Technology In Golf
used by amateurs would be the 2-piece golf ball, these offer more distance and a lot more durability, you still get a bit of control from these balls but companies are still trying to improve the control of 2-piece balls.
Shafts: Shaft properties, including flex, torque, kick-point (bend or flex point), shaft length and weight, play important roles in affecting the balance and feel of golf clubs as well as ball trajectory. Particularly, graphite shafts come with a wide range of specifications, and are acknowledged to be very beneficial for improving our game. Drivers with graphite shafts have enabled average golfers to hit more consistently and longer balls off the tee. While steel shafts for drivers in general weigh roughly 90-120 grams, graphite shafts are generally lighter. The shaft weight of 65 grams seems to be the most popular weight nowadays while it ranges mostly between 50 grams and 90 grams (ultra light graphite shafts are less than 40 grams). The torque of steel shafts is at around 3.0, while that of graphite shafts could be as low as 2.0 and up to 12.0. As to the kick-point, graphite shafts are more versatile, too. However, steel shafts are rather popular in the applications for irons, and today's steel shafts could be very sophisticated.
Material Design: Nowadays there are so many different types of materials used in the club making process, but 10 years ago people would never of thought they would be using tungsten titanium irons, or titanium headed drivers that hit the ball over 300 yards on average. You now can also get wedges that rust and are supposed to grip the ball to the clubface to produce more backspin.
Clothing and footwear: This has become a huge market for all golf club manufactures, waterproofs these days are so better then they were 10 years ago. They aren’t just plastic rain Macs anymore, you can have so many different types of clothing there are windproof tops, you can even have waterproof jackets with sleeves that zip off so it is a lot easier to swing. The market for this is so big now that companies sponsor world class golfers and then let them bring out their own range of clothing.
Sports Performance
The effects on improved and sustained performance: Now there is better equipment around, professionals of today can improve there scoring averages and overall statistics, this is how they have changed over 10 years
PGA Tour Driving distance
Longest drive 1981 = 280 yds
1988 =284.6 yds
1995 =289 yds
2002 =307.8 yds
PGA Tour Driving accuracy
1981 = 82%
1988 = 82.5%
1995 = 81.3%
2002 = 80%
PGA Tour Greens in regulation
1981 = 73.8%
1988 = 73.9%
1995 = 72.3%
2002 = 73.6%
PGA Tour Putts per round
1981 = 28.54 putts per round
1988 = 28.04 putts per round
1995 = 28.02 putts per round
2002 = 26.44 putts per round
PGA Tour average scoring
1981 = 69.8
1988 = 69.38
1995 = 69.06
2002 = 69.15
As you can see over a period of time the statistics have improved in most of the areas, but if you look at the driving accuracy over the 14 [next page]