Yes, we all know the golf ball is going too far, Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino said this well over a decade ago, maybe two.
Is the golf ball the only culprit? Aren’t the space age AI assisted and what not driver heads and shafts are also built to give more, add to that the athlete that relentlessly trains and works hard on his fitness and technique to get the maximum.
Isn’t that what every sport entails, advancement is the natural progression in sport and life, to get better than you were yesterday and stay ahead of your competition.
The average driving distance last year on the PGA Tour was 299.8 yards. Ten years ago it was 290.9 yards. Thirty years ago it was 264.9. Does anyone remember what driver heads and shafts were made of and looked like in 1994?
USGA and R&A are doing today something they had to address decades ago. And to come up with ‘bifurcation’ seems to me like the most bizarre solution which will only create further problems. Where were you folks when this needed to be addressed?
At which point does the golfer cross this super blurred and confusing line and has to use these new controlled distance balls? Every ‘elite’ golfer was once upon a time a beginner, a club golfer who worked hard and progressed within the system to get better.
Do the governing bodies not understand that an elite golfer builds his entire game (golf clubs and balls, and this includes shafts, loft and lie variations, bounce, grip size and way more than average golfers understand) to suit their playing style over years and years filled with days and weeks of incredible hard work. And now you want to penalise only those that worked the hardest.
Professionals plying their trade across multiple global to mini tours are all not all super wealthy and supported by equipment companies. So where is the cut off, and whenever and wherever that happens in the system the elite golfer yet again has to re-work their entire game and technique to fit in an altogether new golf ball that will behave very differently in all aspects.
I hope you amateurs sitting in the power rooms of USGA and R&A understand that you are playing with the jobs and future of athletes. Where does the college kid sit, who’s still an elite amateur, training to be a professional, gets a few starts here and there at elite level but largely bank rolls himself and plays competition golf at two different levels which is integral to the journey.
Lock it where its at right now and there will likely be no more distance gains and chaos. Or kill the ball across the board for all golfers at all skill levels for a full re-set. Take the call, bifurcation is beyond silly.
If the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LIV Golf and Asian Tour choose to reject this ‘optional’ bifurcation, are you still going to enforce this ball change at The Open and US Open, which are run by you?
As for the argument that old legacy courses are now too short for the modern golfer, that was already the case years ago. Last time I checked you have already allocated venues for ‘elite’ events run by you, for example the US Open until 2051.
I’d be surprised to see Augusta National buying in to this, they just buy more land!!!
Who do you think is going to spend millions of dollars (again) to R&D this new proposed ball and produce it? To be used only by a handful of professional and elite golfers but not bought by amateurs.
What happens with the LPGA and LET, aren’t the women ‘elite’ golfers too. Where does this even start, leave alone end?
Shivas Nath
#TheGolfWhispererIndia
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