Some of the changes over time have been slow and minor while other evolutions were revolutions.

Here’s my list of nine of the most important advancements in golf history.

Dimples on golf balls

The golf ball has really changed over time. From leather-covered “featheries” to wooden balls, to gutta-percha balls, few advancements rival the addition of dimples to the ball in the early 20th century. Prior to that, balls were smooth. Eventually players realized that as gutta-percha balls got nicked up they actually traveled further.

In 1908 William Taylor patented a dimpled golf ball in England. The patent was captured in the United States in 1918 and dimpled balls were manufactured by Spalding.

The dimple patterns on balls reduce drag for more distance. Since the first intentionally dimpled balls, the the concept has become a serious science with ball manufacturers putting a lot of effort into development of dimple patterns that provide the most distance, accuracy, and control.

Codified Rules of Golf

In the beginning there was chaos. Rules varied from place to place, like the virtually infinite variation of play in home poker games. That started to change with the first written rules in 1744.

The United States Golf Association (USGA) formed in 1894 and began issuing rulings on various topics. In 1897 the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) formed its first rules committee.

It all came together in 1952 when the USGA and R&A came together to issue the first world-wide set of rules of golf. This meant that the game of golf would then be uniform all over the world. A player from any part of the world can play anywhere else and have a complete understanding of the game. Since 1952, the USGA and R&A convene every four years for the purpose of updating the rules and keeping them uniform all over the world.

Steel shafts

Prior to steel, club shafts were made of hickory. The wooden shafts were notoriously brittle and they would commonly break. Steel shafts meant that players could really start swinging hard when they needed to, without fear that their hickory shafts would blow apart. Also, steel shafts could be manufactured to very tight specifications, meaning clubs would react very similarly.

In 1924, the USGA approved the use of steel shafts in clubs and in 1927, American Fork and Hoe, which would later become True Temper, perfected and patented the stepped steel shaft, which is still widely used today.

Graphite Shafts

Steel was a big leap from hickory and graphite was nearly as big a jump from steel.

Jim Flood is credited with developing early graphite shafts from carbon fiber he saw being applied in other industries. In 1972, he founded Aldila.

Today, drivers are shafted almost exclusively with graphite composites because their light weight compared with steel helps players generate the maximum club head speed, which directly correlates to distance. Being both light and strong is a big advantage.

Though less common, graphite shafts in irons are popular among players who may lack the strength to maximize club head speed in heavier steel-shafted irons.

Metal Woods

Metal headed woods were used sporadically prior to 1979, but that’s when the revolution occurred. That year, Gary Adams founded Taylor Made and unveiled his new metal 1-wood at the PGA Merchandise Show. It quickly gained popularity and when Jim Simons won the 1982 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am using a Taylor Made metal driver, there was no going back. The days of the persimmon woods were numbered.

Metal heads have continued to evolve, eventually into titanium and more recently into exotic composites, most likely the next revolution in club head materials.

The Modern Sand Wedge

Gene Sarazen was credited with its invention in 1930 after a flying lesson with Howard Hughes. He noticed how the plane’s rudder flowed through the air and realized that a heavy club with a wide flange and extra bounce would skid through the sand without digging.

Prior to that, there were sand clubs with concave faces that resembled spoons and let players scoop the balls out of the sand. Most were not allowed by the USGA and clubs with concave faces were finally banned in 1931, making way for Sarazen’s invention. His wedge ushered in a whole new era of control from the sand.

Computerized Launch Analysis

Launch analysis was previously reserved for the game’s elite. Now it’s available for the average player. It allows a player’s swing to be measured in every conceivable way and have equipment fitted that perfectly matches the individual’s swing characteristics. Things like shaft flex, shaft weighting, length, lie, loft, and other characteristics can be tuned like never before, allowing a player to milk every bit of control, distance, and forgiveness out of his clubs.

The days of mismatched equipment are over. At least they can be for most players.

Golf on Television

The first televised golf tournament was the 1947 U.S. Open, shown on a local broadcast. The first national telecast followed shortly thereafter in 1953 when the Tam O’Shanter World Championship was shown on ABC.

In the 1950′s, Arnold Palmer became a household name through the publicity that televised broadcasts provided. That trend continued through the 20th century that eventually culminated with the launch of a fledgling television network dedicated exclusively to Golf. Now, after about ten years, The Golf Channel is available in some 75 million homes.

That was right around the time that the Tiger Woods era started and his fame extended well beyond regular golf fans. Woods became well known all over the world and helped to grow the game more than ever before.

