R&A Chief: "You can do things with the ball. But it's the relationship between ball and club which is most important"

Mailonline’s John Greechan has posted a lengthy set of quotes from R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers reviewing the decision to cancel The Open Championship, normally played this week.

But it’s his comments on technology and skill that will get the most attention. While the headline writers love the Bryson DeChambeau remarks, Slumbers makes clear that when times improve the topic of distance will be revisited.

It’s the specifics on how they may act that advance the discussion more. While the specifics should not surprise anyone who reads the R&A and USGA Distance Insights report, the regulatory approach is now pretty clear.

”Once we feel that the industry is stable again, which isn't going to be tomorrow, because we don't know what's going to happen over autumn and winter, we will be coming back to that issue in great seriousness.

”It is too simple just to say change the ball. Way too simple. You can do things with the ball.
'But it's the relationship between ball and club which is most important, to me.

”The fundamental change in the golf ball since 1999-2000, with the introduction of ProV1 technology, is the ball spins less.

”And drivers have been designed so it spins even less, which makes it go further.”

Or, farther. Either way, it’s good to know the intent is to target both ball and clubface.

Shack Show: Bryson's Unsettling Style, The Need To Save Imaginative Golf

On the latest Shack Show I take a few unmistakable forces in golf convering this week to highlight the issues surrounding Bryson DeChambeau’s use of power and the dreary lack of imagination in presenting two tournaments at Muirfield Village. And producer Tim Parotchka, big fan of the distance game then joins me to discuss the joys of the power game (that he passed up watching).

The Apple Podcast link.

And the iHeart embed option below, or subscription page here:

The Amazing Numbers And Thorny Questions Prompted By Bryson's Distance-Fueled Rocket Mortgage Win

One of several CBS graphics highlighting DeChambeau’s dominant driving

The numbers are eye-popping and impressive. So is the dedication and precision displayed by Bryson DeChambeau in winning the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Not so great: his mood on Saturday and the resulting brand hit in whining about protecting his privacy.

He finishes a four-week run 67 under par and will leave the golf world debating about what we just saw.

A few stats of note:

• First player in the 16 years of ShotLink and “Strokes Gained” to lead a field in both driving and putting.

• Averaged 350.6 on the eight measuring holes, compared to a field average of 301.5.

• He averaged 329.8 on all drives at tree-lined Detroit Golf Club, compared to the field’s 297.6 average.

• DeChambeau reached 23-under-par to win by three strokes over Matthew Wolff, who started the day three ahead. Wolff hit five more fairways for the week, if that means anything (38/56 to Bryson’s 33/56).

• According to CBS’s Jim Nantz, DeChambeau’s drives Sunday ended up 423 yards longer than playing partner Troy Merritt’s. And 143 yards longer than Wolff’s tee shots on the non-par-3s.

There are, of course, issues that come with all of this madness. In no particular order:

• I get more questions asking if there is drug testing instead of equipment or COVID-19 testing.

• Half of most social media posts regarding DeChambeau descend into unfair character assassination about the naturalness of the weight and strength gain without any evidence this is something other than just hard work and an excessive diet.

• There are undoubtedly kids and parents watching and sending junior to the gym instead of our to play or practice golf. This has always been a risk of allowing golf to become a long drive contest, and now we have an extreme example to inspire a movement.

• Even with CBS having their best production yet, highlighted by some excellent storytelling around the DeChambeau dominance, the sight of driver-wedge golf and 8-irons into par-5s lacks any significant give-and-take between player and course. I’m not saying it’s boring, but there is less satisfaction in watching a course unable to call on a variety of skills.

The obvious question of such a dominant and shocking performance: where do we go from here on the distance debate?

Focusing on one player will only backfire for the governing bodies who have, for the moment, suspended the next steps of their Distance Insights Study and follow-up stages. The USGA and R&A will only take heat for singling him out, no matter how many unattractive episodes he has with people just doing their job.

