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Say you want a revolution? Solid-core ball diminishes Tiger's dominance
Updated: Friday March 02, 2001 1:41 PM
I've been spinning this around in my head for awhile, but the end of a nutty West Coast swing has left me with a rare clarity. Flexing some analytical muscles that had atrophied since my SAT prep class, I have finally realized how these seemingly unrelated factoids are, in fact, inextricably linked: 1) Nine winners in as many tournaments so far in 2001.
2) A bevy of broken scoring records. 3) Tiger's quote quote-unquote slump. What's the connection? It's the ball, stupid. More to the point, the new solid-core golf ball has dramatically altered the landscape of the PGA Tour. This new stone is as much an advance in technology as the invention of the lob wedge, or the transition from wood to metal. Tiger gave the solid ball all the legitimacy it needed last summer, when his rampage in the majors coincided with his switch to Nike's solid ball. In the fall Titleist introduced its own version, and golf hasn't been the same since. It's funny to hear the revisionist history being told on Tour these days. I was talking to Titleist guy Davis Love III last week at the L.A. Open (more on him next time around), and he told me, "Last summer Tiger had the ball that we all wanted. We were dying to get our hands on it but we had to wait for our turn. The first time I put it in play was the Invesys Classic, and when I got to Las Vegas I was jacked up. It was a new toy, a new excitement. I kept hitting it into the lake and found out this ball doesn't float any better than the old one, but you get the point. The ball has a leap forward, and we're still seeing the effects. Look at Phil [Mickelson]. When he got the new ball he went over the top. Now we've got the perceived advantage, and sometimes that perception can make you play better." This is a mind-bending quote on a couple of levels. First of all, there is the implication that much of Woods' record success last year had to do with his rock. The way he was playing -- and, especially, putting -- I think he could have swept the majors playing a gutta percha. Then again, Love is correct that Woods' advantage was curtailed significantly once the bulk of the PGA Tour got ahold of a solid ball.]. Mickelson and Love are now nearly as long as young Eldrick. Short-hitters have benefited even more. Following Woods' epic win at the 1997 Masters there was much boneheaded discussion about "Tiger-proofing" golf courses by making them longer, and harder. The whole notion was laughable. The longer and harder the course, the bigger Woods' advantage. He is at his most dominant in tough conditions, on difficult courses. If you want to Tiger-proof golf courses, make them shorter and easier, so everyone can go low. In essence, that's what the new ball has done. Look at the recent success of short knockers like Jim Furyk or Brad Faxon, who swept Hawaii this year, or Joe Durant, who set a bunch of Tour records at the Hope. Faxon, who set a tournament record at the Sony Open, claims to be getting another 20 yards with his new ball/driver combination. The impact of this can't be understated. Faxon isn't swinging any better than he ever has, but he is hitting it much closer because he has a 7-iron into every par-4 instead of a 5-iron, or a wedge instead of a 7-iron. (Now that Faxon will comfortably be able to reach the back-nine par-5s at Augusta National, look for him to make a serious run at what Johnny Miller used to call the "Annual Spring Putting Contest.") So, all of this is a long way of saying that when Woods claims he isn't in a slump, believe him. The game has simply changed in the last six months, and the result is that everyone else has caught up a little bit. Sports Illustrated senior writer Alan Shipnuck periodically waxes about life
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