ARE YOU READY FOR SPRING & SUMMER!!

I want to first thank all of our members who continue to support the club during these difficult times. It has been a difficult time for all involved, especially for those who did use the clubhouse often enough before and after their round. We all know its hard to get used to smaller quarters where to have a bite to eat or a drink after your round of golf, or late in the afternoon, just trying to catch up with other members. I know everything possible is being done to restore our social activities. As I published in Facebook earlier in the week, the situation with the insurance company forced us to file suit against Philadelphia Insurance in federal court, while leaving a door open for a quick settlement. We will keep every member posted on the progress. LET'S BE READY FOR A GREAT SPRING AND SUMMER WITH OUR TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE AND DAILY PLAY... NO CLUBHOUSE, BUT WE CAN STILL PLAY THE GAME WE LOVE!

Let's talk about golf!

After watching the tour stop at beautiful Chapultepec Golf Club in Mexico City, my brother Armando called me (we often call each other "are you watching?") reminded that the USGA and Royal & Ancient Club of St. Andrews will meet next week to go over the proposed rules changes for 2019.

I often ask: "why do you want to change something that works?"

One of the rules changes of recent is the one that I call the "Tiger Rule", by which the player, after signing an incorrect scorecard, because he had a penalty he didn't know he had, is not disqualified, but assessed a two shot penalty plus the penalty for the rule in breach of. This IS IN CONTRADICTION with the wording of Rule #6, "The Player", which simply says that the player IS RESPONSIBLE FOR KNOWING THE RULES OF GOLF AND THE RULES OF THE COMPETITION! (in 2013, Tiger took an illegal drop after going in the water on #15, it was unintentional and the observer and referee for the group did not realize until later, nor his caddie or Tiger, he signed an incorrect scorecard, and instead of being disqualified, he was assessed a 2 stroke penalty and was allowed to play the next day, still in contention).

Another change of late is on whether you caused your ball to move before the stroke. Before, it was simply defined as "if you touch anything within a club's length of the ball, and you ground your club and your ball moves, your are deemed to have moved the ball. Add a stroke penalty, replace the ball where it was and go on". Now, it is matter of "judgement": maybe the wind moved it, or maybe the rotation of the earth did, or maybe the lower dimple was not resting on the ground correctly and the ball moved... "NOT FAIR!" Hey, if it moved, it moved and you were right on top of the ball and you should be assessed a penalty stroke, Period.

Now, they want more changes that will not only confuse the rules more, but will give "more breaks" to the players. I'm not in favor of any of the rules changes they are proposing, especially the out of bounds rule.

Anyway, the one change my brother and I discussed, would be simple: How to limit the golf ball, or how to equalize the golf ball for Professional play only, which is "forcing" ("let the shoot 40 under par" he said) architects to design longer and longer courses that need hundreds of thousands of dollars more in land and maintenance, and therefore making golf more expensive to play as a whole!

As he and I discussed our views, he made some great points about other sports. In general, in other sports athletes are rewarded with records: "when Roger Banister broke the 4 minute mile record, no one thought about 'lengthening' the mile" he said. Same with the 100 meter dash, when they broke the 10 second mark, they did not increase the length of the meter. High jump, long jump, swimming, marathon, etc., the distances are the same, and you measure yourself against other athletes in the same exact conditions and distances.

Even team sports have gotten better, in 1999, the NBA league averaged 34.2 field goals per game versus 39.5 in 2017, with a gradual improvement every year. But no one is speaking about lengthening the court or raising the basket. Why is the point average better? Because the athletes are bigger and better. Take any NBA team in last place and the NCAA champion won't have a chance.

So what is different in golf when the courses are getting longer and longer to accommodate new distances the golfers are achieving? The difference is that in those other sports, the only improvement in "equipment" is the human body... maybe the shoes or "friction-less" swimming suits as well, but in golf, the equipment you use is much better, thus, giving an average man or woman, the thrill of hitting the ball better with less effort and less skill. So the answer to me, as with many of the top golfers in golf, is not to lengthen the courses, but to shorten the distance the ball can go... AT LEAST AT THE PROFESSIONAL LEVEL!

I'll give you an example: take for instance a Titleist 917 driver. and a Prov1 ball. In my best day, I will hit it 220 in the air, maybe 240 rolling (my average with roll might be 220 now). Same driver, same ball, my friends Dustin Gunkel and Joby Gray will do 260 carry and 290 with roll. No wonder why they can score in the low 60's so often, when none of our Par-5 holes measure more than 460 yards. Compare that with Tour professionals who can often carry bunkers more than 300 yards away!

Now, instead of a Prov1, let's use a Titleist Tour Professional (Balata Wound): our distances would be much closer. They would lose 30 yards or so in carry and I would lose about 15. Use clubs of 30 years ago, and we are talking they would outfdrive me by 10-20 yards a the most, which would return us to a game of golf where they would still beat me, but, I think our scores would be much closer, because now we would rely on THE SOUL OF THE GAME: the scoring game (think Walter Hagen, Phil Mickelson, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus or Tiger, distance was less of a factor than their imagination, excellent iron play and putting games).

Clubhead speed and solidness of contact is everything! And there is no comparison between the average golfer, even the better club professional and even less, with the PGA Tour players.

In comparison, 30 years ago, tour players still hit the balls 40-50 yards longer than the rest of us, Jack Nicklaus could easily hit the ball 280+ yards in carry (I saw it in person), and we amateurs or club pros, were happy with a 250 yard drive (it felt like 300), roll included; and while some hit it farther than others, as it should be, it was the rest of their game and consistency that made a difference. Otherwise, why would senior amateur players use a ball not legal under USGA Rules? Because it goes longer! Some of my fellow senior golfers do that for daily play... and it is okay with me!

Here is an example you would visualize well: twenty PGA Club Professionals make it into the PGA Championship every year. Any one of those club professionals can easily beat 99.9% of all amateurs alive. Yet, we, PGA Professionals, are very happy when one or two of the twenty make the cut, more often than not, none! When the TV Ad of the PGA Tour says, "THESE GUYS ARE GOOD", they mean it!

So, why don't the USGA and Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Scotland, who make rule the game of golf and write the rules, also invite the NCAA and three main Tours (PGA, European and Asian) and come up with a good, sensible, bifurcation of the Rules of Golf by which those who make a living playing golf, start using a ball that gradually goes less far, thus avoiding the perceived need for communities to build golf courses that need to be so long?
At the very least, any new technology that allows the ball to go further, should only be used by amateurs or club professionals. As well, limit the length of a driver on tour to 43 1/2" inches. It'll take a little off the distance as well.

I don't think that it would be financially possible for the professional tours to be forced to use one brand of ball like they do in MLB (Rawlings), NBA (Spalding), NFL (Wilson), or Long Drive Championships where everyone uses the same ball....

But it might be just possible, to rule that a golf ball for tour players must not have more than 3 layers (some balls have 5 layers) and limit the number of dimples. Each ball made by the company they have signed for. Jordan, Dustin and Justin and the new young players would still excel, and golf courses would not have to be any longer than now, and would be cheaper!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!