commentary, distance, equipment

The Golf Ball Rollback

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I’ve been waiting for the dust to settle somewhat on the golf ball rollback, but the news keeps changing every day as more and more opinion and speculation keeps coming out, so I if I don’t comment now, I never will.

What I can say is that the USGA is up to its usual stupidity, the kind it exercised for years in screwing up the U.S. Open with the way it prepared and conditioned the course.

Then there was the anchored putting fiasco.

Now this.

We really have to take a wait-and-see approach because the rollback doesn’t take effect for us until 2030. The deal might not yet be done.

(New golf ball testing rules come into effect in 2028, and the shorter ball comes into effect for everyone in 2030.)

The speculation is that the carry distance of the average male golfer will shorten by 5 yards, the average female golfer by 1 to 3 yards.



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The second shot would hardly be affected. They say.

What bothers me is that nothing I read about the comment period refers to comments they got from millions of recreational golfers, who are really what supports golf in this country.

Because they didn’t ask us.

Oh, they asked us about anchored putting, and they apparently didn’t like the comments they got, so we got left out of this discussion.

We like things the way they are. We are not the reason that courses are becoming obsolete because we hit the ball that far. We just don’t.

Back in the day when I was playing my best, my total driving distance was at 235 yards. Once a month I might pop one out there 250 and say to myself, “How did that happen?”

With that distance off the tee, a course of 5,900 yards fit perfectly.

So what am I going to do now that I’m much shorter than that?

When Bridgestone discontinued the ball I use, the e5, I bought as many as I could find. I have twenty boxes of them in my basement.

I would suggest that in 2029 you buy as many of the ball you use then and play them to your heart’s content from 2030 forward.

And then tell the USGA that even though they are in charge of “the game”, you are not a part of “the game” they are in charge of any more.

Because all you want to do is go out and have fun.

Which is what golf is for the millions of us.

P.S. You want my solution to the distance problem at the elite level (Because that’s the only level where distance is a problem)?

Make the pros play a balata ball.

Instead of their wild drives ending in the deep rough, they will end up two fairways over.

That will put more of a premium on straight rather than far, which should cut down distance from the insane to the mere ridiculous.

short game

Two Chipping Drills

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These are the drills I used to get good at chipping and I still use to stay good at chipping.

Practice greens have a number of holes to putt and and chip to.

Drill 1: Drop four balls at one spot and chip each one to a different hole. Then putt them out.

When you get all four up and down, go to Drill 2.

Drill 2: Chip balls, from four widely-spaced locations, to the same hole. Then putt them out.

Select your targets in the first drill and your locations in the second drill to give you the greatest challenge.

You might think these drills would be hard to do because of the amount of room on the practice green that is required for them and what do you do when the green is filled with people practicing their putting?

Not to worry. Practice greens are among the most under-utilized real estate in the world.

I promise you that everybody else is at the range to pound their driver and maybe ten percent of them will come on to the practice green and knock a few balls around and leave after five minutes because that’s enough of that.

You’ll have the green all to yourself.

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Want to Break 90? Consistently?

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This is what to do change from a 90’s shooter to an 80’s shooter.

Keep track of your rounds, shot by shot, to identify the beaner shots that ruin a hole. Chances are they are the same kinds of shots all the time.

For example, that monster slice. Chunking it from the fairway. Missing the green from 60 yards with a wedge. Leaving a 40-foot chip or 40-foot approach putt 12 feet shot. Or long. Missing two-foot putts.

IOW, find out what shots killing your chances to shoot a good score and GET LESSONS TO FIX THEM.

Then practice until they are fixed.

Finally, learn how to play the game. Hit shots you are good at and avoid choosing to hit shots you are not good at. Or that the course does not want you to hit. Rein in your ego.

Understand that for you, bogey is a good score. There will be some doubles, but there will be some pars that balance them out. It’s the triples and quads you have to eliminate.

I could say a lot more things, but this is enough for now. Good luck!

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The Golf Swing in Two Movements

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The golf swing is such a subtle thing. No matter how precisely it is described, translating that into something that works for you is never a given.

So I’ll just say this about it.

The arms swing, the hips turn.

That’s it.

