In our forums, our members have been discussing the comments made recently by Nick Faldo that golf authorities should consider reducing the driver face and removing tee pegs to help minimize driving distance on Tour. Speaking on Geoff Shackelford’s podcast, the Englishman said in regards to the issue of the current driver face:
“If we brought the size of the face down, so there were some serious mis-hits… so the sweet spot for the pro is a real sweet spot, not a sweet face; that’s what it is now. It’s the whole thing!”
On the logic behind removing tee pegs, Faldo stated
“The other simpler way is saying… if we ban tee pegs. If they went and played a tournament with no tee pegs, right? Well, the guys would have to alter their driver. You would be allowed to place it on the grass. Now, they won’t be using (drivers that are) 6-degrees. They’d say, ‘OK, I need 9 (degrees), I need 10, I need one that’s going to get it airborne a bit and get a bit of give in the face.’ That would seriously change it. Sure they could hit a 3-wood… that actually would be your optimum. I’ve just seen Rory’s numbers, still 285 yards through the air [with a 3-wood]… but it’d be a real tough hit to get a driver off the deck.”
Our members have been discussing the ideas put forward by Faldo in our forums.
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.
- Body_Visions: “My favorite player ever, but he is off on this one. Should have just hammered his statement about reducing the face.”
- dalehead: “Well, Nick is right. Banning tees would have the desired effect. Yes, tour pros can hit their 3 wood 275 off the deck. But that’s the idea. They won’t be hitting it 320 with their drivers. But he’s wrong in trying to accomplish this by changing the way the game has been played since its earliest days. Will recreational players still be allowed to tee it up? Talk about bifurcation.”
- EmperorPenguin: “No need to ban the tee. Just make the courses more penal to discourage today’s bomb-and gouge game. From off the tee, the fairways get narrower and the rough deeper. At 300 yards, the fairways narrow to 28 yards with the primary rough at 4″; at 330-360 yards, they narrow to 20 yards and the primary rough at 8″ tall. By all means they are welcome to bomb it at the Emperor’s Course.”
- OldTomMorris: “Not in favour of the “no tee peg” idea but it’s definitely an equipment issue with regards to the overall improvement in driving that Faldo talks about. If it were a choice between “no tee peg” or a rolled backed ball, then the former wouldn’t seem so bad. I wouldn’t want either, but the authorities are going to do something at some point in the near future.”
- Golfingfanatic: “As much as I think that something needs to be done about this issue, removing tees is not the way to go and also not in the spirit of the game if you ask me.”