In our forums, WRXer ‘dalehead’ has been investigating distance on Tour with his findings leading him to believe the only issue where there is a distance problem in the sport is with the very elite levels. Per ‘dalehead’:
“I went to the Tour website and found their list of top 70 drivers for distance. The median (half were longer, half were shorter) was 279 yards. So do we really have a distance problem? Oh, I forgot to mention these stats are for the Champions Tour. But these guys are still pretty good. They might even give a WRX’er a game. Got me wondering if we really have a distance problem anywhere except the most elite levels.”
The topic is a divisive one and has got our members talking, with plenty of interesting viewpoints offered up from our members on how to protect courses from the elite bombers.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- Golfrnut: “The problem is not distance per se, it’s the fact that technology has improved the equipment faster than courses have improved to handle the change. The designs of the courses were made for a far shorter game, which are now proving to be irrelevant for all but the “shorter” hitters. Most fairway bunkers, par 5s, and the like are no longer a part of the course layout that matters…the only protection is making the hole 500+ yards and closer to 600 for par 5s. Add in the fact that groups like the Tour committee love selling the long ball on TV so they won’t grow up rough either to help mitigate the bomb and gouge style of play.”
- RedWings1: “My 2 cents is that the answer is in the setup of the courses the tour uses. Stop all the fairways from running a 9/10 on the stimpmeter and rolling out another 20, 30 & 40 yards after landing. Set up the fairways much tighter. More strategic off the tee if you will. If I guy has the ability to hit it 300 yards carry and keep it in a tighter fairway – congrats that’s an awesome ability.”
- mokedaddy: “One could easily argue the mental side required now is tougher than in the past. More stimulation, bigger crowds, more money and better fields of players. I definitely agree there are a lot of players that have the physical skill to compete but are a mess between the ears.”
- Beerperhole: “Every time I hear about this I can’t help but think that people are looking to what the top elite do on the course and using it to justify changes to the game as a whole. I’m no WXRr. I get out there and hit him 230 to 280 off the tee. That puts me well past a majority of the other weekend warriors I play with. Still…the courses we are on (from the white tees) still eat me alive. And, it remains that the biggest obstacle to growing the game is how difficult it is. Golf is a hard game. So, maybe we shouldn’t make it harder for all us millions of shlubs who play it for the fun of it. It’s like taking all basketball rims and raising them up to 12 feet…”
Entire Thread: “Tour pro driving distance”