Notice there is nothing about “hit” in there. Just those two things.

Figure out how to make those two things work together and you’ve cracked the nut.

playing the game

One Way to Take Your Range Game to the Course

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That’s the problem, isn’t it? You hit it just fine at the range (at least I hope you do), but at the course all that takes the day off.

First, though, let’s make sure there is a problem. At the range, you can hit ball after ball and no doubt many of them will be playable shots on the course. But how many? How good are you on the range?

Maybe you are taking your range game to the course and it’s not as solid as you think. But let’s say it is.

It’s likely is that the problem is not your swing, but that you’re doing something different mentally at the range than you do on the course. And maybe neither one of them is the right thing to do.

Just like you use the same swing, and it needs to be one that works, you need to have the same frame of mind both places, and it has to be the right one.

What you hear and read, and what I agree with, is that your mind has to be connected to your target. There needs to be a mental feeling that connects where the ball is with where you want it to go.

By doing that, you give your subconscious mind an order which it will carry out by directing your swing to hit the ball in the right direction.

If you just swing, the ball will go in the general direction of your target. That’s not good enough. With a definite, defined target, the chances of the shot ending up where it needs to, go way up.

And you learn how to do that by praticing it. Every ball you hit at the range has to have a defined target that you select.

Then at the course you just do what you have taught yourself to do.

Bonus: I like to hit the ball to a place in the air I want the ball to go through on its way to the target. Because if it goes there, it will come down in the right place.

Not to mention there are no hazards or other obstacles in the air that mess with my mind.

rules

The Out-Of-Bounds Rule – 3

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A few years ago, I saw Dustin Johnson do this on TV on a par-5 hole.

Tee shot, out of bounds.

From the tee again, hitting 3, busted his drive way down the fairway, dead center.

From the fairway, hitting 4, hit onto the green.

On the green, hitting 5, sank the putt for his par.

It’s an easy game.

rules

The Out-Of-Bounds Rule – 2

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I had this exchange by e-mail with a rules expert nine years ago.

ME. “The ruleshistory.com web site notes that between 1964 and 1968 the OOB rule allowed a player to drop a ball within two club-lengths of where the original ball crossed the out of bounds line if reasonable evidence existed that both that the ball had gone out of bounds and as to the point of crossing.

“Do you now why that rule was rescinded?”

HIM. “From memory, detailed scoring records kept by the USGA at the time showed that it was necessary to keep the penalties for out of bounds and lost at the same level to maintain a fair balance in the game. They had earlier, in 1960-61, experimented with distance only for a lost ball but could not overcome the big problem that there was often no realistic reference point for dropping with respect to a lost ball, and also that distance only was not an adequate penalty.

“It was recognised that having different penalties for lost and OOB reflected the earlier imbalance (eg players would claim a ball not found was actually OOB), and therefore the equitable conclusion was that OOB, lost and unplayable would all have the same penalty, stroke and distance which had originally been the case under the new joint USGA and R&A rules of 1952, including the new option for unplayable of two strokes without the distance at the player’s option.

“Hopefully, this helps you understand the changes, and why such experiments with penalties eventually failed.”

About a month later, I sent a reply I didn’t save, but was probably something like taking a drop and a one-stroke penalty from where the ball went out of bounds. His reply:

HIM. Your suggestion has been around for a long time, and resurfaces from time to time because, at first glance, it seems reasonable. However, detailed studies and experimentation by the USGA during the fifties and sixties shows that it is not workable without compromising the basic principles of the game.

There are a couple of issues to consider. One is the ‘field of play’. Virtually all sports have a well defined field of play, and the games have the principle of either you’re in or you’re out. There’s no distinction between a toe just on the line and a ball that ends up in row Z. The same principle exists in golf; the arena is perhaps not so easily defined but nevertheless there is a boundary beyond which play can not exist. How far OOB is enough? A wild slice that goes 100 yards OOB but is found rewards the player with a great escape. OK, it’s unfortunate for the player whose ball ends up only inches oob, but that’s life. There has to be a line somewhere.

“Golf is a test of skill, not of negotiation. If a player can avoid the consequences of his own bad shots by getting a cheap deal from the rules book, then the game loses it’s finest qualities and its integrity.

