[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by trekkor

A pro golfer could beat most of us with a sledge hammer, rake and a shovel...


KT

Lee Trevino used to hustle golf games. He would play with just a coke bottle and beat the average duffer. Imagine he walks up to the green with a coke bottle and you have a mega thousand dollar set of fancy clubs.

Equipment standardization, is uniform conformity a universal benefit?
OK, let's imagine we abolished the rules of golf for recreational play and envision a future scenario. A guy shows up on the first tee of Happy Acres public golf course one day with only a Coke bottle on a stick in his bag (Lee Trevino would love this story, he actually lived something similar to it by all public accounts). He plunks down his $35 for an 18-hole round and goes out and plays in a foursome. Let's say the other guys wanted to bet and he said, "I think I'll shoot 100 today with this Coke bottle on a stick." The other guys reason that's a fair wager and they take him up. He ends up shooting 95, beating 2 guys and losing to another. They settle the bets and head off to the bar. What happened here? The golf course got their $35, the player had an enjoyable round with whatever equipment he chose, the rest of the foursome made the choice to bet or not to bet with him, they agreed on a system and played a round. Who lost in this equation? But, you say, he now wants to enter the occasional charity outing. He has two choices. Don't compete in the charity outing (who made the rule that charity outings were about competition and gambling?) or go play enough rounds before the outing to establish a handicap and compete with that assumed skill level. Let's say he gets really good and wants to compete in the Club Championship or a local amateur tournament. Here he doesn't have the option to not compete so he has to go get himself regulation equipment, post scores etc. and do it that way. One of two things happen, either he's got incredible hand-eye coordination from hitting with that Coke bottle on a stick and he makes a successful transition to conforming equipment or he's a complete disaster with anything but a Coke bottle and teams up with Peter Johncke "The Trick Shot Master" and goes on tour. Again, who's hurt here?