Chris Kirk: “The driver and the ball don't go any further than they did eight years ago."

Rex Hoggard on Chris Kirk's post-67 comments about "everyone missing" how the manufacturers have not made better equipment, it's just fitting and, sigh, better athletes who are propelling distance increases (including a major spike this year.)

From GolfChannel.com:

“The driver and the ball don't go any further than they did eight years ago. That's the thing that everybody is missing,” said Kirk, who opened with a 67 for a share of the early lead at the Dell Technologies Championship. “Guys are making it go further. People wanting to change the rule and change the ball and change the stuff, it doesn't matter.”

And there's why we don't consider PGA Tour pros as futurists.

DJ Tests Jack's 1-Iron And Persimmon Driver, Early Reports Suggest He Survives The Experience

We don't have all of the Trackman numbers, but with Jack Nicklaus' old 1-iron and driver it's said Dustin Johnson hit the ball 232 yards and 290 yards, respectively. 

Even better he survived the experience of hitting those non-game-growing, too-hard-to-hit clubs that somehow did not kill the game. Worse, it grew when people hit the ball shorter! Perish the thought!

Cool experience today at Bears Club. @jacknicklaus and @garyplayer wanted to see @DJohnsonPGA hit Jack’s old 1 iron and Persimmon driver. pic.twitter.com/eX0joF4AgQ

— Dustin Johnson Golf School (@DJGolfSchool) August 29, 2018

Distance Insights Project Goes Global To Confirm Good Players Are Driving The Ball Longer Than Ever

And now, a survey...

The USGA and The R&A to Engage Global Golf Community in Distance Insights Project

Sports Marketing Surveys Inc. appointed to conduct research to secure feedback
and perspectives this fall

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. AND ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (Aug. 14, 2018) - In an effort to thoroughly inform the Distance Insights project through the lens of the global golf community, the USGA and The R&A will engage with golfers and a wide range of golf’s stakeholders to gather perspectives on the potential causes and impacts of increased distance, beginning in September. 

The Distance Insights project began in May as part of the governing bodies’ overall efforts to ensure the long-term sustainability of the sport. Primary and third-party research is currently being conducted to review historical data and ascertain the past, present and future implications of increased distance on how the game is played. 

In this latest phase of the Distance Insights project, research will be conducted with a series of golfers and stakeholder groups worldwide, banded into 12 general categories. Each group will be asked a series of universal questions to elicit broad perceptions of distance in golf, as well as group-specific questions relating to their area of expertise. The findings of the global perspectives research are expected to be a vital component of the full Distance Insights report, scheduled to be released in 2019.

Sports Marketing Surveys, Inc., an independent and international full-service sports research consultancy, has been selected through a global RFP process to provide multi-layered research and insight expertise for this phase of the project. 

Stakeholder categories are as follows:

• Championship committees

• Course Facility professionals/managers

• Facility maintenance providers, including superintendents/greenkeepers

• Golf administrative organizations

• Golf course architects/construction professionals

• Golf equipment retailers

• Golf equipment manufacturers

• Golf professionals/teachers

• Golfers

• Media

• Non-golf stakeholders

• Tournament golf spectators  

The SMS Inc. research will be conducted throughout the world and in several languages, including Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish, and involving golfers and those working in the industry in both established and emerging golf communities.

The work will principally focus on gaining an understanding from various stakeholder groups into how distance in golf has impacted them over their full golf experience, if at all, and its projected impact into the future. It will include analysis of feedback received to date from the global golf community, following the project’s initiation earlier this year. 

Information on the Distance Insights project, including frequently asked questions, historical data and general terms and conditions for submitting data, can be found at usga.org/distanceinsights or randa.org/distanceinsights. 

WSJ On The Year Of The Golf (Equipment) Free Agency

This is a nice big picture consideration by Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal following up on post-Nike trend of players playing mixed bags either by force due to the Swoosh's equipment business demise, or going that route as club companies devote more resources to stars. (Thanks reader John). 

