I thought the comments Kostis made on the pod a few weeks ago about the change in equipment making it easier for bigger/taller athletes to play the game was pretty interesting, and not something I had previously considered. It seems like limiting shaft length of any clubs would be pretty unfair to the large fellas.
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I honestly don’t know. I can measure it later today.
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#RefugeAfterDark at its absolute peak
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Other sports have length limits as well. Hockey for example has a limit to how long your stick to be but they have made exceptions to the rule for guys like Zdeno Chara, same could happen for golf
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Broadly speaking, I hope he ushers the game into a healthy, sustainable spot that is available, approachable and affordable for the most people possible. I hope he continues to build the Women’s Open onto more equal footing of the Men’s Open. I hope he builds the myriad of other USGA championships in the public eye, elevating them for what they are—awesome championships that allow the best of the best to compete across age and gender. Selfishly, I hope he leads a multi-organization effort to reign in distance and bring a more compelling style of golf to the men’s professional game which showcases a wider variety of skill and venue. And I guess lastly, that he delivers the USGA to his successor in a much better place than he found it, which kind of encapsulates everything above I guess.
It’s a very simple question with not so simple answers.
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Pretty easy to regulate this. Hockey goalies have pads that are regulated to a certain height, but depending on how tall a goalie is they are allowed X amount of an extension. You could do this for golfers too.
Edit: I see @BigtimePolecat was thinking along the same lines as me.
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What were you guys expecting Whan to say on the podcast? That he’s coming for the equipment manufactures? He’s rolling the ball back immediately? He’s going to start drug testing at the US Open?
He’s been there for less than two months, if he started drastically making sweeping changes like any of the above I would seriously question his decisions.
It was a puff pod and he left lots of doors open. My only disappointment was his brush off of the shitty broadcast. The rest sounded like a guy just starting a new job, it shouldn’t sound like a typical Whan podcast.
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That would have been nice, yes.
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Canadian hive mine
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Some of us want to see the world burn. So yes.
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Fair.
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We’ll find any way we can to tie a conversation back into hockey.
Speaking of which, when Whan said “Canadians talk about hockey like Americans talk about golf”, I - as a proud Canadian - was offended.
We’re WAY more passionate across the board about hockey than Americans across the board are about golf.
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basing it on all of his podcasts I’ve listened to and my limited exposure to his work at the LPGA.
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if that was the case we’d have golf galaxies on every corner like Tim Hortons
Clearly he’s never talked hockey with a Canadian…
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I would have figured a guy who worked at a low-key unreal hockey company like Mission would have known that.
I seemed to be in the minority by not slurping his explanation for why he couldn’t exempt Popov after her Open win with a spoon. Having made mistakes in the past should not mean you can’t rectify one in the present.
He’s a marketing guy. The LPGA clearly needed one of those when he came on board. I’m also not convinced that’s what the USGA needs.
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The main thing Mike Whan can do starting today is ignore this sort of crap. The USGA is first and foremost a governing body, and that means sometimes (often?) doing things people don’t like.
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I mean I woulda started with making one stake color and rule for am play, but to each their own…
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Hell yeah. Everything is OB.
Right?
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