So after rightfully praising DeChambeau for his work ethic and execution, it is not out of line to ask if this is the way golf should be played at the highest level?

Besides the well-documented issues of outdating classic courses and eliminating once-essential skills needed to succeed, DeChambeau’s success highlights a notion long mocked as a non-issue: is a weight-gain focused push for speed a good thing?

Do the leaders of golf believe it is sustainable, wise and merely human progress playing out before our eyes? Or, might a tweak to the aerodynamics of the ball retain the essential characteristics that helped golf thrive and survive for centuries?

If he stays healthy, DeChambeau will succeed in the sport no matter what actions are taken because he will adapt. His template for success should only serve as a reminder that there needs to be more than one way to get the ball in the hole, and more than one type of physique that can excel at golf.

State Of The Game 105: Geoff Ogilvy, The Bryson Debate And More

After a short hiatus, Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly discussed a nice array of topics with the 2006 U.S. Open Champion.

The should be available wherever you get your podcasts, or you can listen below.

The Apple podcast show link.

This Dimpleless Titleist Experiment Could Be On To Something

With Titleist asking a few pros to hit shots with a dimple-free demonstration ball—video below—Golf.com’s Jonathan Wall says it reminds us how important those little indentations are to the modern ball.

So the next time you hammer a drive and watch the ball soar downrange, take a minute to tip your cap to the ball designer working diligently on the dimples. Without them, you’d need to be Iron Byron to keep it on the map.

Maybe we take just a few off for the pros-15 or so?-make it spin just a little more and see who really hits on the sweet spot? Or who knows how to use the spin to shape a shot? Think of the tracer fun!

Again, just a thought…

"Watching what Bryson has done, I can only imagine the impact it will have on the young players"

Bryson DeChambeau’s physical transformation and continued ability to play at a high level is a sight to behold. And something totally unimaginable. Except to the distanistas (guilty!) who have long feared that a day would come where distance was so clearly the primary tool, that we’d see players transforming their bodies to take advantage of the remarkable technological advances.

So we will keep seeing the progression to this modified World Long Drive with the potential for an array of health issues, no sign it’s adding fans to the pro game and worst of all, telling aspiring young golfers trying to find speed to play high level golf (and possibly before their bodies are ready).

Then there are all of the absurd side effects on courses, cost, length of round, and the general cancer such an evolution would be on the game. The governing bodies have never taken these notions seriously in relentlessly passing the buck over the years.

Longtime PGA Tour caddie John Wood noted this other overlooked wrinkle by the governing bodies following the Bryson show at Colonial (below). From this week’s Golf.com roundtable:

3. Bryson DeChambeau’s bulked-up physique and booming tee shots (he hit 11 drives 340 yards or longer) were the talk of the tournament. If DeChambeau’s fine play continues, are we destined to see a wave of beefy bombers descending on PGA Tour tee boxes?

Wood: Yes. I think there is quite a bit of shock at how much his size, his clubhead speed and his ball speed have increased in such a short amount of time, all the while seeming to maintain his flexibility, his feel and accuracy. On Thursday and Friday, we played behind a group that included Brooks, Rory and Rahm. There was a long wait on the 15th hole, and we were there when Brooks got ready to play his tee shot. We were standing behind him, and I remarked to Matt: “You know, looking at him, if this was 10 years ago, you would have thought you were watching a long drive contest.” It just wasn’t believable that a body that big and strong would be conducive to playing great golf. We were wrong. And now, watching what Bryson has done, I can only imagine the impact it will have on the young players we know, and the younger players we don’t know yet. You better get your head out of the sand fast and come up with a long-term plan, USGA and R&A – the ball is going to get longer and longer and longer and longer.

