In his first season on the tour, the self-deprecating Watson has already made his mark with a top-five finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii where one of his tee shots was measured at an astonishing 398 yards. "We keep worrying about Tiger, Ernie and Phil, and guys like Bubba Watson are going to come up, " says Vijay Singh. "He hits the ball 350 yards in the air and he made a fool out of everybody in Hawaii."

Watson's form has slipped since the Sony Open, but the traditionalists who see him and his like as a threat to the virtues of shot-making, received a further blow when JB Holmes . . . currently second behind Watson in the driving-distance statistics . . .stormed to victory at the recent FBR Open in Phoenix.

Holmes shot 21-under par to blow the field away by seven shots, casually driving the 321-yard 17th hole with a three wood in the final round.

"It's better to have a wedge in the rough than a seven iron in the middle of the fairway, " is the gospel according to JB.

But then, evidence suggests that big-hitting success is not just a recent trend.

John Daly smashed it over the dog legs of Crooked Stick in 1991 on the way to his famed USPGA title, while a succession of Tiger Woods' wedge shots into Augusta's par fives in 1997 forced the Masters' grandees into lengthening their hallowed course.

Equally, the players who were either officially or unofficially the best in the world in their time such as Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, Greg Norman and Woods, have all had a significant advantage in terms of length over most of their rivals. It's also possible to advance the theory that Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer are the exceptions who prove the rule that long is never wrong.

However, Daly's leading driving distance average from 1993 of 289 yards now pales into insignificance when compared with Watson's 320 yards. Unsurprisingly, most of the world's top players including Woods, Singh, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els all drove the ball more than 300 yards on average on the PGA Tour last season, while Angel Cabrera led the way in Europe with 307 yards.

"Guys are sacrificing some of the spin they would normally have for distance, " says Woods. "They have gone longer and lighter in shafts.

Bigger, hotter heads, and obviously higher launching and less spinning golf balls, while players are fitter, stronger, more flexible and they've got more speed. All that equates to a lot more yardage."

Padraig Harrington, who averaged 294 yards in America last season, makes no bones about the fact that he has been looking to hit the ball further for the past five years. "I've put in the gym work which has been essential for me, but a lot of body types are hitting it a long way, so it's not just a matter of strength. Length is a massive advantage, you can hit a wedge out of the rough on most courses. And in a sense, being straight is not that important because the week you play well, you'll hit it straight anyway."

A report from last month's USGA annual general meeting stated that increased distance had "negative ramifications" and that "driving accuracy has ceased to be a factor in predicting success".

Given that Watson and Holmes are in 185th and 150th places respectively in the driving accuracy statistics, and that Woods managed to win six times in America last season while languishing in 188th in the accuracy list, the USGA's fears appear to be well founded.

In the lead-up to last year's WGC American Express Championship at Harding Park near San Francisco, the rough was lengthened, the fairways narrowed and the greens firmed up for a course that is short by current standards at 7,086 yards. Yet the tournament came down to a play-off between Woods and Daly. "Does rough really matter?" asks Arron Oberholser who won last weekend's National Pro-am at Pebble Beach. "It was still Tiger and Daly at the end, and they're two of the longer hitters on tour, and two of the worst in driving accuracy."

To combat cutting-edge developments in equipment technology and ball manufacture, Jack Nicklaus has suggested that an approved ball which travels 10 per cent less could be introduced for the Masters, while the tournament chairman, Hootie Johnson, came up with an anecdote to defend the lengthening of Augusta to 7,445 yards.

Johnson referred to a round he had played with a 17-year-old visitor who was 5'10" and 11 and a half stone during which the kid hit a pitching wedge into the 425-yard 17th hole. "We're not worried about Tiger Woods, we're worried about these 17-year-olds, " said Johnson. "Had we not made some of the changes, let's just say at the seventh and at 17, they would be driving the green or in the bunkers."

Yet, it's not as if professional golf has arrived at a doomsday when every player has to carry the ball 300 yards. Brad Bryant won the Memorial and the Tour Championship, Fred Funk won the Players Championship at Sawgrass, and both Brad Faxon and Justin Leonard had wins in America last season.

"You see a lot of diversity with the winners on tour, " says Chris DiMarco, "I don't think you necessarily see bombers. You also see guys who putt well and hit good iron shots. Lots of players have a chance."

Davis Love will tell you that his 12-year-old son knows what a launch monitor is. "He wants to see if he's swinging the driver hard enough, if he's carrying it far enough, " says Love. "I never asked those questions, I was hoping to find a wooden driver that would go straight."

While he continues to work on strength and flexibility, Harrington is adamant that big-hitting is also psychological. "You need to have the right mental approach to swing the club fast, so you've got to clear your mind, you've got to have no fear of hitting it sideways. When I was in my teens, I was told to hit it straight, but now a lot of the young guys want to take the cover off the ball. Of course, accuracy is important, but I would encourage a promising young player to build speed into his swing."

However, the recentlyappointed GUI national coach, Neil Manchip, believes that accuracy has to come before power. "JB Holmes's game plan is not going to work every week because courses differ. I would be encouraging players to go for control and consistency first.

Good golf on a demanding course requires predictability of distance and direction, and if you're swinging too fast, or if you're off balance, then you're going to have problems."

But then the explosive Watson, a 27-year-old left-hander from Florida, has never taken a lesson. "It's one of those things you can't really learn, so maybe you can't teach it.

It's more of a gift, " he says.

Even if technological advancements begin to slow, and even if golf-ball distance is capped, Woods is adamant that the future belongs to the power-hitter. "I'm only six foot. Wait until guys who come out are six foot six and have the skills and the speed to play the game."

As of now, it seems that all designers can come up with by way of a response is to make courses longer. And by doing that, they're simply playing into the hands of America's new generation of bombers.