As the owner of a retail golf shop, I take pride in my inventory; pride in golf. I have enjoyed watching clubs evolve into titanium, bigger heads and shafts with more torque. However, with all of this technology being put into golf clubs it leads one to wonder: are golfers today really this good or is it the clubs?
Golf clubs today are designed to give more distance and club-head speed. You’re not going to find that technology in an old hickory shaft club that Ben Hogan was playing. The original players of the game actually had to learn how to hit the golf club. I mean really hit the club. They could put spin on the ball and made their clubs work for them. They didn’t have the luxury of clubs designed with game enhancers, i.e. groove technology to create more spin on the ball. They weren’t hitting 300+ yard drives off the tee box. They actually had to develop a short-game; learn how to get the ball to the green. These guys could hit their irons with more finesse than any guy you see out there today. When’s the last time you heard someone say “so-&-so can play his irons”? I bet you can’t remember. Today, we all watch for the great tee-off shot, a mediocre short-game, finished off with decent putting. The game before technology was compromised of spectacular shots from tee to green. And that’s the bottom line.
That being said, it’s because of the early players, Hagan, Sneed and Hogan, that golf has advanced, becoming what it is today. I admire golfers of today’s game. I am grateful for the technology in place today—almost everyone benefits from it. But I would take Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Walter Hagan over Tiger, Phil and Vijay. Now THAT would be a match-up for the ages…….
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