Tees. Yes or no? I remember speaking to Sir Nick Faldo a few years ago, and he was unequivocal on this matter: getting rid of golf tees would identify who the best drivers of the golf ball in the world really were.
I can hear your moaning and sighing. “Dinosaur!” “Killjoy!” Still, I agree with Sir Nick in that something should be done at tour level to make driving the ball long and straight more of a test – although I’m pretty sure I’d be in the minority.
Regardless of your view, I’d encourage you to watch the debate below. Please feel free to leave your comments below and/or get in touch with Kick Point hosts Dan Parker and Joe Ferguson.
WATCH: Dan and Joe from Kick Point: The Golf Gear Show discuss what a ban on golf tees would mean for equipment manufacturers (from 08:17)
Joe might not agree with many things Sir Nick says, but he thinks the six-time Major winner is onto something with this.
For the pros, the driver has become very easy to hit. Poor drivers don’t really exist. When Faldo arrived on the scene, he’d tell you that there were only really a handful of players who had the skill and power to separate themselves from the rest – and now everyone is long and straight.
This wasn’t because golf tees weren’t allowed in Faldo’s era – it was down to the size of the driver head, which was significantly smaller. Going back further, they were also made of wood.
Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman… now they were two exceptional drivers of the golf ball.
“When did we start having a small square on the course where you can raise the ball up to whatever height you want to hit to optimize all your statistics?” says Joe, referring of course to perfectly manicured tee boxes.
I’ve done a little research. Wooden pegs started being used widely roughly a century ago. Before then, golfers used to create their own teeing mounds of sand or dirt.
Greg Norman is renowned as one of the greatest ever drivers of the golf ball
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“We’ve gone to 460cc heads, huge MOI numbers, etc, etc, and everyone can hit driver now,” says Joe.
“I think people get bored when it becomes a bit of a putting competition. You still have your Rorys…
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