• Originally published July 19, 2008 at 9:53 p.m., updated July 19, 2008 at 9:53 p.m.

In most sports, technology seems to be greatly outpacing the game, and in golf it is no different.

Drivers are made these days to hit the ball longer and longer, and even the golf ball has changed to give the golfer more distance with less spin.

But the limits may have been pushed as far as they are allowed in golf because of the rules of the game set forth by the United States Golf Association.

“The emphasis has been mainly on drivers and I think they have gotten as big as the USGA is going to allow them to get,” said Terry Koehler, president of Eidolon Golf, a Victoria company that specializes in making wedges.

“I don’t think there is a probability or a possibility of a company jumping out there with driver technology that’s going to be head-and-shoulders above what everybody else has. I think we’ve pushed that envelop as far as we can.”

But with that advanced technology also come problems for many amateurs to cope with the new equipment.

“What has happened, they have pushed the length of the driver shaft out to where golfers can’t handle these golf clubs,” Koehler said. “I really believe that every golfer, unless you are hitting every fairway, would do better by gripping back down on the driver into the 43-44 inch range and they will see their length and consistency on impact pick up.”

And while most proclaim the huge headed drivers are more forgiving than ever and will allow you to hit more fairways, Koehler says you still have to hit it square to get the best results.

“These drivers are more forgiving than the old persimmon woods we played, but that doesn’t mean you can hit it anywhere,” Koehler said. “You still have to hit the golf club right in the middle of the face to get the most out of that club and 45-inch shafts are just too much for the average golfers to handle.”

Koehler also points out that with the introduction of the hybrids to the market it has also changed the industries outlook on irons as well.

“Technology in hybrids has been an extraordinary thing for golf,” Koehler said. “No one is carrying long irons anymore.”

He points out that what the industry has done is jacked up the lofts on all the irons and have reduced the number of scoring clubs one carries.

“If you’re playing a set of irons that’s 10 years old, you probably have a 48-degree pitching wedge, a 44-degree 9-iron, and a 40-degree 8-iron,” Koehler said. “On most of the modern sets the pitching wedge is 44, the 9-iron is 40 and the 8-iron is 36, so what they’ve done is basically renumbered the golf clubs and they are fooling us golfers into thinking we’re hitting the clubs further than ever, but a 56-degree sand wedge still goes 85, so you’ve just widened the gap.

“Basically they’ve taken away a scoring club by renumbering your clubs and dropping the pitching wedge out of the bag. They put a P on the 9, a 9 on the 8 and an 8 on the 7. You drop the long irons out because all you’re hitting is the hybrids and all they did was give you a gap in the prime scoring range.”

To make up that difference Koehler said wedge companies are getting more and more involved in the industry to advance their products.

“One of the things in the news now is the high lofted wedge and the grooves in the wedges,” said Koehler. “A lot of area where golfers don’t avail themselves in technology is in wedges.”

Over the last five to 10 years Koehler said the industry has made vast improvement in the wedges that are on the market and golfers should pay more attention to that part of the game.

“If a golfer has a wedge in their bag that is more than 4 or 5 years old, chances are it doesn’t have milled grooves when it was made so they started out with 60-70 percent of what they could have.”

The market is full of the brand names from the spin milled by Volkey, the zip grooves by Cleveland and the back daddies by Callaway, so it’s easy to buy the technology Koehler pointed out.

“Everybody has these names but basically what they are, are precision cut grooves and they get more spin. It’s just that simple,” Koehler said.

No doubt, with all the advanced technology on the market it makes it tough for the average golfers to realize what equipment is right for them.

Tournaments on the tee

36th ANNUAL TWO-MAN TOURNAMENT: Aug. 9-10, Cuero Municipal Golf Course. Entry fee for the two-man scramble format is $180 per team with the deadline to enter at noon on July 30. For information, call Jamie Wright at 361-275-5587 or Alan Kahlich at 361-275-6101 or 361-277-3280.

2ND ANNUAL ALL-STAR CLASSIC: Aug. 9, Riverside Golf Course. Entry fee for the 4-person scramble is $70 per person or $280 per team. Entry deadline is Aug. 6. Proceeds benefit Manning All-Star Cheerleaders. For information, call Laura Goedrich at 361-935-0561.

14TH ANNUAL TEXAS A&M SCHOLARSHIP TOURNAMENT: Saturday, Aug. 16, 1 p.m., Victoria Country Club. Entry fee for the four-person scramble is $400 per team or $100 per individual. For information, call Grover Ellisor at 361-572-4422 or David Culberson at 361-550-9005.

THREE-MAN TOURNAMENT: Aug. 16-17, 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. tee times, Yorktown Country club. First day format is a scramble, second day is a select dive, 2 lowball. Entry fee is $195 per team and the deadline to enter is Friday, Aug. 8. for information, call Warner Borth at 361-564-2142 (days), James Kaiser at (361) 564-3302 (nights) or the clubhouse at 361-564-9191.

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