High Tech, Just Cheating, or Simply Crying Wolf?

Tiger Woods wants the PGA Tour and the USGA to check players' drivers before they tee off in the PGA tournaments.

It's true that thanks to the technological advancement in drivers and balls, today's professional golfers are often hitting their drivers 300 yards plus. However, Tiger thinks that the increase in the driving distance performance does not come from improved players' skills and physical conditioning, but technology that is supposed to be illegal.

The core of the matter is the coefficient of restitution (COR for short). The coefficient of restitution measures the spring-like effect of the face of a driver at impact. In other words, when a golf ball hits the driver, the metal face (usually a thin Titanium sheet these days) flexes and then releases. The flex and release of the driver face can create a "trampoline effect." In other words, imagine yourself jumping from a trampoline versus from a concrete surface. It's obvious given the same force you exert on yourself, you would be jumping higher from the trampoline than the concrete surface. Well, the same principle applies. As a result, the USGA has set .83 as the limit for COR.

Well, the problem is that you can't know for sure if the player is using one of those hot (i.e., illegal) drivers. As is, any driver that is used in tournament play needs to be sent to the USGA for approval, but that doesn't guarantee that players will be using the drivers with the same specs during the tournament. Worse yet, those players might even be ignorant of their drivers being too hot. I mean you can't tell by looking at the driver whether the specs are within the limit or not. So, I could be hitting an illegal driver, and not know for sure . . .(If I'm hitting my driver 20 yards or more, I should suspect something though).

Does Tiger's claim have any merit, or is he simply crying foul? Let's look at some numbers to see . . .

Year Driving distance (Rank) Driving accuracy (Rank) Wins
2003 292.2 (T-29) 64.3 (T-114) 3
2002 293.3 (6) 67.5 (T-107) 5
2001 297.6 (T-3) 65.5 (T-145) 5
2000 298.0 (2) 71.2 (54) 9
1999 293.1 (3) 71.3 (T-49) 8
1998 196.3 (2) 67.9 (T-114) 1
*Results through the Buick Classic (Courtesey of PGA Tour)

So, Tiger's driving distance and accuracy are down since the year 2000. Let's look at how others have done in 2003 compared to 1988.

1988
Rank Player Driving distance
1 Tiger Woods 296.3
2 John Jacobs 284.9
3 Ray Arinno 281.9
4 Bob Duval 280.1
5 Hank Cooper 279.4

2003
Rank Player Driving distance
1 Tom Purtzer 299.1
2 Andy Bean 294.8
3 Tiger Woods 292.2
4 Jim Ahern 288.8
5 John Harris 287.1
(PGA Tour Statistics)

Well, it doesn't look too bad until you notice Tom, Andy, Jim, and John play in the Champions Tour (for players over 50 years old). In 1988, Tiger was far ahead of any "senior" players, but in 2003, he ranks #3 in that tour. In the PGA Tour, he ranks only 29th in driving distance.

Oh, to make the equation even more confusing, Tiger Woods switched his driver and ball during this period. You see Tiger used to play with a Titleist driver and a Titleist ball. Now he plays Nike. To make things worse, there was a comments by Phil Mickelson about Tiger playing with inferior equipment beginning of this year.

So, what's the conclusion? You be the judge. . .