My ShackHouse colleague Joe House has noted on the show how the first three major winners this year are playing a mixture of clubs in looking for a wagering angle headed here to Bellerive, something Costa looks into and considers whether it's a trend. With purses rising and checks from companies flatlining or shrinking, the answer appears to be yes.

The math has also changed. Purse money continues to hit record highs each year, extending a boom that dates to the debut of Tiger Woods and survived his absence in recent years. At the same time, the market for equipment deals has cooled.

Agents and officials from the manufacturers say that a handful of star players—think Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson —still earn several million dollars annually on such deals. But the offers for most other players have dropped substantially. A midlevel Tour player who made $500,000 a decade ago might make $250,000 now.

Firestone Once Again Feels The Impact Of Medicine Ball Work In Staggering (Statistical) Fashion

The golf at Firestone is not everyone's cup of tea but when you put wedge approaches into the 2018 PGA Tour player's hand all day, Robert Trent Jones' design becomes less compelling. However in his defense, as you'll note in today's top website quote from Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear found the course dull even when hitting woods and long irons into the greens.

Either way, the driving distances at the final WGC Bridgestone were even more staggering than the normally huge numbers posted there annually. Driven solely by incorporation of medicine balls that have built super-cores like the game has never seen before these tall...well some of them...strapping...some of them...super jocks hit the ball unthinkable distances at the 2018 WGC Bridgestone, averaging 318.3 yards off the tee as a field. 

Momentary pause to let that sink in.

Try designing interesting golf holes for 318 yard averages on less than 250 acres. 

At the final Bridgestone, Brooks Koepka and his guns averaged 341.3 on the two driving holes, and tied with Rory McIlroy to lead the field with a 328.9 yard average on ALL drives.  Branden Grace was 20th in distance, averaging 326.9. Here is the list of the measuring hole leaders:

Justin Thomas used his power to great advantage and should be celebrated for his effort. With a 329.3 distance average on the measuring holes, he carved up Firestone when he had wedge into the greens. From the good folks at ShotLink:

On a course once considered boring by Jack Nicklaus because it was all woods and long iron approaches, Thomas had 32 approach shots insider 150 yards and only 13 outside 200. 

Where does this leave us on the season?

There has been a spike in distance seen all year and that's relevant if you take the USGA and R&A at their word that action would be necessary with any significant increase, regardless of the reason. 

The 2018 PGA Tour driving distance average after Firestone is 295.8 yards. If the boys will just do a little more gym work over the final weeks, we can get a four-yard increase over 2016-17's 292.5. 

The distance average was 291.3 after the same tournament last year so I like our chances!  (The tour average was 288.7 through the 2016 WGC Bridgestone.)

Five players in 2017 averaged over 310 yards off the tee, that number is at 15 this year. 

In 2018, 67 players are averaging over 300 yards off the tee, versus 38 last year.

Of course, the PGA Tour took the position that none of this was significant last year. Will they do so again in 2018?

U.S. Open V. The Open: Green Speeds Make The Difference

After playing his first Open, Luke List is wishing the USGA mimic the R&A in setup philosophy, reports Tony Jimenez for Reuters.

A similar refrain was repeated many times by players, observers and fans who enjoyed the tough-but-fair and noticeably faster golf, though as I note in this assessment of Carnoustie for Golfweek, the issue is layered but also incredibly simple: green speeds made the difference between complimenting Carnoustie's architecture, and ruining it.

Pace of play was noticeably better and as a "product," The Open proved infinitely more pleasurable to watching without having to spend so much time watching players grind over short putts for four days.

While professional golfers are praising the R&A coming off the U.S. Open setup issues, there were more than a handful of silly hole locations saved only by green speeds in the high 9s when leaders reached them.  Had the USGA slowed greens at Shinnecock down to the high 9's, there would have been softer and bumpier conditions that today's spoiled-by-bent-grass players would loathe. But on a seaside links with a blend of poa, fescue and bent, with a links mindset, the players are more accepting of a bumpiness.

