short fat Scotsman

Simply put, I am 'Mr Ordinary' or, if you wish to be more forgiving, very typical of golfers playing just now. Am recently retired and returned to golf after a 20 years lay off. In that time changes have been phenomenal ........vast improvement in clubs and balls.....but the biggest change has been the introduction of, and reliance on, GPS devices. No longer are course designers able to introduce illusions of distance/proximity of greens or hazards. I now have the time to play and am interested in playing more and improving, in part by use of the new kit and technology. In a former life played off 17 but now, with age and loss of what little suppleness I had, play off 17 or 18 (21 or 22 being a more realistic reflection of my talents but occasional good round flatters to deceive) Playing Golf in the UK, all weather and ground conditions have to be accepted and enjoyed.......as they say, there is worse going on in the world and a bad day on the course is far better than a good day at work or doing chores around the house. For 35 years was a veterinary Orthopaedic Surgeon, so have an appreciation of our anatomy/physiology and an abhorrence of advice or opinion given not backed by rigorously obtained/applied data and appropriate research.......though am quick to buy the next fad as a quick cure to my limited golfing talents! I am a strong believer that the future 'roll back' in balls will have almost zero affect on the vast majority of players and that we will be able to continue enjoying our golf with little interruption. Indeed, for the professionals, further measures will almost certainly need to be required to make current courses still playable/a challenge to the true athletes that play our game.

No big deal. The aim of the game is to get the ball in the hole in as few shots as possible........and fewer than the competition. As long as the competition (amateur or professional) is playing with a ball subject to the same requirements the game is fair. It may be that handicaps will change slightly but so what? Of far greater concern to players is the fairness of competition when the competitor appears to play with a handicap that appears to differ greatly from the level of play being exhibited. There may be some problem initially in ensuring all are playing with the correct ball (and have thrown away all those old,' distance achieving' balls). Would have accepted bifurcation (a lovely word) but doesn't make a great deal of difference (actually none) when it comes down to playing a match against someone else on the same course