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Blame The Ball

Apr 6, 2010 | Filed Under: General News | Comments: 3   Share

By Gary Player | NEWSWEEK
Published Apr 5, 2010
From the magazine issue dated Apr 12, 2010

Phil Mickelson caused quite a stir earlier this year when he used a wedge that some said gave him an unfair advantage. But the truth is clubs don’t matter that much among the professionals. The bigger issue: the ball. Back in the 1950s, and for years after, pro golfers carried a little copper ring in their pockets and used it before every round to ensure that the ball conformed to regulation. Back then, Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead would wow the gallery with drives that went nearly 300 yards. Now balls are of such high quality that Tiger Woods and most of the rest routinely hit more than 350 yards. That’s put pressure on golf-course designers to build larger courses, which forces country clubs to spend more money on maintenance, water, fertilizer, and landscaping. Rather than putting money into junior golf leagues or charity, they are making every course from Timbuktu to Florida longer, and wasting hundreds of millions of dollars. And for what? The odds of hosting a tournament are maybe 1,000–1. The members—the lifeblood of golf—hate the longer courses. Many of them measure between 7,000 and 8,000 yards, which means most amateurs can’t play within six shots of their handicap. Potential newcomers and young players are overwhelmed before they can even begin. Even the pros struggle. Worse, many of these courses will themselves reach obsolescence as young, increasingly strong athletes choose golf over other sports where there is a greater likelihood of injury or forced early retirement.

The solution, in my opinion, is to continue to allow amateurs to use whatever ball they want, but require that professionals use a ball that goes 30 to 40 yards shorter, on average, than the ones used today. Such a rule change would have little effect on the scores in pro golf. In fact, it’s almost unanimous among champion golfers that the ball should be changed. The governing bodies, however, do not want to, arguing that the game should be the same for everybody regardless of skill level. While I have the highest respect for the U.S. Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient, the reality is that the game is already not the same for the amateur versus the professional. The pros have specially made equipment; amateurs have preferences, but they have no idea what they’re buying. It’s time now to reject this argument. For the good of the game, golf needs to rein in the pro ball, and stop this wasteful obsession with ever-longer courses.

Player, a fitness fanatic, has won more than 160 golf titles over five decades and is one of the only golfers to have completed the sport’s coveted Grand Slam. He is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy (laureus.com), a group of 46 of the world’s greatest living sportsmen and women.

© 2010

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