Without television, professional golf would likely exist for most people as a section on the sports page of their local newspaper. With the evolution of televised golf, more people are watching and playing the game.

Modern Turf Science

In the beginning, golf was played in pastures. Eventually, tracts of land would be designated as golf courses and work would begin to carve them out of the landscape.

In the United States, maintenance staffs have taken golf course manicuring to almost an unbelievable level. With advancements in construction, irrigation, equipment, and techniques, course maintenance is more refined than ever before.

Consider that some of the legends of the game played on greens that were bumpy and long. Have a look at film and newsreels from the early 20th century. Virtually all the players used some degree of wrist break in their putting strokes because it was necessary given the conditions of the time. Now, even weekend players play on greens that are so smooth and roll so true that players from previous eras in golf who didn’t live to see the change might not even believe it.

Fairways are like carpets, rough is more uniform in height and consistency, bunkers are meticulously raked. Obviously that attention to detail varies among courses, but compared to a century ago, most players of today experience better conditions than their counterparts from the past.

In some ways these advancements have made conditions more difficult. Ridiculous green speeds come to mind. At the same time, conditions have become very consistent making low scores more routine.

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Golf is constantly evolving. decades from now, some of these will just be insignificant blips on the radar. But now, they’re major advancements that have shaped the game of today.

What are some of your favorite advancements that have shaped the game of golf?

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Top 9 Advancements in Golf History

When I first started working on it, I intended to list ten, but then I came to the conclusion that it would be too easy. Think about it: think about the kinds of names that have to fall off the list when there are only five.

I didn’t go strictly off of wins. I tried to put an emphasis on what each player meant to the game, to what each player’s contribution was beyond just wins.

I also realized that it’s difficult to compare golfers from different eras. And, I came to the conclusion that if it’s fair to do so, then it’s fair to include female golfers in the comparison. Each player can only be judged against the competition that he/she faced in that particular era.

Without further ado, the list:

1. Tiger Woods

This was a tough call, because even with his 13 major championships, 59 PGA Tour wins, 22 other professional wins, and three back to back U.S. Amateur titles, he still falls short of Jack Nicklaus’ career totals.

However, Tiger Woods has transformed the game beyond what Jack Nicklaus ever had. He’s partly responsible for a large growth in golf that took place as he emerged in the 1990′s. Purses got larger, tournaments started getting more TV time, and he graced news broadcasts all over the world with spectacular victories like his 12-stroke victory at the 1997 Masters.

Many have remarked that Nicklaus had to contend with Player, Palmer, Watson, Trevino, and a whole slew of greats. That’s certainly true, but I think it’s a disservice to Els, Mickelson, Goosen, Singh, and the rest of the world’s top players to say that Woods doesn’t face stiff competition.

The fact is that he faces all challengers and dispatches them handily. The mental effect he has on other players is almost embarrassing. Some of the greats have shriveled and died in the shadow of Woods coming down the stretch.

He made dissecting golf courses such an art that now the word “Tiger-proofing” has become part of the vernacular. Of course, this is somewhat due to improvements in equipment. But he still finds ways to hit shots that are nearly impossible.

All that and he’s still going strong. Barring anything unforeseen, I’m confident that he will handily exceed Nicklaus in wins in both regular events and in majors.

2. Jack Nicklaus

As I said, it was a tough call to put him in the second spot. Nonetheless, he had a stellar career. With 73 Tour wins and 18 major victories, it’s hard to have to put him in second place. He had a staggering 94 tournaments where he finished second or third. He also played on six Ryder Cup teams, with a solid 0.66 winning percentage and he captained an additional two teams.

His 25 year career spanned from 1962 to 1986, where he won his final major: the Masters that year at the age of 46. He went on to win several events on the Champions Tour, as well.

At the height of his career, he was a part of what was dubbed, “The Big Three” together with Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. The Big Three are widely regarded as the catalyst for making golf a major spectator sport.

Throughout his career he led the PGA Tour money list eight times.

Aside from his prowess on the course, Jack Nicklaus has been a tremendous ambassador off the course as well. He also continues to be a successful business man and prolific course designer. Without a doubt, he’s meant an awful lot to the game of golf.

3. Bobby Jones

To me, Jones was the embodiment of what golf is all about. Sportsmanship, fair play, and competitive spirit to name a few of his traits. He’s famously known for an incident where he called a penalty on himself, knowing it would cost him the U.S. Open. The USGA presents a yearly award for sportsmanship called the Bob Jones Award, in his honor.

