garyk49: Actually, if I am not mistaken. The punishment is towards those that can hit it. To stop the auto dingers, BUT, at times people are able to hit the ding on most shots. Guess what, we get punished when we can accomplish that. Ding a lot, then the strange shots tend to appear.
I think you need to wear a tin foli hat when you play. I cannot deny that there will be some manipulation if you have a very high ding percentage, nor can I confirm that as I struggle most days to hit the ding.
I just played RSG, I hit 4 dings in 9 holes - 2 were putts. I missed a 5 footer to be 2 under after 2, 3rd hole missed the ding by a small margin (early) and found very deep rough - double bogey (missed a bogey putt via a missed ding).
The next few holes were ordinary, apart - either short or long (all my fault) then I chipped in having missed the ding. The par 5 7th was a dinged drive and left me 227 yards. Well I clicked very late and should have been for all money way right but ended up 7 feet from the hole.
I carded a 31 - the hard way. On days when my co-ordination is better, I do hit more dings, and generally will score better.
We all suffer from deviation, ding or no ding. Sometimes it works against us, others it helps us.
Someone did ask if ding percentage could be added to the stats - would make interesting reading but I do not think the players with a high ding rate would be disadvantaged in any way.