The closing holes on the TPC Sawgrass course, laden with water hazards (never “penalty areas”), necessarily reduce the margin of error by dint of the proximity enjoyed by the liquid refreshments and the ultimate targets. So things are always likely to happen.

Bad things more than good, if history is to be our guide. The half-century or so of this “almost major” is littered with late disasters, balls disappearing below the surface at regular intervals. For the shallower thinkers among us – those who desire such “excitement” – there has always been plenty to be had.

This time round, eventual champion Cameron Young was rightly hailed for the quality of his play down the demanding stretch. In particular, the three full shots he hit on the “not really an island” 17th hole and the sweeping 18th came in for particular praise. Quite right, too. Producing swings and shots of such high quality in such a pressure-packed situation is well worthy of universal admiration. Young is a top player of the modern game.

Ah, but what is it we are watching, exactly? That the game at the elite level has evolved greatly since the turn of the century is not in doubt. However, has it been enhanced by the introduction of frying-pan drivers and turbo-charged balls; tools which allow the likes of Young to hit 375-yard drives in moments of high stress?

Call me an old fart – many have – but this mind goes back to times when the battles between golf courses and golf equipment were more evenly matched. Back in a not-too-distant day, the game’s best players were challenged to hit mid- and long-irons to distant greens. There have been plenty of memorable examples, especially when it came to deciding the destination of major championship titles.

Some favourites: The 1-iron (yes, 1-iron) Jack Nicklaus hit to the 17th green at Pebble Beach during the final round of the 1972 U.S Open. The ball struck the pin and finished maybe a foot away.

TOM WATSON, AN IRON-MAN IN ACTION, ON HIS WAY TO WINNING THE 1983 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP AT ROYAL BIRKDALE. (PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES)

The 2-iron Tom Watson called “the finest I ever hit” to the 18th green at Royal Birkdale to clinch the 1983 Open Championship. Two putts from 12-feet made him the “champion golfer of the year” for a fifth and final time.

The 5-iron Nick Faldo sent towards the 18th green at Muirfield in 1987. Needing a par-four to claim the first of his three Open Championship victories, the Englishman almost took the paint off the distant pin.

And maybe the best of all ... the 5-iron Faldo fed into the flag on Muirfield’s 15th green during the 1992 Open. It was a thing of beauty; a heady mixture of supreme technique, ball flight and imagination.

On the other side of that list is the 2-iron Watson hit to the 17th green (the Road Hole) on the Old Course at St. Andrews during the final round of the 1984 Open Championship. It was too much club and the ball finished close to the eponymous wall beyond the eponymous pathway bordering the putting surface. Commentating on television, the late and eternally great Dave Marr (the 1965 U.S PGA champion) described it perfectly: “the wrong shot with the wrong club at the wrong time.”

The point here, however, is that Watson had a 2-iron in his hands. On a hole where, today, those in charge of the game’s oldest championship have found a need to grow grossly inappropriate long grass in order to stop players (most of them inferior to Watson) driving to not much more than chipping distance from the green.

Which is not to say that today’s best are not talented, or at least as talented as previous elites. That would be silly. Another quick glance at the pages of history shows that every peer group is blessed by those owning transcendent abilities. However, here’s the thing. The so-called progress in the area of golf equipment makes direct comparisons between those generations all but impossible.

Again, no blame is attached to the current crop of leading professionals. They are doing exactly what they should be doing, which is figuring out how best to take advantage of the equipment available. They are in the business of shooting lower scores. That the game has lost much of its subtlety and nuance along the way is really no concern of theirs.

However, it is a sadness to this observer. Watching Young hit sand wedges – sand wedges! – to each of the last two greens to clinch what is supposedly the “fifth major” did seem to present a disappointingly inappropriate level of “challenge”. Discuss.