From the archives

This article I pulled out the archive from 28th March 2002 is even more relevant now than it was 18 years ago when I wrote it. We now have a situation whereby the big golf manufacturing companies are bigger than the governing bodies of the game. Some of you will remember an event from years back when the Karsten company (Ping golf equipment) had an issue with the legality of the grooves in their irons. I can't remember if it went to court or not but the company felt they could dictate to the custodians of the game.

There was and still is a lot of denial going on about the effect of technology on the game.

Who knows where it will end!

Below is the piece from nearly 2 decades back.

"In recent months a lot of words have been written on the subject of technology making the game easier. The ruling bodies within the game seem unable to halt the advances in equipment design and the developers of new courses appear to have a one-dimensional approach to the problem (and it is a problem) by making courses longer and longer.

Even an old establishment like The Augusta National club, home of the forthcoming Masters tournament, have responded by lengthening several holes in order to fend off the growing band of tour pros who launch the ball over 300 yds with ease. In the past, they tried cutting the fairways so that the nap of the grass is against the run of the ball to reduce the distance the ball goes. Nowadays, they, like everyone else seem to opt for adding length. The problem I see from this action is that to keep lengthening the courses prompts the companies to push on and develop even longer hitting clubs and farther flying balls and so it goes on and on.

The manufactures work on the lines of developing a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Well, the game is not a nut. Golf is the game it is because it is bigger than all of us and we stand humbled before it. The courses have always won. The game is imperfectable. Our failure starts the moment we take a club out on the first tee. This is not the word of a pessimist, it is reality. It is this "reality" that keeps us coming back for more. To reduce golf to simply a big hitting exercise is insulting for the game and it sadly takes a lot of the subtlety and magic out of it also. I do not believe it is right to invite technology to play a bigger part in the game at the expense of the player’s skill. I readily acknowledge this same topic was discussed when steel shafts killed of "hickory shafts" or the "gutta percha" ball took over from the "feathery" but that should never be a reason to carry on as things are.

It is Human nature to make advances but the time will come when the game loses its attraction because it offers little challenge.

The Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass last week was refreshing from the point of view that the most challenging hole on the course was the "Island green" short 17th hole. Playing only an 8 or 9 iron at about 140 yards, it reduced the worlds best to anxious mortals. Whether you are a fan of island green "American style” layouts is not the point. The point is, it does not require huge yardage to challenge a player. The 8th at Royal Troon, named the "Postage Stamp" due to its small green surrounded by several severe bunkers, creates the same doubts in the player. The best in the world only need a wedge to this 120 odd yard hole but they have enormous difficulty hitting it when under pressure. It is more of this kind of imagination that is needed in golf course design because there is no technology that can guarantee success when faced with this kind of challenge. It is purely down to the skill of the player."