Technology Hasn't Helped Golfers


It probably won't come as a surprise to anyone who works on a golf course, but despite the development of bigger clubheads, longer shafts, hotter golf balls, and more forgiving irons, golf scores haven't improved. At least that's what the New York Times had to say this week.

Reporter Bill Pennington noted that golfers have taken advantage of all sorts of technology from golf balls fly farther, to drivers hit the ball straighter and irons that are easier to swing. He noted that golf courses are more plentiful and maintained better and that instruction is more accessible at the course, and cable television.

"There is even a better golf tee, revamped to let the ball soar longer and more accurately," Pennington wrote.

But then Pennington added, "The only thing in golf that has not changed is the average score for 18 holes. Neither the average weekend player nor the world's best golfers have managed to get the ball in the hole any sooner."

His article lists lots of possible "reasons" why scores haven't improved, but no one really knows for certain.

Maybe the greens are just too fast. To see the entire article, visit, http://www.nytimes.com.

The above news brief appeared in the Divot Mix, an e-publication of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (www.gcsaa.org).