"Our testing showed me that the majority of PGA Tour distance increases attributable to equipment have likely come from changes in the driver, not the ball"

There have been a couple of good pieces on technology-related issues and both struck me as interesting because we've crossed a threshold of some kind where no one seems to be scared to write about the subject any longer. Perhaps that's a testament to how the discourse has evolved or maybe it's simply a matter of writers finally taking more interest in the impact side of the issue.

Either way, here's what John Paul Newport wrote in Saturday's Wall Street Journal about persimmon v. titanium:

But how much have we really gained? This is a philosophical question with no definitive answer, but you can’t say my father-in-law didn’t have fun with his wooden clubs. He was a life-long avid golfer, which fact I couldn’t help but reflect on last weekend when our family toured the Amish country in central Pennsylvania. The most observant Amish (a Christian Mennonite sect) really do still drive around in horse-and-buggies and live in houses with little or no electricity. My fascinated 14-year-old daughter spewed forth factoids from the Internet that she pulled up on a BlackBerry. “The Amish don’t have phones in their houses because they want to encourage face-to-face conversations,” she read. “They don’t allow tractors because they want their farms to remain human-scale.” In other words, they’ve decided what they want of the modern era (they can use phones outside the home and avail themselves of modern medical technology) but reject what doesn’t contribute to the values they hold highest.

I’m not tempted to adopt the Amish lifestyle, believe me, but I’m not sure I’d mind going back to wooden clubs and less modern balls, provided everyone else did the same. (You can keep balata, which cuts too easily.) In terms of challenge, based on my experience, there really isn’t that much difference between the old and the new. Trying to keep a short, spinny ball in play with a wooden driver is not easy, but it’s no more formidable a task than trying to keep a longer ball in play with a metal driver.

Mike Stachura was inspired by Chad Campbell's recent bout with persimmon and balata to make the case for the poor, beleaguered golf ball's innocence in the bastardization of courses around the club. He says the numbers suggest shafts are the real culprit and who can argue with that?

It is worth theorizing that a larger percentage of the improvement might just be attributed to the shaft's effect on swing speed. Today's modern shaft usually weighs 75 grams or less, about half what the steel shaft on the MacGregor Byron Nelson driver weighed. But the 200 grams on the end of that shaft is the same force on today's heads, although the weight is better distributed. The faster you can swing that mass, the more it can improve your distance. Moreover, shaft technology has elevated to the point where the same stability that better players with faster swings found in steel shafts years ago is nearly the same today in graphite shafts that weigh half as much.

And...

Though the USGA has been conducting research on shorter golf balls for the last three years, that project has not yielded any announcement of a proposed rollback in the golf ball in the way groove performance was rolled back late last year. Rugge simply says today that the research project is "ongoing." For now, Rugge believes that current research suggests that the ball need not be singled out as the root cause of distance in the modern game.

"Our testing showed me that the majority of PGA Tour distance increases attributable to equipment have likely come from changes in the driver, not the ball," he said.

It's not clear whether one set of numbers and a few swings through history on the range of a PGA Tour event last week confirm that idea or call it into question. But isolating the effect to either club or ball seems impossible. Rather, today's club-ball system seems to exceed the sum of its parts.

Which is why all of the calls to alter the golf ball have been made. If you have to pick between club and ball for the simplest way to make courses relevant while restoring elements of skill, isn't it just easier to alter the ball? That doesn't make it guilty in a court of a law, just a victim of convenience.

"What's up with CBS and Clark's wrists?"

In this week's SI/Golf.com/Golf Mag/Golf Nation/No-Longer-Stuck-With-AOL opus, the gang kicks around Tim Clark's latest disappointing loss. Thankfully they don't dwell too much on his playoff approach shot that hit the 17th hole flag (a bad break but I'm not sure if it would have been as close as some thought), and instead discuss other issues related to Clark...

Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Clark pulled a LeBron James after the loss. He refused to come to the press room (though he did give a couple of quotes to Tour PR). He said he will take nothing positive from the loss and that he had a lot of work to do in closing out tournaments.

And...

