What is the longest possible drive by our best driver under the best
conditions? That is a question which it is impossible to answer, simply
because the best conditions cannot be defined. In practical golf they
are an impossible ideal, and one never knows how far in certain existing
circumstances that ideal is approached. This brings us to see the
futility of comparing one drive with another, or even of regarding any
particular drive as the best on record, in the sense that it was the
best that had ever been accomplished, just because it was the longest
that had been measured. The very slightest difference in the conditions,
or in the circumstances of the run of the ball, may cause one drive to
be what some people would call a record, and another, equally good in
execution and strength, to be comparatively poor. For example, think of
what enormous importance is the nature of the place on which the ball
gets its first pitch. Let it pitch against an incline ever so slight, or
against a knob in the ground no bigger than a pigeon’s egg, and the
sting of the shot is plucked. As in the case of so many other arguments,
this one as to the overwhelming influence of conditions in long driving,
and record driving, is best set forth by the _reductio ad absurdum_, and
it is sufficient to point out that if a child tapped a ball off a tee on
to a tolerably steep and smooth incline, the ball would run to the edge
of the world unless stopped by a change in the conditions.
It is more to the point--but not much more--to consider how far a ball
might be driven under conditions which might be described an nearly
ideal, but strictly fair in the sense that the force of gravity by means
of an incline, or wind, should not assist in the propulsion of the ball,
while on the other hand neither wind nor slope should be adverse to it.
To create such nearly ideal conditions, under which we would solve this
question as to the longest possible drive, we would need to enclose a
long shed or gallery, down which the ball was to travel, so that it
should be entirely protected from wind influence, and then we should
have to lay a special fairway of some smooth, hard substance that would
afford the least imaginable resistance and friction to the ball when
running. Asphalte would be good for this purpose, but polished marble or
granite would be better, and if some millionaire enthusiast desired to
solve this longest-possible-drive question these are the conditions
that I would recommend to him. Now, then, how long would that gallery
need to be? How far could that ball be driven? In the open, on perfectly
level and on smooth slippery turf, which after wind and warmth is at its
fastest, such as one gets often at St. Andrews, a drive that approached
320 yards would at the same time be approaching very near record for
fair conditions. We have this to work on. How many yards should we have
to put on for the perfect pitch and the perfectly level, hard, smooth,
and frictionless floor in our driving gallery? When you come to think it
over in this way, it is rather a pretty problem. Of course, in the
absence of the millionaire and the gallery, there is no satisfactory
answer, though Professor Tait would have made a close estimate possibly.
But put the question to the next party of golfers among whom you happen
to be included, and see what widely varying answers you will get. In the
meantime one may suggest 500 yards.