Rick Smith's Tragically Inconsistent Views On Technology

Speaking in his native Michigan and contradicting himself sentence by sentence, pro-technology instructor and course designer Rick Smith is all over the map.

Brian VanOchten reports:

“I love new technology,” Smith said. “So the ball is hot.

That's right, so what if it's juiced!

You look at the PGA Tour pros and they still hit it all over the place.

Oh, well, if you want to put it like that, okay...

I think we need to preserve tradition, and I think the driver and ball are maxed out (per USGA limits).

So if it's maxed out, then why not reel things in a tad for "tradition" purposes of using classic courses and having players play a game we can relate to?

So if technology helps people play the game, I don't see anything wrong with that.”

Now that is some good stuff! It helps people. The pros hit it all over the place. The ball is hot. We should preserve tradition and the distance is maxed out. Now that's "all over the place."

Acushnet Updates Its "Distance RIP" Ball Patent...Again

Courtesy of ESPN Golf's Twitter account, a page of links to the latest golf ball patent requests includes the latest update to the "high performance golf ball with "reduced-distance" characteristics, a.k.a. the Distance R.I.P. ball.

Good to know they haven't given up on it!

High performance golf ball having a reduced-distance Michael J. Sullivan, Barrington, R.I. (US); and Steven Aoyama, Marion, Mass. (US) Assigned to Acushnet Company, Fairhaven, Mass. (US) Filed on Apr. 07, 2011, as Appl. No. 13/81,714.

Langer: It's The Ball!

Someone (not me!) teed Bernhard Langer up for a technology discussion at the Toshiba Classic and the normally controversy-resistant dared to suggest the ball has the biggest influence on the distance explosion of late.

BERNHARD LANGER: I am definitely surprised. I watch it on TV and know some of these courses. And, you know, was it Bradley last week at the 8th hole into the wind at Doral, he had like 251 into the wind, and he hit a 3 wood and flew it over the green. So he flew it 260 into the wind, so he carried it probably 275 or 280, if there had been no wind, with a 3 wood. That's just unheard of. Or used to be. But it's a common thing nowadays.

I think what happened is when we switched from the balata round ball to the two or three piece balls, whatever they are now. If you swing the club 10 miles faster than the other guy, you used to get about 10 yards for every mile about a yard.

Now if you swing it 10 miles faster, you get about 20 to 25. So you get a lot more out of the equipment than we used to.

So the guys who swing it faster or harder have, you know, even more of an advantage and that's where these tremendous distances come from.

He went on to mention better athletes too. But coming from a guy who looks just like he did 20 years ago and who clearly takes care of himself, I'm thinking he places athleticism a distant second to advancing technology. Just a guess.