Gorant: What's up with CBS and Clark's wrists? I always thought it was pretty common knowledge that he has a congenital condition that prevents him from turning his hands palm-up. That's why it's difficult for him to chip, but the CBS guys never mentioned that. They just kept saying he prefers to putt from eight feet off the green because he isn't a good chipper. Is this supposed to be an off-limits topic?

Herre: Interesting point. You'd think Peter Kostis would be all over something like that.

Geeze Peter, your own team is picking on you now!

"Half the players on tour do that."

John Huggan looks at the intent question in light of the Kenny Perry video surfacing and offers this summation:

Let's go back to Perry and the clump of grass he did or did not deliberately pat down, thereby improving his lie. During the recent Players Championship, I showed a recording of the incident to a prominent PGA Tour player. He took one look, snorted, and announced: "Half the players on tour do that."

Again, such revelations come as no surprise. Every tour on the planet is rife with rumour when it comes to those who cheat for a living. And why, you may ask, is nothing ever done about it? The reason is simple: professional golf, to a large extent, is sold to commercial sponsors on the basis that it is whiter than white. Unlike footballers and rugby players, all golfers, ahem, play strictly by the rules. Or so, predictably, the tours would have you believe. Their economic health depends on public perpetuation of that myth, so they look the other way when naughty things happen.

"All factors considered, Burgoon’s shot will go down as one of the best in college golf history."

Check out Eric Soderstrom's NCAA game story on a thrilling win by Texas A&M. Sounds like the new match play format produced a classic. Just a shame it wasn't televised. At least Golfweek TV has video of the big finish.

Ryan Herrington also notes a subtle way that the new format produced more media attention that almost certainly would not have occurred under the old format.

"Good grief Sergio. Man up dude."

Mike Freeman is miffed at Sergio's revelation that his slump has been driven by a woman.

A woman? A woman is ruining your golf game?

Other Garcia revelations:

Oprah rocks!
Barry Manilow is my homey.
I own seven cats.
MMA fighters are a bunch of meanies.
Thrice weekly pedicures are the way to go.
Does anyone else find all of this particularly wimpy?

"I'm just thrilled that the first time we had match play we had some excitement. That's what this is all about."

Ryan Herrington says the early returns on the new NCAA format are positive after an epic Georgia-OSU match in round one.

Pretty In Pink

Just in case you are wondering what all the pink is about Saturday at Colonial, Brian Wacker explains at PGATour.com.

Sergio Roasted, Toasted By Internet Sports Writer Of The Year

"In the face of some tough questioning" Sergio Garcia endures a withering cross examine from the Internet Sports Writer of the Year, who also close-talked and ordered the former World No. 2 to read putts pose for a lame photo during a round at Turnberry. Refreshing to see Britain's top tabloid pursuing the questions we've all been wanting answered: What's wrong with your puttin...oh, wait, sorry.

So on Monday he was prepared for bad weather. What he was not prepared for were questions about his relationship with Morgan-Leigh Norman, the daughter of Greg, a relationship that had ended in March. Yet when confronted with the unexpected, Garcia did not flinch. He spoke truthfully and honestly. He did not ask for the conversation to go off the record or say that he did not want to talk about it ask for the tape recorder to be turned off. In fact, at one point he was given the opportunity to end the interview and play the last hole but declined, saying instead, "I don't want to play. I'm talking."

I'm weeping. The courage! The focus!

The interview, which took place between the 14th and 18th holes of the Ailsa course on Monday afternoon and was tape recorded, began with his memories of the 1996 Amateur. It soon moved to his current poor form and he explained that the break-up of his relationship with Morgan-Leigh was the reason for that and he went on to speak about it. An article about this appeared in The Times on Wednesday, May 27, headlined "It was being dumped by my girl that drove me into the rough, Sergio Garcia reveals." In the story Garcia said: "It was probably the first time I have been really in love. It took me a while to get over it.

Well at least the original story was given proper attribution. You don't often see that in a tabloid like The Times!

"I’d love it if players Twittered during the middle of a round"

Naturally I had to be traveling when Bloomberg's Michael Buteau and Mason Levinson revealed that LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens blabbed that she'd like to...oh I can't type, it's too funny even though it's not really a surprise.

