Everyone wants to hit the ball further, and it seems like every club manufacturer is always promoting some new driver technology that increases distance.  But how much distance has actually been gained by improved club technology?

I stumbled upon this Youtube video, done by the Discovery Channel in St Andrews, that looked at the myth of golf club technology.

Don’t be tricked into purchasing the latest distance driver from Taylormade or Callaway or whoever. As you can see from the video, it really doesn’t matter what golf clubs you play, they all go roughly the same distance, but it’s the improvements in golf ball technology over the years that has made the biggest difference in hitting the ball further. The new clubs might be slightly more forgiving, but they aren’t going to help you hit the ball further. Use your money to truly improve your game by taking some lessons.

If you are looking for a fantasy golf league to join, feel free to join thebestdamngolfsiteperiod Yahoo Fantasy Golf group.

Sign up at the Yahoo Fantasy Golf front page and join the group with the ID and password.

Group ID#: 2750
Password: caddyshack

The first tournament for the Yahoo Fantasy Golf season is the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, January 9, 2015, and the pool runs through the Tour Championship.

Good Luck

In a recent article on the BBC Sport, world number one Rory McIlroy states that he thinks the best way to attract more young players would be to speed up the pace of the game.

In the article they say “Sport England figures show that the number of 16-25-year-olds playing the game regularly almost halved between 2009-10 and 2012-13”.  McIlroy says that “Everything’s so instant now and everyone doesn’t have as much time as they used to,” and “So you maybe try some way of speeding the game up.” He also “The viewership in golf is up but the participation is down” and “People enjoy watching the game but gone are the days that you could spend five or six hours on a golf course.”

I think these are all good points, until Rory finally said that he would be all for it, as long as they don’t change “…tournament-play formats, I think that works very well. It’s the grass roots… definitely not at our level.”

So Rory is saying that golf takes to long and there should be changes to the game to speed it up, so long as it doesn’t change for him and the other pros.

What are some ways that golf could be improved in order include more young golfers?

• Cost. Playing golf is expensive.  It is rare to play a course where the green fees are less than $50.  That’s a lot of dough.  And then there is cart fees, golf balls, food, gas…that’s close to $100 per person for the joy of a 6 hour round (and that’s at the cheaper courses).  A membership would be at least a couple of thousand dollars. And then there is equipment.  After a half decent set of irons, driver, fairway wood, sand wedge, putter, bag and shoes, you’re pushing several hundred dollars before you even hit a ball.
• Speed up play.  This would be great. 5 hours on the course, plus an hour or so of travel to and from the course, that makes for a long day.  However it only takes one group playing slow to slow down the course for the entire day.  Maybe golf needs a shot clock.
• Another way to speed up play, move up to the shorter tees.  For most courses I play the playing from tips is usually too much for me, as it is for most people.  I often see golfers way overmatched by the course.  How fun is it to struggle to break 90 or 100 from the tips, rather than trying to break 80 from the tees that are appropriate for your skill level? Play would speed up if they just stopped allowing people to play from the back tees, or if all players in the group played from the tees that are appropriate for the weakest player in the group instead of making the poor guy play from the back. Put your egos in check guys, and you might actually enjoy yourself, and you’ll get around the course faster too.

Which one of these things chases away young people the most?  Definitely the cost. If the golf courses and industry were really serious about growing the game for younger players, cutting the cost would have the biggest impact.  I know I would love to be a member at a club, but for the amount of time I would have to play, I can’t justify the money. And I am not sure if I were just starting out in the game today that I would be willing to make the necessary equipment investment.

Tiger Woods returned to competitive golf at his own tournament, the Hero World Challenge, held at his old home course in Florida.  He was showing off his new swing, but a LOT of rust in his short game as he flat-out chunked 9 chips over the tournament (including 4 in the first round).

Chunked chips aside, I think Tiger played pretty well even though he also missed his fair share of putts (which has been a trend for a number of years now). If you take away Tiger’s chunked chips he would finish tied for 8th place at -9, which would be a pretty respectable showing. As it is, he finished tied with Hunter Mahan for last at even par.

Oh yeah, Jordan Spieth won the event, shooting -26, 10 shots clear of Henrik Stenson.

Luke Donald was chased by a baboon during the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.

I guess the baboon wanted to play through Donald’s group.