The Caddie's Role: It was not the best day to get drawn with a prodigy of the post-Faldo era at the Ford Championship at Doral, Miami, last Saturday, writes Colin Byrne

At the best of times it would have been a challenge to keep up with the long-hitting Bubba Watson. Given Retief's very average ball striking last week, by his own admission, it was going to be an ordeal to keep in the same zip code as the rookie American.

I have come up with a way of categorising this new age of golf when a 350-yard drive is commonplace and 470-yard par fours are reduced to a drive and a mere flick of a sand wedge:post-Faldo.

It all started to happen about 10 years ago when Nick Faldo was perfecting the art of refining the swing so that the ball went very straight, very repetitively.

Unfortunately for the six-time major champion and master of par - and some might argue mundane - golf, the manufacturers were in full creative flow, designing balls that flew ever farther and shafts that flexed at the right point for each individual swinger to maximise distance.

We now live in the epoch of the Crusher - if you are of average length off the tee these new guys will make a mockery of your game, even if you're as talented and successful as Retief Goosen. There is a clear distinction between the pre- and post-Faldo era of professional golf.

All that distance advantage is heavily dependent on the way a course is set up. Yet again this year at the Blue Monster at Doral, the sponsors had the best players in the world at their event and they wanted to see them at the top of the leaderboard. Naturally in the long-hitting modern era the big boys end up very close to a lot of greens in one hit.

As I argued in this column last year, they need to rename the Blue Monster to something a little more reflective of its genuine challenge to today's pro. With a winning score of 18 under par the name seems inappropriate. I can only assume the course will be toughened up for the next professional event there, the American Express in March 2007.

There was no rain all week, it was perfect south Florida weather, yet the greens were like puddings and the better ball strikers were not rewarded for their purer ball contact.

Instead, the soft putting surfaces equalised the challenge for all players, whereas only the big hitters with the finishing finesse feature at the majors.

The winner of the event - and most events he tees it up in these days - Tiger is excluded from this analysis; he is not in the pre- or post-Faldo domain - he is in the superhuman league, beyond comparison or comprehension.

Retief had worked hard on his game all week, but sometimes it just is not there, so to make the cut was quite a result, his short game and relentless quest for improvement getting him through to the weekend.

Despite not being a machine, you still need to search for some form; it doesn't come looking for you. His efforts paid off on Sunday with an impressive 66. The four hours of practice on Saturday afternoon, which left him feeling a little stiff during the final round, stood to him. There is usually a way out of a "slump". Retief's way is by working harder.

There is undoubtedly an infatuation among golf enthusiasts with length. But there is increasing interest among the more established professionals with this post-Faldo group of golfers. As I lurked with my work-mates in the tropical garden with a lush variety of palm trees waiting for my player to present himself for his fourth round, I recounted tales of playing with the biggest hitter of them all on tour today, Bubba Watson.

He was 30 yards short of the seventh green with his drive, I explained. Given the slight dog-leg of 430 yards, this meant his drive went about 390 yards. Not only did he thrash his tee shot but he finished the delicate chip off with the dexterity of a surgeon. "Wow," my colleagues exclaimed genuinely in unison.

The veteran ex-PGA champion Jeff Sluman, now in his late 40s, emerged from the locker-room as I described Bubba's tee shot to the par-three ninth. His sand wedge went over 170 yards; he only meant to tickle it 157 to the pin in a cross-wind.

Disbelief illuminated Sluman's face as he waddled off muttering how happy he was he was almost ready for the Seniors Tour. I teased Jeff a little more as he departed by adding that Watson then went on to chip in for a two from the back of the ninth. He shook his head in disbelief as he headed for a pre-round stretch with his personal trainer.

The most effeminate thing about Watson is the pink shaft he has on his driver; the rest of his game is big and booming and very manly. The size of the man himself only became apparent to me when I saw him move sideways into a portaloo beside the 12th tee. His athletic frame is of such proportions he did not fit easily though an average door.

The international flavour of this US Tour event was spiced up, as so often it is, by the booming introduction of the starter on the first tee .

"From Polokwani, South Africa, Ret-eeef Gooo-sen" came the throaty intro for my man at 9.54am last Saturday.

"From Baghdad (slight pause), Florida, Bub-Ba Wha-hotson."

The only thing more elongated I came across that day was Bubba's backswing. I am sure he could clearly inspect his knuckles at the top of his backswing. To put it in the vernacular, he gives it a fierce clatter.

We were given a reprieve on Sunday: Bubba had left us and we were paired with another veteran very much from the opposite end of the distance spectrum.

Fred Funk was on average about 50 yards behind Retief off the tee, which would have left him 100 yards behind Bubba. It is hard to imagine how the two very different styles of golf can compete in the same event. Such is the nature of the game, they can.

Fred mentioned that when they played a practice round on Tuesday last the player behind them hit his tee shot to the 370-yard par-four 16th as they were on the green and the ball ran between his feet as he putted.

He wasn't offended, he wasn't really surprised, but he was astounded to see that the shot had been hit by an unknown pre-qualifier.

There was a time, probably back in the pre-Faldo era, when if a player hit his tee shot 370 yards you knew exactly who it could be.

In the post-Faldo era there is an abundance of players who are likely to hit their drives this length. Welcome to the new age of golf, where you drive for show and probably have a putt for an eagle.