[12 piece bucket]

I had a couple of thoughts that might add something to the discussion. I've read a Hogan quote that said "If I knew then what I know now, I would have been trying to hit the ball in the hole from the fairway." We've all seen Nicklaus (or even Faldo, for a more recent example) strategically pick apart a golf course and win. I believe that this is a lost art, and part of the difference between the players of the past and the players now. Course management mattered more because of the length of the courses. These days the longer courses make the test more one of execution then strategy. This is where I personally believe that Hogan would still have been competitive, because of his precision execution. That being said, a few years ago, I stepped up to the first tee in a mini-tour event with a two iron in my hand, and my playing partner looked at me and said "what the hell are you fixin' to do with that?" I find the statement very compelling about the two shortest courses on tour having high winning scores. Consider the US Open in Tulsa a couple years back with all those doglegs, or the Ryder cup at Valderamma, as support of that observation. Fantastic discussion, thank you all.

Good post. How would you define "presicion?" Fairways and Greens? or Scoring? There are a lot of rounds that I can remember scoring well, but there are also a lot of round I can remember that I didn't putt well but felt satisfied because tee to green it was good.

Where would you put the "premium"? High rough narrow fairways? Tough greens like Pinehurst? Jack said that the ball should be "standardized." Is that an option?

I would love to see a tournament where the tour guys had to play with 1970's equipment. It would be interesting to see who would rise to the top. My $ would be on Eldrick though.