is Golf easier now than it was 20years ago

In short the answer surely has to be No!

Now strange I might say this especially with the added yardages everyone is eeking out of the game with 460cc clubheads, lighter shafts, higher MOI and thinner faces on clubs giving everyone masses more distance compared to blades and small headed drivers and persimmon woods of yesteryear.

BUT and it is a big but, I read an article in a free publication I picked up the other day at my dads away club, it was called English Club Golfer a type of tabloid paper that's free to golf clubs. In it there was an article on just this subject in it the article spoke about how 20 years ago the average male handicap was 16.1, compared to a survey done last year and the outcome an average of 16.2!

So on average man for man the handicap has gone up 0.1. This may be disproportionate as more people play the game now, but with added technology, better physical condtioning and more access to game improvement material with the t'internet, better run PGA training courses etc surely it should be lower if the game is as so many keep saying easier nowadays!

So to all those saying how they prefer the old game because it was more challenging, the news is there is no old or new game because infact its not on average any easier at all!

What's everyones thoughts on this!!!!

There has been a lot of change in the game over the last twenty years, but one thing that has remained the same for the average golfer is appalling course management and an obsession with distance/the driver. Therefore, its incredibly hard to score well if you aren't planning where to put the ball and it doesn't matter what equipment you use. The same mistakes are made year on year.

Totally agree SR. You'll know from all the time I've been posting I'm a massive advocate of course managment and postion over power.

The reason I posted this really was I find it interesting based on how many people I hear of late saying, "the games so easy now compared to 15years ago etc" or my personal favourtie is when people talk about how much better playes were back then!

I still think its the same thing ball bashing on a range for peoples ego seeing how far they hit it compared to the guy in the next bay!

My tip, spend 2/3s of your time from 120yards and in, including all aspects of short game and watch scores fall when you add this practice to good course management

Totally agree Mav, id say over 90% of my practice is from 120 and 75% of that from within 40 yards. There is nothing more demoralising than seeing your opponent get up and down from a seemingly impossible place.

Most players can hit a decent ball, but what separates a decent golfer from a very good one is the short game, but with all the distance obsessed propaganda about, the majority are too stupid to realise, keeps their profits up not to promote the short game and short game practice.

You only need look at why someone like Mickleson has been near the top so long, ok so he has added a few yards but its always been more about his ability to score from close range.

Same for Donald and he isn't even accurate but 120 and in he's deadly, other end of the Coin Sergio imo one of the best long games around but he can't putt for shit!

I think the lengthening of courses probably has something to do with this. When I started playing as a kid, most courses were in the 6000-6200 yard range. I'd say that the average course length now is probably 6400-6500 yards with most new courses that are being built trying to push beyond 7000 yards. I recently read an article that claimed that a 6500yd course for a club golfer is equivalent to tour pros playing an 8100yd course. Not sure I agree with that claim but maybe goes some way to explaining why handicaps have remained pretty much static.

Also people have less time now to practice , life is busy. It takes longer to drive anywhere , people spend more time as families with Dads more involved with child care.
This might not have an impact on really keen golfers but it will have affected the more casual golfer I think.

D4S: I know the article you mean I to saw that, from memory it was in either a very recent copy of Golf Monthly or todays golfer. But your right we can hit the ball firther but courses are now longer to compensate that.

Diggers: I think that's a very good point highly overlooked, family life does have a huge impact on a golfers ability to improve. The time it takes to practice + time for a couple of rounds a week is something most fathers cannot afford to give up.

Do people have less time now? The day is still the same length. I've always thought was an excuse for the fat to be fat. People probably watch more tv or internet than they did 20 years ago, while there was also the need for family time 20 years ago. I'm sure peoe.could easily fit practice in, especially as there are more facilities than 20 years ago.

Super for a lot of fathers there is a lot less time, especially as many jobs now incorporate weekends into working hours, and being a father now offers more time demands than 20years ago as fathers are now more involved woth their kids than they were.

For example 20years ago, as a kid on our street you'd rarely see kids dads at weekends as they were off playing golf, football, whatever sport they did or down the pub. Mums were always the ones taking kids out to places etc. I know on saturday and sundays my dad would be up the golf club for a good 6 hours a day then come home and pop on grandstand whilst my mum did everything for us kids and he'd goto the range 2 or 3times a week.

Whereas now, fathers are a hell of a lot more involved in the upbringing of their kids on an emotional and time point of view not merely financially. Fathers often have one to one time whilst they give their partners a break on their day off or after work to save mum from pulling her locks out. So time at the range gets sacrificed and many golfers will either play once a week with no practice or just once in a bluemoon because of the demands on their time.

I count myself as one of the lucky ones where I can get the best of both worlds by dedicating a lot of time to golf, but more time to my family and that's thanks to my work schedule, however many are not so lucky to be able to get as much time to practice and play because rightly so family should and does always come first.

Not so sure about that, I see your point and I've seen my friends who have become fathers have their golf time slashed, but for me with no children all that has happened is swapping school for employment and there isn't really much change in the amount of time I have available should I wish to practice. If anything I've perhaps got even more time because the social aspect of my life in terms of going out has taken a hit because all those guys i used to do stuff with are at home doing family stuff.