“I’d love it if players Twittered during the middle of a round,” Bivens said in an interview today in New York.

“The new media is very important to the growth of golf and we view it as a positive, and a tool to be used.”

Uh, the problem.

Bivens said the LPGA was awaiting word from the U.S. Golf Association on whether the use of handheld devices for Tweeting during competitive play is within the rules. The USGA oversees the sport in the U.S. and Mexico, with the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew’s, Scotland, governing the rest of the world.

An e-mail to the USGA seeking comment about using smart phones, such as Research in Motion Ltd.’s Blackberry and Apple Inc.’s iPhone, for social-media purposes during a round wasn’t immediately returned.

The USGA’s 2008 Rules of Golf make no mention of the use of handheld devices such as mobile telephones.

Rule 14-3 -- “Artificial Devices, Unusual Equipment and Unusual Use of Equipment” -- states that a player may not use any equipment “that might assist him in making a stroke or in his play; or for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions that might affect his play.” The penalty for violation of Rule 14-3 is disqualification.

Not mentioned here is that on Twitter, followers can respond to posts. And do it immediately.

So say player L had had trouble all week on 17 with club selection, she could send out a Tweet asking what the followers think of her outfit today, which could actually be code for, what are the others using on 17? Or her instructor could be watching on television and notice a swing fault and Tweet the player.

Actually, the list of potential pitfalls is quite long and I'm sure the person in LPGA headquarters who suggested this was either ignored, or was fired already. You know, those golfy people.

"It's hard to overestimate the impact that this has had on the golf world"

Impressive reporting job by Golf Mag's Josh Sens who went into the club world shattered by Bernie Madoff, revealing just how hard some were hit by the Ponzi schemer.

The tally so far registers in grim estates: a staggering $1 billion-plus purportedly swindled from the membership of Palm Beach CC; a reported $100 million from those at Hillcrest and Oak Ridge country clubs in Minnesota; and on. But the damage to the game can't be measured in dollars alone. In his wide-ranging betrayal, Madoff not only stole a fortune, he frayed the social fabric from which golf is stitched. His still-unraveling scheme has left some players questioning the sense of trust supposedly inherent among golfers, and others contemplating the cruel irony of having joined clubs that were built to keep the riffraff out, only to discover that the worst kind of riffraff was already in.

IBF's 68 Has Clampett Dreaming Of Masters Return

After a stunning opening 68 in Ian Baker Finch's first competitive round since 2001 (!!), sources inside the CBS back-up announcer trailer report that Bobby Clampett was seen optmistically searching Travelocity for flight info to next year's Masters just in case IBF should go on to win the Crowne Plaza at Colonial.

We love Ian and are thrilled about his great play. But you better not abandon us in April. We can't handle any more Hogan's Bridge references.

On a serious note, Ron Sirak puts the performance in context.

What Baker-Finch accomplished in the first round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational may not live in my brain as one of the most memorial moments I have witnessed, but it will linger in my heart as one of the bravest and most touching. His two-under-par 68 nearly 12 years after he shot a 92 in the British Open was a testimony to his courage as well as his considerable skill.

"I'm older now," he said after the round in which he made five birdies and three bogeys about fighting his nerves. "I just tried to stay in the moment. I never had second thoughts about doing this. Hey, I can still play the game." Of that there is no longer any doubt.

"This looks like the golf equivalent of a pump fake"

Steve Elling thinks the latest move to install Jerry West as part of the Northern Trust Open executive ranks is a move to distract us from recent events. If only they were so clever.

"Suffice to say golfers who were critical of the first two holes and a few blind shots on Erin Hills will be pleasantly surprised."

Gary D'Amato updates us on the latest changes at Erin Hills and talk of the course possibly landing the 2017 U.S. Open.

Regarding the changes, is it odd that there isn't much talk anymore about architects Hurdzan, Fry and Whitten having a major hand in the work? Just course owner Bob Lang and contractor Bill Kubly are quoted.

Regarding the U.S. Open, it's reportedly a done deal, it will be fun to see if Lang lands the Open after what has to go down as one of the least subtle major campaigns ever (though there is always The Donald).