The game has changed

At the highest levels of the game of golf, the game has clearly changed.  I’m guessing Ben Hogan is rolling in his grave at what he is seeing.

On the PGA Tour, as Tiger Woods hinted at in recent days, most emphasis is placed on the driver.  Hit that damn ball as far as you can, and chase it.  If you are having a good week driving the ball, then you’ll cash a nice check.  

Tiger suggested less emphasis is on the cerebral part of the game and the short game.  

I’m not sure about that.  It seems that to be able to compete at the highest levels, you’ve got to have a good short game.

However, I do agree, that there is not a lot of thinking going on out there anymore.  Golfers are not worried so much about proper angles to the pin as they are bombing it as far as possible to put a wedge in their hands.

Pro golfers, with the exception of Bubba Watson, and Tiger, don’t shape their shots much anymore either.  Every shot seems to go dead straight when they are on.

A couple cases in point, both with Justin Thomas.

On Saturday, he holed out a mid-iron approach late in his round of 61.  That ball went dead straight, right at the pin.  Not even a smidgen of curve.

In another instance, he drove the ball in deep rough with a bad angle to the pin, but had a wedge in his hand and was able to control the ball with a shot to within a foot of the hole.  

In the end, JT finished off the BMW Championship at 25 under par, three shots clear of Patrick Cantlay.  The event was held at revered Medinah Country Club in Illinois. 

Hale Irwin tied with Mike Donald at -8 in the 1990 U.S. Open held at Medinah before winning a playoff.  The course was just under 7,200 yards at the time.

Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship in 1999 at Medinah at -11, with the course stretched to about 7,400 yards.

The course is now over 7,650 yards in length, and the tour players still made it look like chip and putt.  

Yes, I get it, the conditions were soft.  Ok, but if they were hitting 3 and 4 irons into those greens, instead of wedges, it would still be a difficult test.  

Some argue that these guys are all just better, bigger and stronger athletes.

Give me a break.  Justin Thomas weighs all of 155 pounds.  Put a persimmon driver in his hand with an old Titleist balata, and he’d be hitting it about 260 in the air if he killed it.  

The game has changed.