The numbers are just astounding, particularly on a fairly confined course with few so driver holes":

Longest drives this week for @B_DeChambeau:

367 yards
365 yards
361 yards
357 yards
355 yards
354 yards
354 yards
353 yards
349 yards
340 yards
340 yards
337 yards
335 yards
335 yards
334 yards
333 yards
330 yards
330 yards
330 yards

He's 1 back of the lead @CSChallengeFW. pic.twitter.com/rylVNdm3Cd

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 14, 2020

The Shack Show Episode 11: Hank Haney Joins The Bifurcation Crowd

In these dark times it does not take much to make a bifurcationista happy, but hearing on The Hank Haney Show that Hank Haney is now pro-bifurcation after seeing 350-yard-plus drives on a soggy course, well, it’s enough to make a bifurcationista shed a tear of joy.

Not only did the legendary instructor and analyst come around on his post TaylorMade Driving Relief show, but on a follow up pod as well.

So naturally (and because my name was mentioned), I had to flesh out this charming and very respectable change of position on a matter of crucial consequence.

Oh, Hank’s new instruction book.

The Apple podcasts link.

Tiger On The "Gear Effect" Of Old Persimmon Heads

You may recall that Justin Thomas posted about a seemingly random round with Rickie Fowler playing a persimmon driver.

Turns out, that was inspired by a round a few days prior when Tiger Woods brought out his high school driver for a birthday celebration round with Thomas, Fowler and Bud Cauley. He told GolfTV’s Hennie Zuel that it’s “fun to see those guys try and hit something that small”.

And then this for those who’d like to see pros play a slightly smaller driver head.

“The gear effect is incredible. You hit the ball off the heel, it starts so far left. You hit the ball off the toe, it starts so far right. But it always comes back. Our drivers don’t come back anymore. They don’t have that gear effect. 

The full clip from GolfTV:

The story of @TigerWoods making JT and Rickie hit his high school driver. pic.twitter.com/pLFGhWJ97a

— GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) May 14, 2020

A Seminole Primer And Preview Plus A Distance Debate Note

Michael Bamberger predicts that Seminole will be the real star of Sunday, May 17th’s TaylorMade Driving Relief Skins Game.

The club’s history with elite players dates to Ben Hogan’s era and his affinity for the place, as Jim McCabe writes for PGATour.com.

Making its national TV debut Sunday on NBC and Golf Channel (2 pm ET), the Donald Ross design could come off a bit underwhelming with limited production values due to safety concerns. But Andy Johnson’s article about the Ross approach to a tough site is worth a read as well as for Jeffrey Bertch’s photos.

David Normoyle also looks at Seminole and captures some of what makes it special.

Seminole is admirable and worthy of study because Donald Ross, helped by several other architects since 1929, offers for us today a course in the swamps of Florida very much like St. Andrews and the National in that: 1) it is remarkably easy for a group of average golfers to get around quickly, while 2) being remarkably difficult for an expert in that same group to get the ball into the hole quickly.

That is the holy grail in golf design, and Seminole achieves it. Few others do, though many more should.

Finally, there is the foursome taking on the course and what Mssrs. McIlroy, Fowler, Johnson and Wolff might do to make Seminole look like a museum piece.

Bamberger has a theory that this could be one final eye-opener to kick start distance regulation conversations currently on hold.

Henry Kissinger likes to say that great historical events begin with great personalities. The resurrection of the 560-yard par-5 may not qualify as a great historical event, but it would make for better golf.

Rees Jones, a Seminole member and the course-architect sometimes called The Open Doctor, believes that. Mike Davis, the USGA’s CEO, is a Seminole member and a driving force behind the USGA’s recent Distance Report, believes that. Nick Price, a Seminole member and USGA executive committee member, believes that.

Seminole will be the site of next year’s Walker Cup match. That will give Jimmy Dunne, the Seminole president, and Mike Davis plenty of opportunity to compare notes and their wish lists. McIlroy, as the son of a Seminole member, as a U.S. Open winner, as a former GB&I Walker Cupper, can offer his insights. He can help chart a course. He can persuade the lodge brothers — his fellow touring pros — that the time has come.

Tipping points are movements. Movements start with people. They start with a message. Enter Rory, a microphone under his chin.

