It is pretty tough for us old guys to compete with the young flat bellies. They hit it a LOT farther than most if not all the older guys and the courses are never setup on the short side!

Length off the tee does make the game a little easier.

It's essentially a college tournament now.

WW

Hi Sam,

That is a very interesting question that you have posed. I do think that there is also another dynamic at play and that is the dynamic of "professional" vs. "Amateur".

This dynamic played out over the last 100 years with the advent of "modern" golf --"modern" being the steel shaft era and the maturation and development of the Professional Tour. Previously, throughout the 1920's and the heyday of Bobby Jones Jr., amateur golf remained an option for serious golf.

The development of the professional tour and its appeal to the players that grew up in blue collar families eventually appealed to a greater proportion of the golfing masses to the point that by the late 1950's and early 1960's, the professional route became the only viable route for those seeking to become the best that they could as golfers.

This was reflected in historical accounts such as "The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever" by Mark Frost and in anecdotal evidence by players such as Ken Venturi and Jack Nicklaus.

Today, there is less prestige or importance placed on the US Amateur and as such it seems to have become a competition primarily for those players that are still in college and have not yet turned professional.

The overwhelming majority of players that are serious about their golf with the skill to be the best on any given day have turned professional with its opportunity at winning serious prize money. Just my two cents but I thought that I would add it to the conversation.

That's what ultimately lead to the Mid-Am, to not have the college kids in it to compete against since it's different from the Bobby Jones, Francis Ouimet days, and the college kids are playing competitively so much. But remember Jay Sigel...