‘Comparison is the thief of joy’ the former U.S president said and while inevitable given the history of Pebble Beach, the comparisons with men’s golf were everywhere this past week.

It’s not generally done with malice (and we have likely all been guilty of it at some point) but there is a danger such analysis detracts from the feats of the women’s best players.

Case in point was a discussion between Golf Channel lead analyst Brandel Chamblee and LPGA player and panellist on the Live From post-game show Mel Reid about the length of the par-5s at Pebble Beach.

All four of the three shot holes played as exactly that for all but a few over the course of the week, a reality that simply doesn’t exist in men’s golf.

Both Chamblee and Reid lamented the fact the greens were out of reach for most, Chamblee believing it ‘robs the game of excitement’ while Reid felt it didn’t allow the longer hitters to take advantage of one of their strengths.

Reid’s argument is a common one among LPGA players about course set up and the advantages and disadvantages of being a long versus short hitter.

"It’s not generally done with malice (and we have likely all been guilty of it at some point) but there is a danger such analysis detracts from the feats of the women’s best players."

But Chamblee’s argument drew a direct comparison between the men’s and women’s games and while not necessarily done with ill intent it assumes the way the men’s game is played is, by default, ‘better’.

“You just think about the contrast of the men’s game and often they’re driving it down there and they’re hitting exciting shots with mid-irons, long-irons, getting on the 6th green,” he said.

“It robs the game of some of the excitement. These par-5s are meant to be exciting.”

Leaving aside the fact the par listed on the scorecard doesn’t change the excitement level of the shot played into the green, it also suggests that women’s golf is less exciting because it is not one so dominated by power.

Perhaps I’m in the minority but I found it both refreshing and compelling to watch top players plot their way to the green on a three shot hole in (checks notes) … three shots?

Like everything in golf there is no hard and fast rule about this and in many ways it’s a separate point to the one this piece is trying to make which is that there really is no need to compare at all.

The best women players in the game are just that. They are not inferior nor superior in any way to the best men golfers in the game, they are their own entity.

And they deserve all the accolades we can muster for their extraordinary talents and performance.