fixyurdivot

Top of the pot spies! Our family arrived safely and we had a great, relaxing evening. They must be worn out from the drive as we've not seen a stir or heard a peep from the casita . We'll likely take them on a tour of the community and stop at Cimarron GC for today's "pop-up" grill venue featuring pulled pork sandwhich and sides. Have a great start to the week everyone!

This is an interesting comment/point. I could be wrong but it seems to me that, as the years have rolled along, grabbing the stick that gets one closest to or on the green has replaced the once, much more common, layup to a yardage. The SG analysis is partly culpable.

In his younger days, my rancher/neighbor friend in MT used to drive hay trucks through Wyoming... and, way more than once, fretted every white knuckle mile .

Top of the pot spies! Beautiful morning here in AZ, though like yesterday afternoon, will be a bit breezy. My sister and BIL arrive later this afternoon and will be spending the week visiting. Tentative plans to attend the Mecum Auto Auction and a Texas Rangers spring training game but otherwise just hangout. No one else in the family golfs... otherwise that would have certainly made the list . Have a great day!

So what's the current over/under on Rory cashing in? Does he eclipse Rahm's contract if he does? Is he playing hard to get and trying to get Yasir and Norman to the billion threshold? I've been a bit behind on some golf news and scuttlebutt and completely missed this rumor. Clearly the "I'd rather retire than join LIV" stance from earlier seems to have softened a bit based on this quote; "I think at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV golf at the start, and I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realise that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Woods' position." To be honest, I lost some respect for Rory for the manner in which he trashed those who made the choice to join LIV. I am glad to see this change of position.

AK sporting a man-bun-like-doo and currently searching for something that resembles a tour level golf swing. The long layoff is certainly showing. Maybe the welcome back party ran late and Pat Perez was assigned to be his chaparone . I've read that his contract has performance clauses - any details of which I've not been able to find. But it seems clear Norman's decision to award him a contract is quite speculative and largely based on a bet he'll draw interest... the overriding question "will his game return or will this be a train wreck?"

Top of the pot spies! We drew 0652 and 0700 tee times at Granite Falls North this morning... a big shift from our typical 0900-1130 times this time of year. Funny thing is that these will be considered late starts come July - Sept . Spent part of yesterday getting things ready for company next week and I think "the boss" has run out of checklist items... Have a great Friday and weekend everyone!

I'm amazed how many times I make reference to the show and folks have not heard of it.

With the PING B61 having been permanantly retired following the testing of the ER5V, it is now down to two. The Odyssey AI-One Milled Seven T CH continues to be the "go to" but it has had a couple of brief timeouts for bad behaviour since assuming the starting role. You know, until these two were introduced to each other I did not believe inanimate objects could sense a threat or be competitive .

Love it! Just a little duct tape and baling wire and that will be Red Green ready .

Top of the pot spies! Well, I did in fact keep the scoring going at men's league yesterday, with a 77 gross/71 net, tying for 2nd place. My only blem, which cost me outright 1st, was on the par 5 #18 where I managed to use 5 strokes from 67 yards. I'm placing the blame on one of my playing partners who revealed my T1 position as we left the 17th hole... I do not watch our leaderboard. It was a really solid ball striking and putting round. The Odyssey Seven T CH was back in the bag after a brief timeout. With company coming on Sunday, I'm taking River over to PetsMart for a bath then our Honda over to the carwash for a clean-up. Those are the two items I know of on my "honey-do" list... I'm pretty sure there are others I've not yet seen . Have a great day everyone! Edit... Best wishes Jason

Interesting. So another case of those chartered with fixing the problem were (are) the problem. Worse is that it will do nothing to achieve their "stated" goal. TM's CEO, as part of his response to the rollback announcement, stated that they will continue to advance club tech to increase distance and forgiveness. Presuming they and the others have more in the tank, what happens if those improvements/gains and continued physical strength and swing optimization eclipses the 33 feet?

One needs only look at Tiger, Bryson, Rory and many others physical stature transformations, from when they arrived on tour to mid/late career, to see that it is not all club technology. While the club limits have been the same for the past 20 years, their still have advanced gains in distance and forgiveness. Just guessing here but I suspect it's a 70% physical strength/swing optimization and 30% club tech. That means ~23 feet of the "excessive distance" goes to swole and ~10 feet to club tech. So you're thinking the nefarious element is to sell lots of new, neutered balls... then restart the distance race all over again? Nah, they wouldn't do that...would they?

Top of the pot spies! Men's league at 1145 today at Desert Springs. Hopefully I can keep the most recent 78 and 76 scores rolling . I've come to the conclusion that labs like natural sticks, as in tree branch, better than anything money can buy. I now have a stash of them, hidden in shrubs, all along our walking trails... and he knows which shrubs they are in .

Spot on. Those here on the forum who are supporting the rollback and have attempted to explain and defend it have come up worefully short. But that's not surprising when neither the USGA or R&A have been able to defend their ridiculous rule change. "Protect the integrity of the game" is a clever word salad and reminds me of another term that has morphed when the data used to support it is shown to be questionable. Again, even if the tour average driving distance drops 15 yards, they hit more 9i's, and average scores go up X, how does that protect the integrity of the game? To be clear, I'm not opposed to throttling tour level golf hitting distance. I am opposed to a global rule change that adversely affects 99% of golfers and will not, ostensibly, solve anything. To me this seems more a pissing, power match between the ruling bodies, tours, and OEM's in which we have become the collateral fallout and could use an umbrella.

That is just flat out Draconian... I like it . I too think this could be managed and were such consequences in place, word would spread and it would work.

It's a game based on integrity. If folks are prone to cheat the system they will no matter what rules are in place. As such I'm inclined to give very few points for this side of the reasons not to employ the MLR approach. The more I think about it the more I feel the PGAT did us more harm than the stupid, needless ball rollback.

They don't have the resources to monitor conforming drivers, rangefinder settings, and other aspects anyway, so I don't see that as a big issue. I also don't understand the confusion. They employ other MLR's such as lift, clean, and place, sprinkler heads releif around the green, etc. without issue. They show up for the event, get a run down on any rule modifications and play golf... we do it all the time.

But, short of simply freezing tech/specs where they are now, this is the most seamless, less disruptive path IMO. Yes, I know there is the issue with cost of rollback balls that will not be purchased by the masses, but if the RB's and tour gave two $^^t's about those they represent and those that pay to watch them play, it seems a reasonable compromise. I think you are right that the tour will never go for a driver size rollback or like distance reducing changes... so if that's the case, why accept the ball rollback? And while the tour and OEM's may not initate litigation over the ball, I'd bet a kings ransom they will on the other changes.

And, as noted in John Baraba's excellent "Alternatives" article, they are already discussing limiting driver size on tour (basically mini drivers) and possibly fewer than 14 clubs. Those using any modicum of critical thinking about this know that the ball rollback will not safeguard the "integrity of the game". So to all those who abhor the thought of bifurcation, are you also okay with adopting these changes...so you can play like the pros?

Top of the pot spies! Getting ready to take River out for his walk/run then finish the day with a 1300 tee time at Granite Falls North. I tell ya, this retirement schedule is brutal . I also just added uBlock Origin extension (ad blocker) to resolve the sudden increase in forum ad pop ups. It looks to be working (thanks again @TSauer!) Hopefully having this s/w and AdBlocker Plus won't start a fire in the CPU . Have a great start to the week everyone.

Which begs the question "what is the real reason they are doing this?" Is it to reduce average scoring on tour? Will 30 feet shorter drives make Pebble Beach and the Old Course defendable? Will it change "bomb & gouge" from driver/wedge to driver/9i? Ultimately what really changes that will matter to either how the pro game is played, ecomomics of course operations, or otherwise? Will new course layouts get smaller/shorter? This whole vanilla "protect the integrity of the game" seems to be cover for something. If anyone has found some follow-up details from Whan and Slumbers, please share.

If you are trying to be obtuse and confusing, you are doing a good job. What does comparing players from many decades past have to do with this discussion? Should we roll back to the game as it was played by Tom Morris? Would that protect the integrity of the game? Exactly what change do you expect to see in professional tour golf after the rollback takes effect? Here's the bottomline for me. Performance gains at our level are hard fought. I don't want to lose even 1 yard of average distance to solve a perceived problem that I am not part of.

I certainly could Tylor but why be forced to do so for a problem that does not involve us? You do understand that is the crux of my and many others argument regarding the rollback - right? In what other sport are we asked to give up hard earned gains in individual performance? Many of us could increase our odds of earning a sub 70 badge by playing from the most forward tees... but doing so would mean nothing to me. Further, what benefit is there in players moving up tee's for reasons other than losing distance due to aging, injury, etc.? We all can plainly see the black and, to a great degree, blue tees are in pristine condition at most courses. If we all move up a tee to offset rollback, does all this already low use real estate somehow change course layouts, maintenance costs, etc.? This rollback will do nothing in terms of changing the game for pro's and elite amateurs. If it lowered tour scoring averages/round so what? The USGA and R&A are quoted as saying they are doing this "to protect the integrity of the game". The goal of the game is to score as low as possible... or at least we thought so. The ball rollback is a solution in search of a problem... and one with a very nebulous basis at that (exactly what integrity are they protecting?). To your last point, just freeze equipment limits where they are currently. That will leave only player capability as the wildcard which they will never be able to control anyway.

I'd like the samplers pack please, pretty sure you still have my address .