The Shack Show With Guest Brett Cyrgalis, Author Of Golf's Holy War

I admire Brett Cyrgalis’ ability to play reporter and open-minded man considering the “Battle for the soul of a game in an age of science”. I did not take that path in The Future of Golf sleep fine at night, but Cyrgalis is trying to do for golf what Moneyball did for baseball, only with stronger consideration for the more traditional approach.

Golf’s Holy War (Avid Reader Press, out May 5, 2020) includes chapters on Tiger Woods and Dualism, Technology for Profit, the Art of Architecture, Hogan and Science in Slidell, Louisiana. In between Cyrgalis, a New York Post writer on the Rangers beat, considers the views of a wide golfing swath to let you decide if the sport has sold its soul to technology.

The Hogan chapter has been posted as an excerpt at GolfDigest.com.

You can buy the book at Amazon (link above) or support independent’s at Bookshop.org, where the price is lower and the profits go to support local bookshops.

I tried to get Cyrgalis to admit he’s a technophobic something or other (sorry Wally, second blog reference this week). No luck, but I do hope episode 9 is still a fruitful use of your time listening to the articulate author.

Please subscribe to the Shack Show wherever you get podcasts!

Here is the Apple show page and embed from iHeart:

Golf's First World Distance Debate Seems Silly In A Very Different Way

I opened up Mike Stachura’s Golf Digest story titled, “The distance resistance”, and couldn’t help but notice the editor’s note: “This article appeared in our latest issue, which went to print in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.”

In light of thousands of tragic deaths in just weeks, the specter of a massive economic downturn, and uncertainty about what tomorrow will bring, worrying about driving distance seems so…silly.

But more than the absurdity, reading some pre-March 2020 concerns you feel teh undercurrent of distrust of authorities (even if the R&A and USGA are seen as thinking of golf’s long-term viability). The story also hints at the marketplace’s determination to protect the right to spend $600 to pick up 6-yards, no matter the damage done.

That’s why it was a shrewd editor’s note.

Whenever a form of normalcy returns, the excessive weight given to views on distance will all seem so insignificant. Just as there will be a heightened expectation for authorities and companies to be better prepared in the future, it’s not unreasonable to think a similar sentiment will persist in sports.

While there will always be golfers eager to spend $600 on a driver merely to keep up with someone else, even more will find all of that to be of such secondary importance.

Stachura writes:

That future will be about this push and pull between maintaining a connection to golf’s past and embracing the realities of its future participants. The questions we need to ask now are: Would 400-yard drives at a tour event be a tragedy? Would this signal that golf’s connection with its historic championship venues had been severed? Will the cartoonish swing speeds of today’s long-drive competitors become the standard for tomorrow’s PGA Tour players? Would the bond between golf’s elite players and its paying customers be broken or heightened by extraordinary driving distances?

The days of worrying about the answers already seems long gone.

Shrewd editor’s note.

The “authorities” in all sectors will be expected to do what’s best for the long term good. Including in sports and in golf.

Just a few weeks time, certain values held up as vital to golf’s future now seem trivial, particularly the idea that people play golf to see how far they can hit the ball or watch golf for the distance chases.

Given that every golfer current deprived of golf just wants to be out playing again, how far their drives fly seems like an excess of negligible importance. The short and long term viability of courses was, is and will be all that matters.

Gasp: NASCAR Trying To Grow Their Game By Slowing Cars Down

Many strange and soul-sucking acts are tolerated in golf. Except one: a regulatory reversal taking away distance from elite players!

We’ve been told the masses would trash their clubs, courses would voluntarily close, priests would be summoned. And yet, NASCAR is doing the golf equivalent of taking a few yards off drives to win back fans. Who, it seems, were not captivated by a season long cup race and who miss daring race moves that helped NASCAR ascend in popularity.

Note this is now a year into their efforts and the most watched sports event last weekend was a NASCAR race from Las Vegas (not the Lakers-Celtics or PGA Tour golf).

