Would Tiger Woods have dominated with old equipment?
Tiger Woods discussed a bunch of equipment issues yesterday. Two quotes caught my eye:
1. "I bring (the old driver) out every now and then and I hit it probably only 10 or 15 yards behind my driver. But when I mishit it, it’s like hitting a 3-iron out there. It goes absolutely nowhere, and that’s the biggest difference.”
2. "I could never swing with Jack’s (Nicklaus) clubs and he couldn’t swing with mine. Everyone’s equipment’s going to be slightly different.”
If you go to the Jack Nicklaus museum, you'll see many of Jack's old clubs. Those clubs were archaic, and it's amazing that the pros back then could even hit those small-headed woods and butter knife irons.
My guess is that, had he played professional golf during the 1970s, Tiger Woods would not have dominated the game as he does today. I don't think those old clubs would have allowed Tiger to get as big distance advantage over others. What do you think?
12 Comments:
This is a great topic, and one we discuss periodically when watching golf on TV. It boils down to how much credit you give equipment.
Will top quality equipment make a hack golfer acceptable? No... it takes work, as you can't buy a swing. But it will make an acceptable golfer better.
I've still got my old persimmon driver, and it looks like a little toy club -- and I know I can't hit it like I can with my current clubs, nor do I want to take the time needed to do it!
I have a feeling that Tiger would play well with whatever clubs he'd be using, as he'd work so much with them so that there'd be very few mishits -- and if he didn't have the huge distance off the tee, he'd make it up elsewhere.
Now, if he'd get handicapped by having to use persimmon woods while everyone else has new technology, there'd be an interesting game :)
At first I thought YES Tiger would dominate.
On 2nd thought, with his swing speed and driving accuracy issues I think he'd be all over the map off the tee with persimmons.
When he first joined the tour his distance awed many people, but nowadays his distance is not what wins tournaments for him. I cant believe you are still talking about Tiger and his incredible distance. Do you even pay attention to his iron shots, let alone his inconceivable short game and putting? Can we get off the distance subject for once?
Actually he would dominate more with bad equipment. Here's why. Modern equipment has turned the game into more of a driver/wedge..driver/wedge activity. It's virtually removed the long iron shot out of the game. For example, anyone will tell you that Nicklaus dominated because he could hit long irons better than anyone. If you read anything about Hogan and Nelson, that is also where they separated themselves from the field.
The only equivalent shot in modern golf is the 250 yard 3 wood shot off the deck into a par 5. Only a few guys, like Mickelson and Woods, can hit them well consistently. That's why they are the best out there. The reason they would dominate more under the old scheme is this. Over a 4 day tournamnent, there are many more opportunities to hit long irons on par 4 and 5 holes, than there are opportunites to hit 3 wood off the deck on par 5's.
To this is what is the most amazing thing about Woods - that he has been able to dominate in an era where the equipment has leveled the playing field by so much.
Tiger's old driver was still metal. The was a big difference even between the Cobra and Persimmon. I think every persimmon balata player would have no problems adjusting to today's equipment. There is no way of knowing how the modern player would do.
Tiger dominates because he is natural athlete and his practice and determination to be the best he can has made him who he is. I believe he would dominate in any decade. He's a golf god and the rest of the PGA will be dealing with him until he hangs it up.
Tiger grew up on that old equipment. Then he adapted to the new equipment, just has Jack and all the senior players have. They're playing better than they have in their lives.
It's all relative. If everyone was playing old equipment, Tiger would still dominate. It's not the new equipment that is giving him his accuracy and feel. And on the putting green, everyone is equal.
The reverse question is just as interesting and valid -- would Jack dominate today if he were young with new equipment?
I think he definitely would have. The greatest always adapt and he is one of the best.
Trevor
www.golfrentalandsales.com
Obviously, there's no real way to tell for sure, but I believe that Tiger would dominate even more so if everyone was using old equipment.
Here's why:
The newer equipment increases the margin of error on shots, that's the entire purpose of all these clubs. They make the mishits more acceptable for everyone. So using older equipment then would obviously benefit whoever has the least amount of missed shots.
That guy is Tiger Woods. He hits the ball purer than anyone out on tour. Obviously, if course conditions (firm fast greens, 20yd wide fairways, 5 inch rough) were held constant, Tiger would not score as low as he does now, but everyone else's drop off would be much more dramatic. Add in the fact that his short game is the best there is, and like it or not, Jack's record probably already would have fallen. That would make a very interesting simulation to translate everyone's game back to old technology.
He's the best no matter what he uses!
unrealgamesonline.com
I would love to see an "old school" tournament where Tiger and the rest of the field played with equipment from the 70's and let the world see how the field would be left in Tigers waste again because of his superior work ethic and ability to adapt and play the game. The new world equipment has brought the rest of the field closer to Tiger. I bet with the old school equipment, his dominance would just be accentuated.
There is no doubt that Tiger would have dominated with the old equipment, just that question in itself is ridiculous. Jack played with old equipment as did everyone else that he faced at the time and he dominated the field, Tiger is using new technology and so is everyone else that he faces. You have to realize that they both, at their times, have and had the same depth of technology as their competitors. If you want to ask that question, why not ask if Jack would have dominated with new technology and everyone else that he played against had the new technology. Tiger is not the only one in the world with this type of technology, Almost everyone else on the PGA Tour has this technology.
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