKET PAL™ are the only greens brushes permitted by the USGA and the R & A. The PUTT PAL is available in two models. The first can be clipped onto the bag for easy access and is a retractable brush in a tube.

The second is the POCKET PAL. It is a slim, retractable brush, shaped like a deck of cards that can be easily carried in the pants pocket. The PUTT PAL and the POCKET PAL weigh only 2 ounces each.

The third in the threesome is the PUTT PAL Shaft version. This is a PUTT PAL brush attached to the end of a True Temper shaft with a Golf Pride grip on the other end. It eliminates having to bend down to sweep loose impediments from the green surface and will be available in the Spring.

True Temper shaft? How 20th century. Where's the Fujikura? 

"With the new rule change, we have three products that make perfect sense for the golfer," said PUTT PAL USA CEO and founder Steve Wicklas. "It not only sweeps away loose impediments, it does it quickly. Before the rule change, golfers had to remove loose impediments by hand which was a time taking chore. Now, the golfer can sweep them away in short order without affecting the pace of play."

Thrown in a distance measuring device, and I tell you, they're going to have this slow play thing licked.

PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch, Vol. 3

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150px-PGATOURLogo.pngThe PGA Tour average drive dropped nearly a yard to 288.4 after the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, played at the gorgeous Classic Club (and elsewhere).

Tiger and John Daly haven't even teed it up, and yet there were 63 more 350 yard (or greater), bringing the tally to 456 through three events.

There were 2059 drives over 350 in all of 2005.

There was some good news for those hoping the distance issue goes away: no 400 yarders last week. 

And if you are wondering why these growing numbers are followed, a full explanation is available here.

"Golf tourney gets help from Tiger's agent"

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Thanks to reader Jay for the heads up on this Justin Catanoso story from The Business Journal, dated January 13th (hey, no one ever said blogging had to be timely):

For a while last year, the future of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro was bleak, at best. Golf's biggest stars avoid it. TV ratings aren't great. And even with vast improvements, the course and setting, fairly or not, are often criticized as less-than-optimal.

But PGA officials have been giving Greensboro a serious second look. They've been impressed with a newly constituted board of directors made up of the city's most affluent and influential corporate leaders, from VF Corp., United Guaranty and Jefferson-Pilot, among others.

And those leaders have pulled a coup of sorts, leveraging the clout of one of the most influential people in professional golf to lobby on their behalf -- Mark Steinberg, a top executive with sports-consultant giant IMG. He is best known as Tiger Woods' agent.

Since last summer, beginning at the British Open, Steinberg has been talking up Greensboro and the seriousness of its new board to top PGA Tour officials. Not surprisingly, they've listened.

"We hired Mark Steinberg," says one board member of the four-month-old Greensboro Jaycees Charitable Foundation, which now controls the Chrysler Classic, "because he has a special relationship with the PGA. He has access; he gets in front of the right folks."

You may recall that after the FedEx Cup was announced, John Hawkins revealed (and it was posted here) that Steinberg was also a consultant of sorts to Tim Finchem.

 "There are going to be two sides to this," said IMG's Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent and a key player in the shaping of the tour's revisions.

Leigh Steinberg, eat your heart out! 

The Bashers vs. The Artists

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SI's Chris Lewis takes on the Bubba Watson and his eye-opening drives, but instead of focusing on Bubba and what car he drives or what he thinks of yoga, Lewis actually explores the concept of how the game is played (really!). Even more scary? He considers the ramifications.

Lewis says the main 2006 PGA Tour plotline will be "the Bashers vs. the Artists."

Subtitle: In which the ever-growing ranks of PGA Tour dogleg-cutting, tree-flying, dimpled-ball bombardiers finally and forever vanquish the ever-shrinking number of short-hitting, fairway-dwelling, shot-shaping sissies.

Besides Bubba, he looks at other bashers and artists. And he explores why John Holmes changes his Tour name to J.B. 

Reporter: Why go from John B. [Holmes] at Q-school to J.B. [Holmes] here?

Holmes: You know the answer to that.

"Big-Hitting Rookies Are Blowing Game Apart"

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David Davies in the Telegraph writes about the "explosion" of "huge hitting" in golf, focusing on Bubba Watson's recent exploits. Lots of the numbers I've hit you over the head with here.

This was an interesting perspective:

Pat Ruddy, the eminent and amiable Irish golf course architect, is appalled by all this. "After these guys have driven the ball they have consumed over 70 per cent of the golf course. There's nothing left. The entire values of the game are being attacked by one club, the driver.

"What are we, as architects, to do? How about growing long grass from the green back towards the tee, so that they have to hit a wedge first and then a three-wood into the green? Or have 10-mile long courses?

"These tee shots have wiped out five or six clubs from the bag."

Bubba Watson won't care, of course, and neither will Jason Gore, but the rest of us should be mighty concerned about the threat to golf as we have known it.