Golf Tips and Golf News

The idea behind changing the rules about golf club grooves was to limit the amount of spin players can get on the ball when playing out the rough, with the intention of forcing players to play more on the fairway. It could be, however, that they new regulations are causing more bad than good as, after being accused of cheating on the grounds on the clubs he was using, Phil Mickelson skipped the WGC Match Play last week. With Tiger Woods out of it as well, this put Steve Stricker at the head of proceedings which, as great a player as he is, isn't exactly going to inspire the golfing world.

It does seem that, as golf technology advances, the game becomes less beautiful to watch. Clubs and balls have advanced to the point that players can now pull off the same shots, no matter what the conditions; nothing ever changes, it is starting to feel like just the same (admittedly impressive) shots over and over. I, for one, miss the days when things like wind speed and direction played a real role in the type of shots even top players had to play. Fairways get tedious after a while; I enjoy seeing people risk the rough for a good approach!



Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell agrees with me (or would do, if he knew I existed) that changes in the rules and advancement in technology may be creating more problems than solutions. "It’s caused a lot of bad press and bad publicity and cost the manufacturers a lot of money and the players a lot of headaches" he said recently, going on to mentioned he feels, "The days of the shotmaker are nearly dead...a lot of golf courses today really favour guys like Quirós who fly it 350 yards off the tee, which I think is a bit of a shame."