Tiger Woods used wound balls the first four months of 2000 and then switched to solid core the rest of the season. Annika Sorenstam, playing her solid-core ball in a tournament in Phoenix, fired the first 59 in the history of women's golf. At Augusta National this year, they raised the driving range fence by 10 feet to keep Masters entrants from hitting balls out of the park and into Washington Road. The ongoing battle among equipment manufacturers to produce hotter clubs and balls disturbs me. I mean, if the circumference of a basketball goal were increased a 16th of an inch, it wouldn't be a big deal, but if the hoop were lowered to 8 feet and made as big as a washtub we'd have a new game.
Golf is a game of integrity.
Players penalize themselves. Cheating is encouraged, even coached, in other sports. A receiver who catches a pass on the short hop will lie through his teeth that it was a clean catch. But golf is different. Now it's almost like the game itself is being cheated.