Phil is his bombastic self in response to the USGA and R&A's Distance Insights report. He says that increased distance is about athleticism and guys hitting the gym. Partly, but he misses the point. Kenny Perry averaged 294.2 yards per drive in 2017 and 271.8 in 1987. Bernhard Langer averaged 280.4 in 2017 compared to 260.3 in 1987. Did they get more athletic in those 30 years? Ball and driver tech has driven this and it only is a problem at the highest levels of the game. When Rory McIlroy hit the 640-yard 16th at Firestone with a 7-iron in 2018 I said enough is enough.
The U.S. Open returns to Winged Foot this summer. The first Open I watched was the “Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974, and I remember Hale Irwin hitting a 2-iron to the final hole when it played to 448 yards. Before the event, future Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins said “the guy who wins is gonna have a hole through the face of his two-iron.”
Two-irons to the green have gone the way of the dodo bird. But what would be more interesting to see: 1) a player faced with a 2-iron shot from a hanging lie over water to a narrow green on the final hole, needing a par to win; or 2) the same player with the same lie with an 8-iron? Put a 2-iron in his or her hand, and let’s see them face a real challenge.
The game has lost some of its challenge when players hit wedges to 450-yard par-4s. I think it is boring and redundant, but most idiots who go to a golf tournament love to see these guys hit it 350. I agree with Jack Nicklaus - the game should be about power and precision, not bomb and gouge.
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