North Carolina State University Athletics
Haynes' World: High Tech Golf
4/26/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 26, 2001
By Tony Haynes
Welcome to the year 2001. We live in an age where modern conveniences like the Internet, DVD players and palm-sized mobile phones are commonplace.
Technological wonders touch our lives every single day, yet we've gotten to the point where we don't even blink when we see gadgets that not very long ago were only seen in futuristic novels.
In the world of sports, perhaps no game has been effected by modern technology more than golf. At a charity golf tournament not long ago, I was playing with a gentleman whose golf bag was filled with more titanium than Dennis Rodman's jewelry box.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe he said that the massive clubhead on his driver also doubled as a two-car garage.
Improvements to golf clubs and golf balls have made the game more enjoyable for average players. But for the more advanced players, the improvements have made some of the best courses in the world almost obsolete.
"This year, we were in a tournament out in Las Vegas that had a driving contest," said veteran NC State golf coach Richard Sykes. "I've got a couple of guys on my team from South Africa that are very long. Ross Wellington was hitting a cut that week, so he wasn't hitting it as far as he can. He got up there and hit it 341 (yards). Garth Mulroy then got up there and hit it 357."
Some of us can't even walk 357 yards, much less hit a golf ball that far. Sykes notes that the equipment improvements have also come at a time when golfers are stronger and more athletic than ever before.
"You can talk about the jacked up ball all you want, but the guys are bigger and stronger and can hit it further. There's nothing you can do about it," said last year's ACC Coach of the Year. "Earlier this year, I was sitting there talking to one of my players as he was getting ready to hit his tee shot on an uphill, 207 yard par three. I'm trying to get him to hit a six iron, but he hits a seven and knocks it up there in the middle of the green. The standard distance for a seven iron used to be 150 yards."
Many of today's top college and professional golfers are bigger and stronger for a reason: they train their bodies like athletes in other sports.
"We didn't do any kind of physical training 10 years ago, now we work out as a team three days a week," Sykes said. "It took me a while to even adjust to it. But now you don't even have to make them do it. It used to be game for short, fat guys like me. Now they're athletes who work out all the time."
That's it. Time for me to go to the gym and add 10 or 20 more yards to my drives. And maybe instead of using my savings on that dream home I've been considering, I'll take the money and spend it on one of those new, high-tech drivers that are so popular these days. Of course, I'll need to rent a moving van just to take it home.
When I told him I was still using old Ben Hogan blade irons that were purchased during the dark ages, Coach Sykes just laughed.
"You have been left in the dust," he said. "You're shooting a set shot while everybody else is shooting a jump shot."