“The other issue, which I briefly mentioned earlier, is that of the principle of equity. Equity does not mean fairness, it means like treatment for like situations, regardless of how that situation came about.

“The idea of finding a ball out of bounds and treating it, in effect, like a lateral water hazard goes against this principle. Firstly it extends the playable bounds of the golf course endlessly and secondly, it unbalances the nature of the relationship between the main situations where stroke and distance are applicable. That is, any situation where a ball is out of play should have a similar remedy. A ball in a water hazard (or unplayable) is somewhat different in that the ball is still in play (even under 10ft of water!) and therefore a player may take the alternative option of a penalty stroke which is a kind of ‘buy back’ into the game, the equivalent of a recovery shot from the impossible position. Such an option cannot be valid for a ball that is already out of play otherwise another great principle of golf, that the nature of the game is to play ball from tee to hole by a succession of strokes, is violated.

“Hope this helps you to renconcile your thoughts. Bear in mind I am only talking of tournament play here – in casual games, like nearly every other golfer, I save time by just dropping a ball as well….”

Tomorrow, how a particular touring pro handled a tee shot he hit out of bounds.

rules

The Out-of-Bounds Rule – 1

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Does anyone think the out-of-bounds rule is rational? Stroke and distance seems like being penalized twice for one infraction.

Harvey Penick even said so in his Little Red Book:

“If you smash a drive a long way but the ball lands an inch out of bounds, the penalty is stroke and distance—in effect a two-shot punishment for what was nearly a good drive.”

A writer for Golf Digest went around with several rules authorities and came up with this article about it.

After you have read the article, I will be back tomorrow with a conversation I had with a rules maven about it several years ago.

books

Hogan’s Five Lessons Can Hurt You

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Ben Hogan’s book, Five Lessons, is perhaps the most influential golf instruction ever written.

And yet it gives no help to almost any recreational golfer.

Every instruction book is really titled, How I Play Golf, by [you name it].

Hogan had a hook that kept him in the ranks of mediocrity. Five Lessons teaches us how he came to hit the ball to the right, and not to the left, and became Ben Hogan the legend.

Given that most recreational golfers slice, these five lessons are probably the worst instruction they could get.

For the rest, who do play right to left, the book is still full of bad advice, not about how to play more rightward, but about the swing in general.

Let’s start with the grip. From page 27: “School yourself when you’re taking your grip so that the thumb and the adjoining part of the hand across the V – the part that is the upper extension of the forefinger – press up against each other tightly, as inseparable Siamese twins. Keep them pressed together as you begin to affix your grip and maintain this airtight pressure between them when you fold the right hand over the left toward [your] target.”

The stance, from page 48: “A word of emphasis about the elbows. You want to press them as closely together as you can.” And the caption on page 49:” Keep the elbows and arms as close together as possible throughout the entire swing.” Page 56: “A word further about the knees. During the golf swing, the knees work ‘toward each other.’ Since they do, let’s start them that way to begin with, each knee pointing in.” and “If the right knee is pointed in it helps brace the right leg on the backswing, and the right leg must be sturdily braced to prevent the golfer from swaying his body laterally to the right as he swings the club back.”

The backswing. Page 71: “If the hips are turned too far around, then you can create no tension in the muscles between the hips and shoulders. A golfer wants to have this tension; he wants the midsection of his body to be tightened up, for this tension is the key to the whole downswing.” page 74: “Maximum tension in the muscles between the hips and shoulders produces maximum speed.” “The tighter the tension in these muscles, the faster the upper part of the body will unwind… .” p. 81: “Start in the position of address with the upper part of your arms and your elbows glued to the sides of your chest. Exaggerate this adhesion, if anything.”

The forward swing: from page 91, a section too long for me to quote in full, but a few key phrases are, “…these muscles [of the hips] must be stretched taut with tension that is just waiting for the golfer’s signal to be released.” “Same thing with the hips. The greater the tension the faster you can move them.”

Add this all up and you would such a ball of tension that could barely move.

This is how Ben Hogan swung the club, but you are not Ben Hogan. No one else is, either.

Little Differences That Make a Big Difference in How Well You Play