Springing into action to outlaw big-hitting drivers

Jan 22 2008 by Harold Brough, Liverpool Daily Post

AS THEY say, enough is enough. The R&A have taken action to outlaw some drivers, a move which brings a limit to the distances top players are hitting golf balls and now leaves many club golfers with an expensive, jumbo-sized club they can’t use.

The R&A have been forced into action by the growing concern about the awesome displays off the tee, as the big-hitters sometimes reduce par-fours to a drive and a wedge or indeed just a drive. Many argue the skill factor is going out of the game.

Without action and as technology continues to advance, the professionals and top amateurs will continue to reduce the golf challenge and yet more golf course will become out-of-date, as the players drive the ball far beyond the bunkers, streams and others hazards made, perhaps, in the first half of the last century. Also, without action, more king-sized golf courses are likely to be built. Already courses measuring 7,500 yards have been made which might accommodate the big- hitters but leaves many golfers facing a long, rigorous and time-consuming hike rather than a pleasant game.

So the R&A have set down rules about the spring-like or trampoline-effect of some drivers, together with a limit on the size of club heads. The limits came into operation on January 1.

Graham Tonge, golf club maker and professional at Frodsham, sees this as the first step by the R&A to limit the distances balls are being hit.

He says: “I think the R&A had to do something. The game has gone mad in modern times, even from as recently as when Nick Faldo was winning things.

“Now there are players reaching par-fours with the driver off the tee, a par-five with a drive and a wedge. The crowds may like to see this sort of thing but it almost eliminates the skill factors in the game. I do not think the moves to deal with this will stop with restrictions of drivers. I would not be surprised to see something done in relation to golf balls.”

Meanwhile, golfers have been checking via the R&A website or with their club professional or secretary whether the driver in their bag meets the new rules. Some clubs will put a notice in the locker room. Some may make spot checks on players in competitions. On Merseyside some clubs have asked their members to provide a letter specifically declaring their driver meets the new rules.

With the prize money and other rewards on offer to professionals and top amateurs, they will certainly make sure they are playing within the rules. Yet it seems that many amateurs will not be aware.

Graham Maly, the new secretary of the North Region Professional Golfers Association, suggests it could take months or indeed years for knowledge about the rule to filter right through the amateur game, down to a senior’s four-ball playing a friendly in midweek, as they have for years.

Meanwhile, he suggests that some golfers could face a dilemma if they find one in their group is playing with an illegal driver. It happened at one club on Merseyside within days of the rule coming into operation.

The club reported: “We had a competition at the start of the year and one player had to tell another than the driver he was using did not conform. What made it more difficult was the player with the illegal driver went on to win the competition.

“What do you do? Since it was an unofficial sort of thing it was decided to let it go. But it will be different when we have the club medal later in the month.”

Of course, it is unknown how many golfers have bought drivers which are now outlawed.

Maly says he would like to think his members would not sell an illegal driver. Certainly it would be bad for business for the professional in his club shop. Elsewhere drivers have been on sale with stickers on the face stating that, with effect from January 1 2008, they will be illegal. But there have been outlets, including the Internet, where customers have not been warned. They are among those who have now been left with drivers which cannot be used, other than just hitting golf balls for fun. They do not even have a trade-in value for a legal club.

Graham Tonge says: “You might have paid perhaps £150-£300 for one of these clubs and now they are not worth anything, not even £20. There is now a graveyard of these golf clubs.

“I suppose some will keep their clubs even if they are illegal and indeed some will win competitions using them. But it will not be many. When this rules becomes totally recognised I think, among perhaps 100 golfers, there will be no more than one or two who will continue to use an illegal driver and perhaps unknowingly. It is up to the player to check whether he is in breach of the rules and if so I am sure the huge majority will make sure they are okay. Golf is an honest game.”

The difference between a conforming and non-conforming driver does not seem to be great. Tonge suggests the illegal driver might knock the ball no more than 10 yards further.

So why the effort to declare them illegal? He suggests that while the move does nothing to solve the problems, the farcical situation of some players hitting the ball maybe 400 yards means the ruling on drivers demonstrates the authorities have declared that the limit has been reached.

Tonge thinks golf balls will soon be made which simply do not go as far but that specifications will be made to prevent the manufacture, or at least the legal use, of balls which go even further.

He says: “I think a limit on balls will come in for the professional game. The amateur likes drivers which hit the ball for miles, balls which go great distances, and, at that level it may be okay, good fun. Also from the spectator’s point of view it may be exciting to watch.

“But it is no good for the professional game. I think, frankly, golf is being ruined by what is possible with modern equipment. It is becoming a farce. The limit on drivers is part of the action to show that the limit has been reached.”

Want to check your driver? Ask at your golf club or look at www.randa.org