Question:
I really enjoy reading about the early days of our sport. It was nothing at all like it is now. I wonder what the game will be like in another 100 years?
Phil, great question. My guesses would be: 1. Artificial playing surfaces that will make grass obsolete 2. Night golf "under the lights" commonplace to accommodate the increased population and demand 3. Golf courses enclosed under huge domes 4. Technology like we can not comprehend. 300 yard drives commonplace and courses 7000 yards plus to accommodate it Eric "the Hammer"
Response:
1. Artificial playing surfaces that will make grass obsolete
Did you see that blurb in Wired about the new artificial grass? They’re building a course somewhere entirely out of the stuff. I believe they used the same stuff at the arena where my son plays indoor soccer. It’s weird stuff, but it does feel like grass. Even looks like grass until you get really really close. 2. Night golf "under the lights" commonplace to accommodate the increased population and demand
You’d need balls to glow-in-the-dark or something for shots way out in the rough. 3. Golf courses enclosed under huge domes
Ben Hogan and Ben Bova design. Nice…
Response:
I really enjoy reading about the early days of our sport. It was nothing at all like it is now. I wonder what the game will be like in another 100 years? Phil, great question. My guesses would be: 1. Artificial playing surfaces that will make grass obsolete Almost certainly 2. Night golf "under the lights" commonplace to accommodate the increased population and demand Probably 3. Golf courses enclosed under huge domes
Not unless courses get a lot smaller. 4. Technology like we can not comprehend. 300 yard drives commonplace and courses 7000 yards plus to accommodate it
Yes to technology, no to 300 yard drives. I’d predict land will get too expensive to allow full size courses to be affordable, so technology will give us clubs and balls that play and sound just like they do now but go only 1/3 the distance, and compact courses that are easier to light and enclose. It will be a tough sell for players, but when greens fees on a full size course go to several hundred $ a round it’s going to be easier to convince people to go for something more satisfying than a simulator and a lot cheaper. — http://home.att.net/~wamontgomery )
Response:
I really enjoy reading about the early days of our sport. It was nothing at all like it is now. I wonder what the game will be like in another 100 years?
If those of us entrusted with passing on the spirit, tradition, and etiquette of this great game are not swamped by the short-term, self-centred whiners who want to change every rule the moment they or their hero falls foul of it, then the answer is: very much like today.
Response:
I really enjoy reading about the early days of our sport. It was nothing at all like it is now. I wonder what the game will be like in another 100 years? Anyway, I just read a really enjoyable book about the early days of golf: The Greatest Game Ever Played by Mark Frost. A really nice read, I highly recommend it! Maybe later this year when the courses are covered with snow, you can sit in a comfortable chair by the fire with a hot toddy and things used to be. Phil