Ray Floyd Hits the Ball Further at 66 than 55

It's not supposed to work that way.  But, golf technology - particularly the golf ball - has come so far in the past 25 years that this statement is somehow true.  As cockeyed as Floyd's swing was in his finger-gun pointing prime, it has become more limited in recent years.  Despite that, he has gained distance.

Josh Robbins talks to some of the players in the Del Webb Father/Son and basically asked players like Floyd, Langer, and Nicklaus about the state of the game.  In an obvious bait question, all of the players fell hook, line, and sinker when talking about what has changed most in the game.  They almost all said technology...or agronomy.

You've heard Jack's answer to this question a million times.  So here's Ray's:

It's unfortunate that the very top percentile, which is so minuscule, has really benefited. The masses have also benefited, but not to the [same] extent, because they've developed the ball and the club for the high swing speed. So that makes the ball go so much farther. However, the lighter club, the perimeter weighting, has benefited the masses as well. So, where do you draw the parallel? It's benefited everybody, but it's almost making old golf courses obsolete because of what happens exponentially with head speed, the distance the ball goes. ... I'm 66 years old, and I hit the ball farther than I did when I was probably 55.

And agronomy. Greens weren't that good when I first started on the PGA Tour. That's how the game's evolved.

As Geoff Shackelford aptly points out, there's no mention of the grooves regulation.  Then again, this was a clear bait to rail about equipment and the golf ball in particular.  Though the USGA will never admit this, I swear to you that the grooves changes were just a precursor to golf ball changes that will come down the line.  By changing something like grooves - which will provide a temporary impasse to equipment manufacturers - the USGA has bought itself time and a precedent for a more sweeping change to come.