An unbylined AP story from a year ago explained NASCAR’s efforts to win back fans focuses on an overhauled “rules package” with an eye on restoring excitement.

The new package uses aerodynamic ducts and a tapered spacer to reduce engine horsepower — in simplest turns, it should slow the cars and bunch them closer together to increase passing attempts and improve the overall competitiveness. It will debut in the second race of the season, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

One major difference between NASCAR and golf’s technology influence: how the best separate themselves.

While a case could be made that modern golf technology masks deficiencies and makes it hard for supreme skill to separate from the field, NASCAR’s push was viewed as potentially muting the elite.

The old package permitted a handful of teams to move so far ahead of the competition it took too long for anyone to catch them, the racing suffered and fans stopped watching. Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. combined to win 20 of 36 races last season, though the “Big Three” lost to Logano in the championship finale.

The new package is controversial because it is supposed to level the playing field, and elite drivers believe it will diminish the advantage their talent has given them.

A year in, however, reviews suggested the driving has been more interesting and confrontational. No one is complaining about the loss of speed since the cars still go very, very fast.

Just like drives dropping from 330 to 310 yards still go very, very far.
__

Continuing on the topic a year later after the Daytona was trending huge until rains came, The Indicator from Planet Money podcast covered the NASCAR push to improve the “product” via rules changes. Thanks to reader Bobby Ricky for this…

Distance Debate: Do Manufacturers Who Circumvent Current Equipment Rules Deserve A Seat At The Table?

Now that we’ve had a couple of weeks to contemplate the impressive USGA/R&A Distance Insights study, comments have been largely predictable from elite players and the equipment industry: all is well, grow more rough, tuck pins, move along.

This ignores the six-or-so million who have quit the game over the last fifteen years despite amazing equipment advances. And yet there seems to be a pressure to skirt the rules, market increased distance and create equipment that can sell at a premium price.

The governing bodies are forced to preach diplomacy in dealing with so many factions and factors. But what if the manufacturers are working around the rules? Or as Callaway CEO Chip Brewer acknowledged last summer, his company puts drivers in hands of players that cut it close to non-conforming.

And then more recently there was this from Bridgestone’s Elliot Mellow on Golf’s Fully Equipped podcast. At the 1:01:00 or so mark (full January 15th show embed below), Mellow responded to a question about the biggest area for future “growth” (i.e. distance). Thanks to reader M for catching this.

Without getting into too much trouble with our friends at the USGA, there’s 72-plus shots per round with 14-plus clubs and you know there’s not necessarily regulation on all of those clubs, or shots at this point in time, so we play within the rules that exist and then we innovate beyond them where there’s opportunity. And trust me, there’s a lot of opportunity.

It is 100% optional for equipment makers to follow the Rules of Golf. A USGA/R&A “conforming” stamp of approval is a selling point to customers and therefore, a privilege manufacturers should theoretically respect.

But when you highlight working around the rules or bemoan surprise tests or fight rules bifurcation, then maybe this is a sign governing bodies need to stop working around the “needs” of clubmakers. Perhaps these are signs for the USGA and R&A to simply make the rules they deem best.

If skirting the rules will deliver such enjoyment for the masses and “grow the game”, why won’t manufacturers just make non-conforming equipment? Oh right, because core golfers have shown they’d rather play by the rules than be seen as skirting the rules. Perhaps the folks making the clubs should adopt a similar ethos or give up their seat at the distance debate table.

Breaking Shock Flash! Titleist Says All Is Well, Distance Study Undervalues The Athleticism Of Today's Players

I know this stuff works on some people, and I do appreciate that Acushnet CEO David Maher’s tone is much more agreeable (sorry Wally). But it’s hard to buy the claims of a CEO whose company advertises a product going longer and straighter also saying that it’s not going longer and straighter, but instead, all on the amazing skill and athleticism of these kids today.