And really, the ball goes too far.

On another day we can continue to lament how much course setup manipulation must take place to mask regulatory mistakes and debate how vital it is for golf to slow greens down.

In the meantime, I'd prefer to celebrate a magnificent week at Carnoustie made special by Mother Nature baking out an outstanding course. As I note in the Golfweek piece, Carnoustie has had a troubled relationship with the rota at times, but brilliant maintenance management by Craig Boath's team, mostly great work by the R&A and a hot, dry summer allowed the links to remind people of its great strategic character.

Hmmmm: R&A Conducts Surprise, Random(?) Driver Test

Thirty players were greeted with letters from the R&A ordering them to offer up their drivers for a COR test. It's not clear if the tests were random or if the players were specially chosen by their manufacturer affiliation or driving distance average.

Welcome to Scotland!

Tim Rosaforte reports for Golf Channel on what appears to be a step-up in the effort to ensure there are conforming drivers in this week's Open Championship. 

Keegan Bradley, Brendan Steele and Brooks Koepka all confirmed that their drivers all passed the COR test (coefficient of restitution, or spring-like effect) administered by the R&A.

This was the first time the R&A took measures that were not part of the distance insight project being done in conjunction with the USGA.

There are two ways of looking at this. 

The sunny side up take would believe this is just part of normal monitoring and amidst some rumblings that this year's distance increase could be fueled by hot drivers.

The cynical take says this is the act of a desperate governing body looking for something to blame this year's increases on, instead of simply anticipating that a combination of technology, athleticism, fitting and a generation of players reared on modern clubs have passed the testing procedures by. AKA, anything not to do something about the Joint Statement of Principles.

295's Within Reach! Huge Spike In Driving Distance Enters The Monster-Drive Season

As we head into the warm weather months and silly-long drives, the 2018 spike has a chance to spill well over the 295-yard driving distance average mark on the PGA Tour. 

Of course, this is noteworthy since the governing bodies said way back in the early years of the George W. Bush administration that they were drawing the line and have maintained little has changed. And while we know that the addition of extra fiber in diets, more widespread implementation of mindfulness and of course, drinking cold brew coffee, have driven this year's spike, the Statement of Principles said the reasoning would not matter in a decision to take action.

PGA Tour driving distance average through the Travelers:

2018: 294.7

2017: 289.3

2016: 288.2

2015: 288.1

2014: 287.8

2013: 286.4

2012 287.1

2011: 288.0

Through Colonial: PGA Tour's Driving Distance Average At 294.8 And Where That Number Ranks Historically

We all can see where players are hitting the ball and why--bicep curls!--so it's always fun to see where today's linebackers rank with the engineers of the past. If nothing else, the stunning increase this year theoretically means the governing bodies will have to act based on past commitments.  Theoretically.

Note the PGA Tour driving distance average through the Colonial this year versus past years if you are looking for perspective on the influence of pilates, core work and lean protein diets.

Year       Tour Average At Colonial Time

2018       294.8

2017       289.2

2016       288.1

2008      283.2

1998       269.0

So we're up five yards from where we were last year at this time, a year the USGA and R&A said showed the first spike in some time. Maybe all of the mowers on the PGA Tour have been sharpened? Lowered? Infused with special oils to make the ball run more?

Oh, and traditionally the average goes up as the weather gets warmer. 

Bomb And Gouge Is Back And Stats Support The Tactic

Thanks to reader JB for the Brian Costa's WSJ look at our old pal Bomb and Gouge, the method of attacking a golf course with all power, accuracy be damned. 

Talk of playing golf that way had subsided in recent years after the craze began a decade ago, but as we've seen in subtle ways and in blatant ones, the practice is validated by stats. 

“It’s still easier to hit from the fairway than it is to hit out of the rough,” said Tony Finau, who is driving the ball 317 yards while hitting just 52% of fairways. “But I would rather hit a pitching wedge out of the rough than a 6-iron from the fairway.”

Mark Broadie, a Columbia University business professor who pioneered modern statistical analysis in golf, said it’s not as if today’s bombers are wild. More power simply makes misses look bigger, he said, and his analysis has proven the added yardage to be more valuable than the accuracy lost. “Players are intuitively optimizing their score by making good tradeoffs there,” Broadie said.

Intuitively optimizing!

Or, just overpowering courses thanks to their improved diets and astute use of medicine balls.

I Guess We Have To: Governing Bodies Launch "Multi-Pronged" Distance Insights Project

Here goes another year in the distance discussion, all because the two PGA's have decided they want to be in the rules business. I'm pretty sure we know what the input will look like ("Don't blame the ball! "-Wally, Fairhaven, MA). 

Anyway, if they must, but Senator you can have my answer now: do something.

The USGA and The R&A Launch Golf's Global Distance Insights Project

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. USA AND ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (May 15, 2018) - The United States Golf Association (USGA) and The R&A have launched a comprehensive project to analyze distance in golf and gather perspectives from the worldwide golf community.  

The Distance Insights project will examine distance through a multi-pronged approach that includes global stakeholder engagement, third-party data review and primary research. Focus groups and discussion forums will play an important role in the project, to secure a broad range of perspectives throughout golf.

Beginning today, anyone interested in the topic can provide feedback by visiting usga.org/distanceinsights or randa.org/distanceinsights or by emailing either association directly.

“The topic of increased distance and its effects on the game have been discussed for well over a century. We believe that now is the time to examine this topic through a very wide and long lens, knowing it is critical to the future of the game,” said Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA. “We look forward to delving deeply into this topic and learning more, led by doing right by golf, first and foremost.”

Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “Distance in golf is a complex issue which is widely debated at all levels of the sport. It is important that we collate all of the relevant data and hear the many different perspectives on this issue that exist in the international golf community. We intend to conduct this process openly, comprehensively and promptly and will work with all of the key stakeholders to ensure we have a fully rounded view of distance and its implications.”   

Stakeholder groups invited to participate in the project include amateur and professional golfers, worldwide professional golf tours, golf course owners and operators, golf equipment manufacturers, golf course architects, golf course superintendents and others. 

Among the many topics to be explored, the organizations will seek distance-related data on pace of play, golf course construction and maintenance practices, the evolution of equipment, golf course design and player enjoyment and participation.

The USGA and The R&A will engage various golf industry stakeholders through 2018, with plans to deliver a report in 2019.

Watch An Elite Golfer Demonstrate Role Of Athleticism In Distance Gains

For those insisting athletes and not engineers have done the heavy lifting over the last 20 years...

A Trackman comparison between a persimmon wood/balata ball and a modern driver/Pro V 😳🤔😜 pic.twitter.com/rOFU0rx3ZJ

— Jonathan Yarwood (@JonathanYarwood) May 7, 2018

Bob Ford On The Ball: "I would be very surprised if it doesn’t roll back."

Thanks to reader Chuck for spotting Robert Blumenthal's Golf Conversation with longtime Oakmont and Seminole professional Bob Ford, who covers a range of topics.

But given that he's been associated with two classic courses, the comments by Ford related to distance and the ball stand out.

GC: Speaking of Jack, Tiger has come out for scaling back the distance of the golf ball for the pros. The head of Bridgestone Golf said the same thing yesterday.

BF: For the elite game? I would tell you that in the last three months, I’ve never heard more comments about it and more people are getting on the bandwagon to do it. Mike Davis is a member here. He’s like, “My goal [by the end of] my career here is to get the ball rolled back.” So I would be very surprised if it doesn’t roll back.

So there's that. And more.

GC: Do you think anyone understands what “bifurcation” means?

(laughter)

BF: I hope so. It’s been a bad word. I don’t quite know how they’re gonna do it. You and I don’t want our ball to go shorter, we know that. Believe it or not, they have developed a golf ball that at our speed, it doesn’t change. At the speed of 108 or more miles an hour, it starts to go down.

I just want to see this supposed ball in action. In our lifetimes. Once.

Or, maybe roll them out at the Crump Cup or the Hugh Wilson or some other old school event and get some feedback? 

Nobilo: "The professional game has never been more divorced from the amateur game. I think that is extremely dangerous."

Frank Nobilo talks to Golf Australia's John Huggan about a range of topics, but his comments about fearing for the health of golf due to cost, length and a growing divide between professional and amateur games. He wants to slow down the ball.

That sense of connection is always mentioned by anti-bifurcation types looking to protect the golf ball, yet all playing the same ball the divide is growing. Nobilo sees and doesn't like the lost connection, which he even sees between the most recent generation of greats and today's major winners.

We have equipment that is really designed for the recreational player, but which produces unhealthy distance for the elite players. I remember playing in pro-ams and occasionally being out-driven by an amateur. Now that never happens. Now the pros hit their 5-irons past the amateur’s drives.

The professional game has never been more divorced from the amateur game. I think that is extremely dangerous. I’m not one for bifurcation though. One of the beauties of the game should be that everyone can play. But if we went to different equipment we would lose that. The game wouldn’t be what it is supposed to be.

As with most people, it all goes back to the Old Course...

When they started messing with the Old Course at St. Andrews and adding yardage, the R&A lost me. Can you imagine if the All England Club did that to Wimbledon and made the centre court smaller so that the game would be more difficult? In tennis they slowed the ball down. I think we need to do the same in golf.

I know many people do not place value on this, though it's never for a reason beyond personal financial gain:

I am amazed when I go to Wentworth now for the BMW PGA Championship. It isn’t the course I remember playing. So any comparison between now and then has been lost. Martin Kaymer, for example, should be able to compare himself with Bernhard Langer. But he can’t. He isn’t playing the same game or the same courses.

Arccos: Average Golfers Declining In Driving Distance

GolfDigest.com's Mike Stachura reports on Arccos data of more than 10 million drives suggesting that average golfers have seen flat or declining distances since 2015.

Stachura queries some industry types to understand why all of the Hot List winners might not be delivering distance. There is Nick Clearwater at Golftec, who naturally wants more people to get better fittings from places like...Golftec. But Clearwater also says this about lightweight clubs actually working against the average golfer:

“The average golfer uses too much spin loft with all of their clubs, so increases in tech still show minimal improvement in the quality of the shot,” he said. “The shots still start to the right, spin too much, and are mishit.

“There is not much equipment/ball can help with. Also, as much as clubhead tech has improved, shafts are getting lighter and longer from the OEMs and the consistency of the strike is compromised as a result.”

This regarding the disparity between pros and amateurs would be fun to contrast with twenty years ago:

The Arccos research also provided data on average 7-iron distance across age groups and handicaps. The overall 7-iron average was 143.3 yards, compared to 172 yards for a PGA Tour player as measured by Trackman. That data suggests average golfers are playing a dramatically different game than elite tour players. Combining the average golfer’s driver and 7-iron you get a 364-yard par 4. That might be 120 yards or more shorter than how a PGA Tour player might play a driver, 7-iron hole.

Having made the case that today's equipment rules are being circumvented by elite players via fitting, while making clear the data is pointing to little game improvement for average players, it's hardly a call to go out and shop. A good fitting yes, but shopping?

So long story short, average golfers might not be getting better, but they clearly have the potential.

Click on the following links to shop the latest drivers Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy.

It's not often you get hard data telling you what you've bought is failing you, followed by links to buy clubs. 

Ironically the piece is a fantastic case for bifurcation where equipment rules can be adjusted to help the average golfer, while making clear we need to tighten up a few loose bolts for the pros.