Here’s a shocker: Johnny Miller isn’t a golf club engineer
Contrary to what NBC talking head Johnny Miller may say, he doesn't know everything when it comes to the game of golf. Sure, he shot 63 at the '73 U.S. Open, the lowest round in major championship history, but while Miller has had success on the course, he clearly isn't well versed when it comes to the science behind certain aspects of the golf swing.
During Saturday's U.S. Open telecast, Miller spouted an absurd comment, after Rory McIlroy hooked a tee shot into the rough. "We're talking about thousands of inches on the bottom there," Miller said of the McIlroy's shut clubface that produced the shot. "One-thousandth of an inch on a driver is 20 yards of hook."
As far as we know, Miller doesn't spend his time around launch monitors, robot testers and club engineers in his spare time, so that number seems a little too precise to just be pulled out of thin air, right? Knowing Miller, sometimes it's easier to make things up as opposed to keeping your mouth shut and giving a factual answer.
Good thing Golf Digest equipment editor Mike Stachura caught Miller comments. As he noted, Miller was just a little off on his guesstimation. Well, actually, he was way off.
But here's the thing, Johnny. Our off-center toe hits are measured at THREE-QUARTERS OF AN INCH from the center of the face, or approximately 750 times one-thousandth of an inch.
I'd say that Miller may have exaggerated just a little bit. Here's a tip, Johnny: stick to the play on the course. You may have an opinion when it comes to golfers' swings and your final round heroics at Oakmont, but it's clear you don't know a thing when it comes to the science behind the golf swing. Numbers don't lie.
One-thousandth of an inch might not be as much as Johnny Miller thinks it is [Golf Digest]
