The USGA has lost its' Clout

[Geoff]

When it comes to equipment discussions I am always reminded of a conversation I had with Frank Thomas, technical director if the USGA for 25 years until 2000. During a 19th hole he mentioned of the 20,000 decisions he had to make over equipment issues, the only time he was overuled by the executive board was over the long putter. Frank did not believe it was “golf” and the committee overruled him for one reason, the POTUS (George H Bush) was using one and they did not want to offend him. The following quote, to me, reeks of the same odor. It is from a Golf DIgest article about Frank just after his passing in 2021.

In the mid-1990s, Thomas saw the approach of thin-faced titanium drivers and realized the game was at a kind of crossroads. The thinner faces, Thomas believed, violated the earlier rule he had written to prevent metal drivers from having a spring-like effect. While he said he privately advocated the drivers be disallowed after demonstrating the spring-like effect existed, he helped develop a limit on “coefficient of restitution” in 1998 that was in line with where drivers were at the time. He wrote in Just Hit It, “I was a little upset at being asked to compromise the enforcement of a rule I had written, and especially at being told that I was not really interpreting it correctly. Perhaps I should have just accepted it and kept my mouth shut. This is not my nature.”

Frank retired from the USGA two years later, and the key to the hen house was given to Dick Rugge, a Taylor Made guy.

[lagpressure]

Ok, this is fascinating..

I have been waiting for this day for some kind of explanation from behind the steel curtain of what happened to golf. This sounds like the smoking gun….

[boudie]

Sadly it is all about money. I know many golfers who are like crack addicts waiting for the next driver so they can get an edge. It is really pathetic. Meanwhile these manufacturers laugh to the bank. I know guys who buy clubs e

That is why the USGA is not talking about the drivers. Ball sales wont be effected. If the myth that the driver wont gain you yardage and is small and/or wooden then money lost. Its like most sports now.

[Blades4life]

That Pandora’s box is open now and the OEMs will never roll back equipment at this point, matter fact I think they would get so much push back from today’s players also. I think they had one real opportunity and that was mid to late 1990s and they missed that window. At this point the only way to protect the golf courses is through making them play like a US Open every week and I think that would be a slug fest like David Duval said once no one wants to see the best players in the world beat up week after week after week.

It would take a very bold and courageous commissioner to turn back the clock and I feel the lobbyist of the companies and technology would win that battle.

I think the best we can do is celebrate classic golf and share how great it is with everyone we talk to about golf. But there is a caveat, we have to show our love for classic golf without bashing modern golf at the same time. It’s easier to catch bees with honey than poop. Again I can’t over emphasize how important it is to show our love for classic golf while not demeaning modern golf in the same breath.

Cheers

[lagpressure]

Classic Golf and Modern golf are two different games.. like baseball and softball, chess or checkers, tennis or badminton or even ping pong.

The problem is with the modern game because THEY WON’T acknowledge that classic golf is a different game.

The classic game players, persimmon players of course acknowledge this.. but the modern players won’t. This is the heart of the issue… the problem.

They ruin our classic courses, they steal course records, tournament records, force their version of golf upon the classic players, take away our golf ball, spikes on our shoes… and you can’t even purchase a new set of irons 2-PW.

They have taken the position of complete disrespect, don’t respect their elders, and use technology as a rationale for their dismissive behavior.

That being said, and I am not wrong here… there is room for both games to exist. They don’t want the classic game to exist. They want it gone, out of sight and out of mind. I have no problem with the modern game existing. Play the game you want, but don’t shove the modern game down my throat as if I have no other option.

With the ball rollback nonsense, they have admitted their mistake, and now the door is wide open for an alternative option.

The USGA needs to be put on notice that they are NOT the final word on the game of golf. It’s too precious of a game to be in the hands of a monopolistic organization that has failed completely to do their job and protect the integrity of the game.

The history of golf has not been written yet. It’s history is fluid and in motion and being written as we speak. Even Gary Player recently said modern golf needs to be called something else. Nicklaus in 2012 said the rules of golf need to be completely rewritten. Peter Tompson said go back to persimmon. USGA ignores and pretends they are the sole voice of the game.

They are not.