L.A. Open at Riviera starts today. It's a really good field and this course is pretty unique and challenging to the players. It's worth watching just to see the action on the par 4 10th that temps the pros to drive it big risk reward shot.
I found this article on driving distance. The question was how the greatest like Jack and Arnie would hit the driver with today's ball and drivers. https://www.pga.com/archive/how-far-would-golfs-legends-drive-ball-using-modern-equipment First, let’s hear from a six-time major champion who starred in the 1970s. “If we had (the new) golf ball in my day," Lee Trevino told USA Today in 2007, “The best of us would have hit it 300 yards and Jack Nicklaus would have hit it 360.” It’s not a stretch to believe Trevino. Nicklaus cranked a 341-yard blast to win the PGA Championship’s long drive competition in 1963 with the “old ball.” When he was 18 years old, he and Arnold Palmer drove the green on a 330-yard par 4 at Athens (Ohio) CC, a story Nicklaus shared at Palmer’s memorial service. Today, such drives are routine. According to shotlink data, there were 200 measured drives of 375 yards or longer during the 2015-16 PGA Tour season, including eight surpassing the 400-yard barrier. Study the career of Fred Couples to grasp the impact technology has made on driving distance at the game’s highest level. In 1982, Couples was a limberbacked 22-year-old with immense flexibility. He averaged 268.7 yards in driving distance, which was eighth on the PGA Tour. In 2009, Couples was a 49-year-old with a decade-and-a-half battling serious back problems. He averaged 297.5 yards in driving distance, which was 24th on the PGA Tour. His former World Cup partner, Davis Love III, led the PGA Tour in 1986 at age 22, averaging 285 yards per drive. Two decades later, he’d gained 13 yards. This year at age 52, Love was one of the eight golfers who had a 400-plus drive.
Equipment really changed the game of golf. Other sports have been more profoundly altered by rules changes and changes to the playing field. How many yards would Jimmy Brown have amassed if he had sports turf, the hashmarks moved in and the protective rules today's players enjoy. I was looking at photos of Brady and Gronkowski after the Super Bowl. They looked like they were ready for the team photo in July; not a mark on them and their uniforms were clean and pressed. Look at all the rules changes and dimension changes baseball has enacted to promote the home run derby style we have now. Lowered the mound, tightened the strike zone, moved in the fences and some say even tightened the ball itself. This why it is an exercise in futility to try to compare players from different generations.
I see that Phil is headed back to the Champions Tour for another Tournament since he doesn't qualify for the WGC. I wonder how long before he's a regular on the Champions, his game seems to at a point where he's not competitive weekly on the PGA tour. Not because he can't hit it far though, still can bomb it out there. But he just seems to have lost that sharpness with the short clubs and putter that always used to bail him out of his wayward drives.
Tiger in a bad car accident, leg injuries and he's in Surgery. Single car accident, no passenger. Had to use the jaws of life to get him out. Happened at 7AM, no cause for the accident has been given. Did he fall asleep, distracted by cellphone, medications for pain control from back surgery? Could be the end of his golf career.
Looks like Spieth isn't the only one having trouble with his driving. Tiger has had back and knee problems for over a decade. Sounds like his ankle is really busted up. One minute he's hoping to play in the Masters the next he's hoping to sometime return to the tour.
Yep, if he was otherwise healthy this could be a problem, but with his back problems this could be time to move.to the boardroom.
Sad. Not sure of the severities of his injuries, if too bad, rehab will take awhile. Might be all she wrote for regular tour wins. What is he now? 42?....plan for a successful champions tour if injuries are that bad. If that's what he wants.
Nevermind...45 for age and 82...tied with sammy. That's gonna be even harder for him depending of the injuries.
Early Wednesday morning news reports multiple compound fractures, two on his right tibia alone and his right ankle sustained multiple fractures. They had to insert a rod in his tibia just to stabilize it and used a lot of screws and other hardware to put him back together. Left leg injured too. I would think his first goal is to walk without a limp. He was on his way to a golf show commitment to meet with Drew Brees among others. Running late and was driving too fast to make up time. What a damn shame. He was tied at 82 Tour wins with Sam Snead for #1. I imagine that is where they will remain. I think everyone in golf hopes for the best in this case.
Maybe this time he will call it quits! His age now is the problem. I would not think less of him for making that decision.
Looks like Tiger was just in a hurry and driving too fast on a dangerous section of road. As George noted probably his biggest challenge now is to walk without a limp. I'm sure he'll be able to play golf, but it would seem like it will be very unlikely that he'll ever be competitive on the PGA Tour again.
This Morikawa kid has a game. I'm proud that he's RW&B. Still pulling for my boy Brooks though. I dont think he feels good this week.
When Colin won the PGA he was so precise with his game and then it sort of fell off and he didn't do much after that, but this week that precision is back. Koepka has had a pretty good week for a guy who is still working through some injuries/pain, he's going to finish in the top 5 maybe 2nd. Anybody heard anything from Mr. Physics, Bryson Dechambeau? Is he still in the lab working with his data?
I had a squirrel birdie today! I had a 8 iron into a par 4,pin was center left but my shot was headed to the right edge. There was a nice friendly chunky squirrel there and I hit him on the fly and the ball kicked left off of him and ended up below the hole about 12 - 15 feet. I lined it up and made the putt. BTW the squirrel scampered off apparently unhurt, shook his paw at me!
Bay Hill was the winner yesterday! Bryson was just too powerful for Westwood. Again Jordan showed that while he's certainly playing much better as he's now had a streak of top of the leader board finishes, but his Sunday's have not been great and that's kept him from winning.