KARZMER: Are today’s golfers hitting balls too far?

After a vacation, I’m excited about a topic that I feel is pretty relevant these days — distance.

Like most golf fans, I was excited to watch The Players Championship two weeks ago. Jason Day is clearly “World Number 1” for a reason and was a very deserving winner. But watching that Thursday round, I was struck by the defenselessness of The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

I can remember Fuzzy Zoeller waving the white towel back in the early ‘90’s when Greg Norman went low. And I remember hearing the following year that the Tour had hardened the course to prevent scores from going that low in the future.

Fast forward 20-plus years and here we are again — a 63 from Jason Day in round one, multiple 63s-65s throughout the week.

Yes, scores went back up a little on Saturday, but that seemed to be the result of the greens getting away from tour officials more than anything else.

I guess this is all a big lead up to a question that’s been asked now for a number of years.

Are golfers today hitting the ball too far?

At first, the entrepreneurial/capitalistic part of me says of course not. If manufacturers spend their R&D money well and improve upon the last model, then good for them.

And if the players continue to get stronger, fitter, smarter, and continually improve, then good for them as well.

But then the golf traditionalist in me says hold on guys. I think we’re actually losing a part of the game here.

Over the last 15 years I’ve actually lost yardage, especially in my mid to long irons. When I play summer golf (firm and fast) now, yardages and pin positions make a big difference in my approach shots into greens.

Every once in a while I get a perfect yardage to a green light pin, and I know that if I make a good swing, the ball should carry to the correct spot and get somewhat close to the hole.

However, there are also plenty of times when I know 15-20 feet is as close as I can get it. A downwind 170 yard shot to a front pin is just about impossible for me these days. I just don’t hit it high enough or hard enough to fly the ball 168 with enough spin to stop the ball close to the hole.

But I kind of think that’s the way the game is supposed to be played.

But after watching Jason Day and company pick apart that Stadium Course at The Players, I honestly believe these guys can fire at any pin from any yardage.

When Tour players are able to hit 200 yard seven irons that drop straight down from the sky, courses are left indefensible when players get hot.

Unfortunately, I don’t know what the answer is. Maybe that’s just the “norm” and every once in a while we’ll see courses resort to unfortunate “last defense” green conditions like we did at The Players.

Angel Cabrera beat Tiger Woods (when he was actually Tiger Woods) in the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont. I’m very interested to see what score will win in a few weeks.

Oakmont is legendary for being difficult. And I just read an article stating the club plans to quadruple cut and double roll the greens daily.

But if the scores this summer are significantly better than Cabrera’s 285 total (+5), I think it will be the most concrete signal yet that we’ve seen a major shift in the game over the last 10-15 years. I just can’t necessarily say I believe it’s “for the better.”

Jonah Karzmer is a former golf professional who writes a Sunday golf column for The Vindicator. In his spare time he sells commercial insurance and loves getting feedback on his weekly columns via email at Jonah@thekarzmerinsurance.com.