However saying that I've been a right lazy bastard with practice this year.

More people commute to work now and have longer journey times to get anywhere, certainly in the south east. Maybe not up in Jockland where you are still on horseback.

I don't think commuting has changed that much in twenty years, perhaps forty.

I think I am erring on the side of s_r here. Lifestyles haven't changed that much in the last 20 years, that was only the 1990's for goodness sake. 10 years after the workaholics age of the yuppie.

What Mav seems to be describing, in my opinion, is nearer to 40-50 years ago.

And I can still remember it! what happened 5 minutes ago, is another thing entirely.

Actually that's how things were in my childhood about 25years ago so not fart out.

And life has changed hugely in the past 20years as it does each decade as more constraints are put on families.

But question is for those who remember back more than say 20-30years is gold easier?

I think that it is easier to get a consistant, long, straight strike now than it used to be, yes.

The quality of the balls, clubheads and shafts are immeasurably better now than more than 30 years ago, (I did take an extensive break from the game and only restarted 5-7 years ago).

The emphasis now is on length of shot and not accuracy. Interestingly, I was playing my best golf over 40 years ago, but even with the enforced break, 40 years older and a great deal fatter, I am hitting the ball much longer and straighter than I used to do. I just can't get up and down from 30 yards anymore!

btw Mav, keep your farts in not out.

That's a fair point about driving the ball, would be inclined to agree with that compared to when I started as a junior 15years ago I see so many more people playing from fairways now compared to the amount that used to thrash around the cabbage.

Agreed quality is also massively different in the balls we now use, so much more money in the development of them

as for farts! better out than in they dont pay rent

Maverick wrote:That's a fair point about driving the ball, would be inclined to agree with that compared to when I started as a junior 15years ago I see so many more people playing from fairways now compared to the amount that used to thrash around the cabbage.

Agreed quality is also massively different in the balls we now use, so much more money in the development of them

as for farts! better out than in they dont pay rent

Mind you, even though the fairways are probably not that much wider on older, traditional courses, the 2nd cut and 'cabbage' is far less troublesome. There is however, a lot more water on courses now and..........

snip < 'as for farts! better out than in they dont pay rent' > snip - maybe for you, but not for me!!

Reminds me of that great line from Jack Nicholson in The Bucket List, when he was giving some advice about what to do when you get older:-

"Never pass by a Gents, never waste a hard-on and never trust a fart!"

BCM - that's my favourite film quote of all time! How true

Statistics, statistics ...... But I think all will agree that the equipment today is better, lighter, easier to hit as well as giving more distance. Great shafts, balls and materials all make the game easier for the majority of players. Price of equipment will have also dropped pro rata as well. Its also much easier to get good instruction and of course fitted clubs.

On the other hand there will have been far fewer players 20-years ago as golf was more exclusive. More courses were well managed and maintained as labour costs were lower, so the player of yesteryear will have played in better conditions (Generalisation) and on shorter courses, but would have been a more dedicated player as equipment would have been more expensive pro rata.

I'm not sure I could hit some of the old kit as well as I hit the new stuff, which suggests that it was harder 20-years ago. factor that in with the average handicap of 16 would also suggest that it was harder too, because the players back then were more dedicated compared to many of todays 'social players'?

Yes golf is easier...
Modern technology in the clubs and balls. Definitely easier and more forgiving to hit today's drivers and fairway woods. Also the other long game clubs like hybrids, and cavity backed "game improvement" irons make life easier for the average player.

No it's harder...
Courses today are on average longer. Most courses in the UK have been around for a long time so are no longer then they were 20 or even 70 years ago, however newer courses in my experience are all longer and harder than average. I can think of only 3 courses in my area built in the last 20 years: The Grove, The Shire and Northwick Park. 2 of those are 7000+ yard championship courses and the third is a short course but built to championship standard and very tricky.
Greens are quicker. Am not an expert on this but my gut feel is that improvements in greenkeeping techniques mean that more courses can now maintain Augusta style lightening fast greens. So 100 year old courses were built with slopes in the greens based on slower speeds, and are now much tougher.
Lack of time. Maybe it's me, but it seems my generation works much longer hours than my parents'. It just seems people had more time to practise and play "in the old days".

Actually it's about the same...
So we hit the ball further off the tee, but courses are longer to compensate for this. But really, half of the shots in an average round are on and around the greens. I think I could play a greenside bunker shot equally well with a 20 year old bladed wedge or a brand new one. Putting is all about ability to read the greens and feel, the equipment makes little difference.

A good topic, plenty to think about!

Modern technology might make it easier to hit a ball, but it doesn't do much for your short game which is what really matter in golf as we know.

So people might look better off the tee (even though they generally don't employ course management), but they still stink the place out around the greens.

People will always overestimate how far they hit the ball.

I picked up a golf club in earnest for the first time about 25 years ago.
I found it incredibly hard then and I continue to find it incredubly hard now.