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To get right to the point, there are no shotmakers in golf today.  None!

Moe Norman's shotmaking was "genius!"

Ok, I hear that Bubba Watson likes to work his shots and Jack Nicklaus shared with me that Tiger has all the shots and is not afraid to use them, but they are the exceptions.  Effectively, golf shotmaking has disappeared in all the men’s and women’s circuits.  It’s not the skills that have improved – no way.  It’s the equipment!

The longer and straighter flying golf ball has robbed today’s great players of revealing and displaying their talents.  As the last of the notable shotmakers, Corey Pavin, is about to become eligible to join other former creditable shotmakers on the Champions Tour, but even that Tour really has no shot-makers anymore because the equipment won’t allow it.

Today, there are no doubt many gifted athletes who would emerge as legendary shotmakers in the company of greats like Ben Hogan, Tommy Bolt, Moe Norman, Chi Chi Rodriquez, Lee Trevino, George Knudsen, Ken Venturi, and others, but unfortunately we will never know who they are.

When I witness the skill and imagination of Phil Mickelson with his short game, he might be a good candidate.  Yes, Jack Nicklaus recently confided to me that Tiger Woods is one of the very few contemporary players who has all the shots and is willing to hit them under pressure, so he likely would be considered a great shotmaker, but he, too, will never come to the forefront because of the equipment.

Men in their fifties and sixties now routinely hit drives 25-30 yards further and straighter than they did during their physical prime and that distance also carries over to their iron play.  Not only does the ball go further, it doesn’t curve nearly as much.  While some claim that they are swinging better, the real reason is the golf ball.  Give a wonderful senior player like Jay Haas the same equipment that he used in the 70s and early 80s, and see if what numbers and statistics he would post.  The same goes for the elite women and junior golfers as well.  The ball has turned the game for the better player into a two-dimensional one, power and putting.  And I don’t blame a single modern player, and I’m just as guilty in wanted to hit the ball better.

Tom Weiskopf was a truly prodigious driver of the golf ball.  He said, “You know, awhile ago I got one of those chewing gum cards to autograph and the stat of my average drive was 275.3,” he continues. “That was from my last three years on tour, which is when they started taking those statistics. I was in my prime then, and one of the longest hitters out there. Now, you’re telling me that today’s players are 40 or 50 yards longer than I was. B——t.  It’s today’s ball more than the composite clubhead and golf ball, the graphite shaft, the pushups and weight lifting.

Very few today would outdrive Jack Nicklaus using his equipment!

Putting and the short game has always been critical to playing a complete game of golf, but the equipment has taken a great element of skill from the game and a large element of excitement from the professional one.  Particularly at the professional levels, the ball has bunched many players of varying skills together, making the bombing and putting game virtually all that matters.  Said Tom Kite, “If the manufacturers continue to run the game, I think the game is in for a long, tough road. The rule-making body (USGA) is not making rules for the game. The manufacturers are, and their No. 1 goal is to sell product. Everything is based on speed. It’s not based on ball striking.

You really can’t blame the manufacturers who are scrambling to remain viable in an industry that is not growing, but that is where someone else has to protect the integrity of the game.

Who is to fault?  The administrators of the game are to blame.  Poor leadership through the 80s and 90s allowed things to get out of hand.  Though I hope to continue to have friends within the United States Golf Association, I must state that they have done a deplorable job in monitoring the game and the once influential PGA of America has shrunk from taking any leadership issue on the matter.  That leaves the PGA TOUR as the 800-lb. gorilla.  Do you think they care?

Irish golf course architect Pat Ruddy says, “After these guys have driven the ball they have consumed over 70 per cent of the golf course.” There’s nothing left. One club, the driver, is attacking the entire values of the game. What are we, as architects, to do? How about growing long grass from the green back towards the tee, so that they have to hit a wedge first and then a three-wood into the green? Or have 10-mile long courses? These tee shots have wiped out five or six clubs from the bag.”

So big deal that the USGA has outlawed square grooves on the irons.  That hasn’t translated at all to the distance or sidespin issues.  They are probably afraid of litigation.

This is a bigger problem than just affects the professional golf and TV ratings; it is straining the game.  Longer golf courses require more land, and on average more water to irrigate that larger land area.  As water will become scarcer in the future, more and more courses will be unsustainable.

It is no secret that professional golf drives the industry, and courses that attempt to challenge the expert players will not only be less friendly to the average player with longer rounds and more attrition, but the land, water, maintenance of these bigger properties will also mean higher costs and in turn higher fees to play our beloved game.   If the USGA and PGA of America won’t show leadership, that leaves the PGA TOUR who could and show us that in fact they do care by rolling back the distance and increasing  the spin of the ball that is played on their tour to at least the 1990s levels.

Hey, anyone know where I can get some of those longer balls just for me?