If that sounds like a bizarre crossover with the PGA Tour messaging on the distance debate, it is.

Here is Maher’s stance, admirably posted after the USGA and R&A released their Distance Insights Study and the first significant rebuttal from a manufacturer to those excellent reports. Though don’t expect even some light cherry-picking of the report.

Maher writes:

In the spirit of contributing additional perspective to this discussion and the game’s timeless, and healthy, debate between Tradition and Technology, we believe the conclusions drawn in this Report undervalue the skill and athleticism of the game’s very best players and focus far too much on the top of the men’s professional game and project this on golf and golfers as a whole.  Furthermore, we believe that existing equipment regulations effectively govern the prospects of any significant increases in hitting distance by the game’s longest hitters.

So any claims we have made a new product going longer will probably need further study?

Like all sports, golf is played differently today than it was centuries, and even decades, ago – from the people who play, the rules by which we play, and the equipment we use.  Almost all would agree this progress has been a great benefit to the game and that innovation in golf equipment has been an important contributor to this progress. 

Participation peaked in 2001 and has dropped many million since, if that’s progress. Shareholders looking for value may not agree.

Golf is bringing younger players into the game sooner and keeping older players longer than ever; professional golf is as dynamic and entertaining as it’s ever been; and the game remains a healthy challenge for all players and at all levels.

More exciting than ever, just not to Nielsen families.

In fact, the Report itself shows that hitting distance on the PGA Tour decreased in 6 of the past 13 years, including 2019. 

I guess we’re going to ignore the increase years?

We believe this helps to affirm the effectiveness of regulatory efforts, particularly those adopted since the early 2000s, which continue to achieve their desired intent of setting boundaries around future distance increases while also rewarding skill and encouraging innovation.

That’s wonderful you support regulation! Maybe just a smidge more for the good of the game?

Ok let’s get to the good stuff.

The Report, however, suggests that consideration be given to a “Local Rule option that would specify use of clubs and/or balls intended to result in shorter hitting distances.”  We believe that playing by a unified set of rules coalesces our game, is an essential part of its global understanding and appeal, and eliminates the inconsistency and instability that would come from multiple sets of equipment standards.  We think it should be preserved for these reasons and those outlined in the article entitled, The Case for Unification.

Wally! You’re back! At least, a nice link back to that old gem.

Serious question though: if playing under one set of rules is so important, then how come no one actually knows the rules?

We appreciate that the Distance Insights Project was fueled by the best intentions of The R&A and USGA acting in what they believe to be the game’s best interests.  We also recognize that golf is best served when its stakeholders advance and advocate what they understand to be in the best interests of the game. 

Just not when it comes to our product.

We also appreciate The R&A and USGA’s commitment to the November 2011 Vancouver Protocol and its established processes for the consideration of equipment changes, and we look forward to continuing to work with the game’s stakeholders over the coming months and years to advance the best interests of the game.

Great. Take some dimples off and let’s light this candle!

How You Know The Ball Goes Too Far After Another Week At Riviera

You know how I know the ball goes too far and just makes a total mess of things?

—This driving range fence was just a normal chainlink fence in the mid-80s. Now they bring in a special extension tournament week and Bryson DeChambeau was still able to clear it last week…

Riviera’s range, with temporary extension installed during tournament week.

—Monday’s Celebrity Cup participants could drive the 10th green. They had to wait for the surface to clear to tee off. Oliver Hudson drove over the 10th green…

After a long wait for the green to clear, A-Rod tees off in the Celebrity Cup.

—They put a concession stand where players used to hit bad drives off the 434-yard third hole. Now they miss 40 yards farther down the hole. And in Phil Mickelson’s case (this is the long ball search for him), 40 yards right of the fairway edge…

That concession stand was once a popular spot for missed drives, now it’s a safe spot!

The 10th at Riviera is not a drivable par-4, it’s a 3-woodable long par-3 where the layup is at a disadvantage based on the birdies made. The 2020 ShotLink scatter chart: