Amateurs Deciding For The Professionals

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Longest driver champion carrying the green at 386 yards.

The golfing world governing body better known as the R&A ( Royal and Ancient) plus the USGA are considering reviewing golfing equipment as players are hitting the ball further than ever. Each generation it seems is gaining an extra yard off the driving tee.

The R&A believes it is down to technology that the manufacturers have developed with the golf ball and with the clubs. The professionals are somewhat divided on this as firstly something I wasn't aware of is the golfing governing body is made up of amateurs. I just find it rather bizarre that professionals are dictated to by the likes of you and me. Surely this has to change as who is looking out for the professional golfer.

Jack Nicklaus who is all for changing the equipment making for a shorter hit has a biased opinion in my view as he is a course designer and developer. There aren't many courses out there that can just tag on an extra 50 yards per hole. He was regarded as a fairly big hitter in his heyday yet these youngsters now are making a mockery of some of the longest holes on the PGA tour.

They are considering doing something with the golf ball making it travel less of a distance. I don't think that is fair as what about the medium hitters as they now will have to change their playing style. In golf you are always going to find certain players who just hit the ball that much further than everyone else ,but they can also make bigger mistakes. Bigger the risk the bigger the reward apples to them more so as they have far more chance of going astray.

Phil Mickelson believes that club head speed is more important than distance as it allows you to control the ball that much better. The faster you swing through the ball will give you distance plus the spin you need to control the ball. We rarely find a big hitting golfer with an all round game being long off the tee and possessing a magical short game around the greens.

Phil thinks this is unfair on the big hitters as the new generation coming through are different types of athletes to what we have been used to seeing in the past. These guys train in the gym and lift weights creating the extra power. With increased muscle comes extra swing speed creating longer distances gained off the tee.

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A prime example of the modern golfer is Bryson De Chambeau who decided to change his game. By training in the gym, increasing his strength he has increased his yardage by an extra 15 to 20 yards. His club head swing is reported to be in the region of 125 mph now.

Because of the extra power he has changed the angle on his driver from 6.5 degrees to a shallower 4.8 allowing him to have more control over the ball. He had to ask for permission at the Royal Melbourne driving range as he was hitting the balls over the net at the end of the range. That is 310 yards and he was carrying it comfortably.

I do believe that if someone puts in the hours in the gym and can improve the length of their game then good luck to them. I don't think by penalizing them for being more athletic is the right way to tackle this issue. We haven't really seen the gym bodies on the golf courses and this is just the modern all round sportsmen of today. Be the best you can by having the perfect physique is the right way to tackle any sport really. I don't mean a muscle junkie, but someone who is well built and suits their build.