21 wins, with a at least 1 win every year he's been on tour. Quite impressive.

You can still hope that Big Gretch cancels the tournament because she hates golf, but it might be hard for her to do with the whole state averaging something like 300 new cases a day and only 2 deaths yesterday iirc.

At least everybody has canceled fireworks and there won't be any spectators at DGC.

Forecast highs in Detroit above 90 degrees with some light breeze all four days, might feel more like Southern Hills than DGC.

How many weeks in a row is DeChambeau going to play? Guy really is a bot.

You mean like Tiger Woods?

Most athletes play their sport when it is in session and aren’t just chilling at home.

I think it is iffy that Tiger will play the Memorial if it is held with fans.

The PGA Championship isn’t that far away though and he has to start preparing soon.

Agreed. The idea that the NFL is coming back is lol

You can only deprive people of making a living for so long though. Golf seems like an incredibly easy living to make

Interesting that in the midst of a pandemic, you'd find it so laughable for golfers to just use a cart or carry their clubs, rather than expose still more people to the travel etc.

NCAA golfers somehow manage to play competitive golf without a caddie, I think the best in the world can manage it as a minor adjustment to improve safety during a time of national crisis.

NBA players are playing every game in Orlando. MLB has rearranged the schedule to minimize travel. These are tough times, even pro athletes playing for millions may need to make some adjustments.

Since there does not appear to be a better place, I will announce here that I have been added to the mod team for the Golf Forum. It seems that the two "main" mods are missing-in-action.

In case anyone is interested in the sequence of events, I reported a post which SuperMod Mike Haven followed up with me. After exchanging a few PM's and acknowledging that this forum has been essentially mod-less for quite awhile, the idea of my becoming a mod of this forum was raised. MikeH sent the "request" to MatS who made me a mod of this forum earlier today.

This is undoubtedly a forum which does not require active moderation and I do not envision doing much of anything around here (other than the action which I will describe immediately below). The issue I raised in my post report pertained to the discussion of Covid and the PGA Tour. I suggested that the topic probably merits its own thread and the discussion was overwhelming the PGA Tour thread.

Accordingly, my first mod action will be to move posts in this thread pertaining to Covid and the PGA Tour to a newly created thread. The current thread will focus on the golf played on the PGA Tour and the newly created thread will be where discussions of Covid will take place. I imagine that this "split" will not garner universal approval, but I think it is the right thing to do at this time.


eta: I have now completed the move of posts to the new thread starting roughly when the PGA Tour resumed.

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Thank you for taking this step whosnext.

can we nominate our own mod, someone who actually participates in this thread?

there's really nothing worse than getting a mod who isn't active and misses out on context and local thread culture, especially one so ban happy as whosnext

https://www.google.com/amp/s/progolf...-pga-tour/amp/

Another article about how distance is killing the PGA Tour

Weird to think that Jack Nicklaus in his prime would be the shortest hitter on the tour today.

I think it is hyperbole to say though it is hurting the game. Old-timers have been crying about this for years.

Personally I'd like to see some difficult 2nd shots instead of fwedges into every single par 4. Par 5's are just long par 4's now. Dechamblow carrying it 340 today. Comon' man.

Yes when they all drive it 300+ you pretty much need some 500+ yd par 4s to avoid every one being a wedge in.

For ex. the 12th at Detroit GC is a 464 yd Par 4, a monster by most normal accounts. Bryson had 123yds on his approach. Long iron approach shots are a thing of the past.

It's fun watching Bryson bomb it but it's getting a little silly.

It's not all technology.

When I played college golf 30 years ago, there were zero guys out there built like Koepka or DJ. It was almost all average sized guys. And we had no workout program, OK St. started doing aerobics three times a week at that time but no weight training or the like. At 5'10" 145 lbs., I could hit it farther than nearly everybody on my D1 team.

So now we have world class athletes playing on the PGA Tour, guys that spend 2 hours a day in the gym getting stronger and faster. They also swing differently trying to get every yard out of it. Restricting the hip turn, snapping the lead leg, etc.

There should be zero issue with guys like Bryson building his body to hit it farther. Now if Cory Pavin started hitting it 300+........

I totally agree and I was thinking of Corey Pavin when I first started reading your post. You and I are the same age and the golfers on my high school and college team were all like me. Meaning there was no chance we could compete at any other sport. We weren’t ‘athletes’.

