Sources:
In Nelson's book Winning Golf he describes the skills and techniques that a golfer must learn and master in order to be good. In his book he has a chapter on playing with fairway woods and another chapter on playing with long irons. I want to take the advice he gives about playing with equipment that he was comfortable with and compare it with advice that golf experts today give about hitting woods and long irons. He also gives insight on how to hit an intentional hook or slice and I want to compare that with clubs today that are already made for the golfer to hit a draw or fade.
Hogan, Ben. Power Golf. New York: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1948
Hogan writes about many different phases of the game of golf in his book Power Golf. One specific thing that he writes about is to how to hit wood shots for distance. He says that an average three wood for him would be 235 yards and I want to compare that to pros today who hit their three woods much further. Hogan talks about when and where he uses his three wood and his four wood. I want to compare that to golfers today that have utility clubs that can be used in the place of several clubs that Hogan was forced to carry.
Martin, John. The Curious History of the Golf Ball Mankind's Most Fascinating Sphere:
New York, Horizon Press, 1968
In his book The Curious History of the Golf Ball Mankind's Most Fascinating Sphere John Martin describes the advances in the technology of the golf ball up until 1968. I want to use his book to compare all the aspects of the golf ball of forty years ago to today's modern golf ball. I want to see what has changed in the core of the golf ball and how companies like Callaway have designed the dimples on the outside to be more aerodynamic. I want to use Martin's book to describe how the golf balls of 1968 differ in bounce with those of today. I also want to explore how golf balls were made with goals in mind. Like today how some balls are made to land softly and spin and others are built for distance.
Cornish, Geoffrey, and Ronald E. Whitten. The Golf Course. New York: The Rutledge Press,
1981
In the book The Golf Course, Geoffrey S. Cornish and Ronald E. Whitten describe the origins and the history of the golf course. I wish to use their novel to demonstrate how the technology of clubs and balls has affected the design of golf courses. Many courses like Augusta have been lengthened because of club technology and I want to compare the shape of today's courses to those of fifty and a hundred years ago. I want to compare the average length of a par 4 fifty years ago to the average length of par fours today. With this book I want to see what golf course designers like Robert Trent Jones have done to accommodate changes in technology and whether or not course designers support new technology.
The Official Site of the USGA. 24 October. 2008. The United States Golfing Association. 24
October. 2008 <http://www.usga.org/home/index.html>
I want to use the USGA for a lot of my arguments against modern technology in golf. I will use the site for rules and limitations that it has put on golf clubs, like driver head size, in order to show how they have tried to put a restriction on technology in the game. I also want to see how, today's handicaps compare with handicaps in the 19th century. I want to use the USGA to see how technology has affected course management and if it is for the better or worse. Finally I wish to explore the records that the USGA keeps of modern golfers and compare them with the records of golfers twenty and fifty years ago to see what role improvement in technology has played in scores.
Golf Digest. 24 October. 2008. Golf Digest Magazine. 24 October. 2008.
<http://www.golfdigest.com/>
I want to use Golf Digest in my paper because it is probably the leading source in modern golf news. It gives everything from player rankings to average driving distance. I would like to use this source to see how modern professional golfers respond to new technology, whether or not there should be a limit to it, and if it is detrimental to the game of golf. I will also use it to compare the latest technology in clubs like the FT-I Callaway Driver and golf balls to standard clubs twenty and fifty years ago. Golf Digest will be useful for understanding how the modern average golfer responds to new technology and if he thinks it is fair.
Golf Pro
I am working on getting an interview with a local golf pro.
Hi Ellis,
You have some good sources to start. You have info from older golfers, so you might also want to consider getting info from younger pros who are playing with the more advanced clubs to compare their opinions. Also consider doing a search on "golf clubs" and technology in the Applied Science & Technology Abstracts database (from the library's Indexes & Databases page) for articles on the advances in the clubs.