He won the U.S. Open four times and The Open Championship three times. In addition, in those days the U.S. Amateur and The Amateur Championship were considered majors, which he won five times and once, respectively. He is the only player to have ever won all four majors in a calendar year (Tiger Woods has won four in a row, though across two seasons).

He played on five Walker Cup teams, winning nine of ten matches.

His total of 13 majors (including the amateur championships) might not seem earth shattering until you consider that Jones was a life-long amateur player and never played more than three months out of the year.

He retired from competitive golf at age 28 and went on to help design Augusta Country Club and co-founded The Masters, one of the most revered tournaments in golf, still today.

Outside of golf, Jones had degrees in engineering, English, and law and ran a successful law practice in Atlanta for many years.

4. Annika Sorenstam

This one is going to get some people’s blood pressure up. However, I submit that Sorenstam had a period of dominance in women’s golf that must be recognized.

In a period of 12 years from 1994-2006 she won a staggering 86 professional tournaments, including ten major championships. She finished in the top five on the LPGA Tour every year but 1994 during those twelve years. From 2001-2005 she dominated the tour finishing first each year and totaling 41 wins for the five-year period (an unbelievable average of over 8 wins per year for the time frame).

Sorenstam appeared in the Solheim Cup seven times and has the all-time points total as well as the second best points average.

In addition to her professional wins, she also won seven collegiate titles and the NCAA individual title in 1991 the year in which she as also NCAA co-player of the year.

She made a splash in 2003 after being invited to play in The Colonial on the PGA Tour. Her presence was met with both praise and harsh criticism. Though she missed the cut, she played reasonably including a 1-over 71 in the first round, showing that her presence was not a joke. Her second day was not as successful and she finished in 96th place.

Outside of golf, Sorenstam is a savvy businesswoman with several businesses under the ANNIKA brand. She’s also seriously interested in cooking and and investing.

5. Sam Snead

This was by far the toughest choice. Pause for a second and think of the names missing from this list. However, Sam Snead played at such a high level for so long, that I think he belongs in this spot.

Snead won an incredible 165 professional events, including 82 PGA Tour events, the most ever by a player. He also won seven majors. He won his first professional event in 1937 and his last in 1982, a senior event. That spans an incredible 45 years. The one dark spot on his resume is the lack of a U.S. Open win.

He held the record for most victories after age 40 until Vijay Singh took the title in 2007.

His Ryder Cup record was stellar with 7 appearances on the team and a winning percentage of 0.79. He also captained the team three times.

The Rest

It was really tough picking the top five. Here are the rest of the players I considered, in no particular order.

• Mickey Wright: Was possibly the greatest female golfer until Sorenstam, and some debate that she still is. She had 69 wins, including 18 majors.
• Gene Sarazen: 32 tour wins, including 7 majors. A solid winning percentage of 0.69 in the Ryder Cup in 6 appearances. Sarazen is credited with developing the modern sand wedge after a flying lesson with Howard Hughes.
• Ben Hogan: The “Wee Ice Mon” and his icy stare won 64 times, including 9 majors. Most famous perhaps is his playoff win in the 1950 U.S. Open after a near-fatal car accident the previous year.
• Walter Hagen: Credited with being the first full-time touring pro. He won 34 times on tour, including 11 majors. He is widely considered to be the best match play competitor of all time with his 0.83 winning percentage in 5 Ryder Cups as evidence of that.
• Arnold Palmer: It was hardest for me to leave him out of the top-five, because I’m such a huge fan. Palmer won 95 times as a professional (PGA Tour, senior, and other events) and had seven major victories. He was the first big golfing attraction on television in the 1950′s and his mob of fans known as Arnie’s Army is still recognized today.
• Byron Nelson: Had 63 professional wins with 5 major victories. In 1945 he won 18 events, including an unbelievable 11 in a row, feats which have never been matched. Critics have stated that it was due in part to weakened tournament fields that were impacted by World War II. His career was short: he retired to his ranch in Texas in 1946 at the age of 34, though he did not stop being an ambassador to the game.

Here’s your chance to vote for your top player of all time:

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Further Reading/Resources

Tiger Woods (Wikipedia)
Jack Nicklaus Career Capsule (Nicklaus.com)
Bobby Jones (Wikipedia)
Annika Sorenstam (Wikipedia)
Sam Snead (Wikipedia)
List of Golfers (Wikipedia)
World Golf Hall of Fame Members (World Golf Village)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

The Top Five Golfers of All Time