onefrombills
07-03-2009, 03:11 AM
A little publicized change in the PGA Tour should be making headlines in the PBA. Or at least initiate some constructive conversation. If you haven’t heard of it or read about it by now, effective January 1st, 2010, the PGA Tour will be rolling back technology by eliminating certain aspects of groove technology in golf clubs.
Without going into extensive amounts of detail, the grooves on the face of a golf club create spin so the golfer can better control the ball’s trajectory and how quickly it stops when it hits the ground. The ability to spin the ball made other aspects of the game (like hitting the fairway from the tee box) less important. This new rule will reduce the amount of spin that players will be able to generate on the ball, therefore putting a premium on the accuracy of the shots you make on the Tee Box and increasing the penalty for hitting the ball into the rough or the sand.
In case you’re wondering, some guy named Tiger Woods agrees with this new rule.
Though the rule wouldn’t be fully implemented into recreational golf until 2024, it would be fully implemented into US Amateur events by 2014. Meaning, if you plan on moving up to the PGA, you better start playing in accordance with the new rules now.
The 14 years between now and full implementation in the recreational game is designed to slowly eliminate these clubs from the game. By 2024, anyone who plays golf should be playing in accordance with the new rule unless they insist on using a 14-year old set of clubs.
And what do the manufacturers have to say about it? They don’t like it, but to make money and to sell product in years to come, they’ll need to fit within the rules. The PGA and USGA pretty much just told them to deal with it.
So what does that mean for bowling?
Well, it should spawn some debate. Is it time for the PBA and the USBC to start rolling back technology and restore a greater degree of scoring integrity in the game?
Quite honestly, a new rule wouldn’t be hard to implement for the PBA. The PBA has its own set of rules and could simply start limiting the amount of surface you can put on a bowling ball in PBA competition. There is no question that surface on the bowling ball is the key component in the manipulation of the lane conditions which usually leads to even relatively difficult patterns quickly becoming a score-fest. There is no question that the surface on your bowling ball is the key component to your bowling ball’s reaction. Why is it we see players throwing 60-grit sanded balls down the lane during practice time (with little or no intention of using this ball once competition starts), but we never see Tiger Woods out on his John Deere mowing the rough to fairway length before a round?
This is a critical time in bowling. The perception among numerous sports fans with any decent knowledge of the sport is that the technology has made scoring way too easy. Whose responsibility is it to be the leader in reducing the effect technology has on our game? Who’s going to be the leader in ensuring that skill is the most important quality in determining greatness, rather than technical/equipment knowledge? And who’s going to be left even further behind as golf takes steps to restore its own scoring integrity?
Without going into extensive amounts of detail, the grooves on the face of a golf club create spin so the golfer can better control the ball’s trajectory and how quickly it stops when it hits the ground. The ability to spin the ball made other aspects of the game (like hitting the fairway from the tee box) less important. This new rule will reduce the amount of spin that players will be able to generate on the ball, therefore putting a premium on the accuracy of the shots you make on the Tee Box and increasing the penalty for hitting the ball into the rough or the sand.
In case you’re wondering, some guy named Tiger Woods agrees with this new rule.
Though the rule wouldn’t be fully implemented into recreational golf until 2024, it would be fully implemented into US Amateur events by 2014. Meaning, if you plan on moving up to the PGA, you better start playing in accordance with the new rules now.
The 14 years between now and full implementation in the recreational game is designed to slowly eliminate these clubs from the game. By 2024, anyone who plays golf should be playing in accordance with the new rule unless they insist on using a 14-year old set of clubs.
And what do the manufacturers have to say about it? They don’t like it, but to make money and to sell product in years to come, they’ll need to fit within the rules. The PGA and USGA pretty much just told them to deal with it.
So what does that mean for bowling?
Well, it should spawn some debate. Is it time for the PBA and the USBC to start rolling back technology and restore a greater degree of scoring integrity in the game?
Quite honestly, a new rule wouldn’t be hard to implement for the PBA. The PBA has its own set of rules and could simply start limiting the amount of surface you can put on a bowling ball in PBA competition. There is no question that surface on the bowling ball is the key component in the manipulation of the lane conditions which usually leads to even relatively difficult patterns quickly becoming a score-fest. There is no question that the surface on your bowling ball is the key component to your bowling ball’s reaction. Why is it we see players throwing 60-grit sanded balls down the lane during practice time (with little or no intention of using this ball once competition starts), but we never see Tiger Woods out on his John Deere mowing the rough to fairway length before a round?
This is a critical time in bowling. The perception among numerous sports fans with any decent knowledge of the sport is that the technology has made scoring way too easy. Whose responsibility is it to be the leader in reducing the effect technology has on our game? Who’s going to be the leader in ensuring that skill is the most important quality in determining greatness, rather than technical/equipment knowledge? And who’s going to be left even further behind as golf takes steps to restore its own scoring integrity?