These guys are all in a different league now. You still have some ‘smaller’ guys that do ok, but it does seem like even the Justin Leonard’s would have a difficult time competing.

You do have to admit technology (ball included) does play a huuuuuge role.

***”Both par 5's on the back 9 I had a 9 iron in. So that's kind of nice."

- Bryson DeChambeau after his first-round 66

Drives on the back 9 Par 5's today:

376 yards
377 yards***

Come’on!

I can’t even comprehend this. And if it is good or bad for the game.

Like 90+% of it. Plenty of players in the 80's with 125mph swing speed now top guys are 135mph. End of story.
fwiw I'd put 80% of the gain on the ball.

While I certainly haven’t seen any numbers, but I’d highly doubt plenty of guys in the 80’s hit 125mph swing speed. And I don’t think anybody on Tour is consistently in the 130’s.

Yes, the ball is a big reason guys can hit it so far. But perhaps the more interesting discussion would be which is the bigger deal with the ball. Longer distance, straighter flight, less spin.

*Colin Montgomerie: It is time to introduce a new tournament ball to counter Bryson DeChambeau's strength*

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/golf/2020...l-counter/amp/

I didn’t subscribe for the whole article but we all know where this is going. Same exact thing Jack Nicklaus started complaining about when he turned 50.

“We gotta do something about the ball!”

He hasn't even won a tournament since bulking up. This is the longest course they've played since the restart, and it's not like it's all bombers near the top of the leaderboard. Gary Woodland lost 25 lbs during the shut down to try and help his golf game. How about Bryson wins a few tournaments of even competes in a major before labeling him some revolutionary.

I think the issue is whether we want to see every par 4 being driver-wedge, and every par 5 being driver-7 iron. That's where we're heading. It's not just Bryson. Even a guy like Webb Simpson is averaging 298yds and he's one of the shorter hitters on tour (ranked #104), and not exactly a gym specimen.

I think you can compare it somewhat to tennis. The racket technology completely changed the game. It's at video game speeds now. Watch an old Lendl/McEnroe match, it's like they're playing in slow motion.

Who cares? Every sport looks in slow motion from 40 years ago, especially ones that require equipment. What's it matter what a player hits into every hole? Scoring records aren't being broken every day and it's still if not more as entertaining as ever.

I get what you're saying, it's not necessarily better or worse it's just a different game at these distances. Some fans probably love just watching guys bomb the driver. Chicks love the long ball, as they say.

Baseball actually another example... game is now built around home runs and strikeouts. Is that better or worse than the days when more managerial strategy was involved, base stealing, hit and run, etc.? Depends who you ask. But you can't argue it's a different game.

They have been saying that length will ruin the game forever. This is the exact same argument that happened with Tiger. Bryson hasn’t even dominated by any stretch.

I’m going to wait a little longer before passing judgment. Courses can definitely narrow the fairways out over 300 yards. Which they should do.

Totally agree with Revots about tennis. Classic tennis was far more entertaining to watch with seriously cool rallies. Now you can barely see the ball.

FYI - Making courses longer plays into the hands of longer hitters.

Watched Borg v McEnroe 1980 Wimbledon final last night and what you and Revots are saying is totally correct. Way more interesting and varied rallies.


I'll also argue that more long shots into the greens will lead to more separation at the top of the fields as I believe they take the most skill in golf to execute. Par 5's with 9i or less are pure mockery. Besides this has to end somewhere, are they going to allow another 30-40 yds with the driver over the next 10 years? Can we agree it WILL be pure mockery at that point?

Your point regarding the scoring avg is quite hilarious. I've yet see anything that explains the lack of scoring records despite the vastly superior technology being used now. Slightly longer courses and more difficult setups are not enough to explain it. I laugh everytime when Miller describes a hole where he never hit anything less than a 4i when every Joe Schmoe in the field nowadays hits 9i or less.

The takeaway is always that golf is hard no matter what. Co-leader yesterday Kevin Kisner is 5"10 160lbs maybe?

I don’t know who this is in response to but what do you mean lack of scoring records.

Golf is the only sport that I can think of that can just keep expanding the play field to ensure scoring records aren’t dusted. Baseball, basketball, football, etc have to stay within the confines.

It used to be nearly impossible to break 60. Now it is routinely cracked.

I don’t even know what the scoring records are or if anyone cares. You can’t compare course to course.

The only thing being smashed is driving distance. To a shocking degree.