My Thoughts On The Golf Ball

So, I know that most of you won’t care about my opinion on the golf ball, or, more specifically, the talk about limiting the distance on balls, but I did want to toss my my thoughts out there on the polarizing topic before someone makes a crazy decision on it. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, then let me bring you up to speed on the issue and the potential fix for it. There are some in golfing circles that want the distance that a golf ball can travel to be more regulated, so some of the shorter, more classic courses can hold up to the new technology that golf manufacturer’s are able to push on to courses today. For instance, The Old Course at St. Andrews is in danger of running out of room to become longer, which would soon leave it at the mercy of the Pro’s and render it not challenging to The Open unless a massive wind is blowing. If they can’t make every par 4 450 yards, so shortening the ball seems like an easier solution, right? Well that’s the issue that is staring the PGA, USGA, R&A and the rest of the governing bodies of golf right in the face – should we regulate the golf ball or not?

As for my thoughts, I’m 100% in the camp of NOT regulating the ball and not standardizing it. First off, if they regulated the ball on tour, the “ball contract” for the tour would generate billions of dollars for the tour from the winner, but the losers of the deal would be every other ball manufacturer. Second, golf is a personalized sport, you need to have options on what you play.  I’ll use NASCAR as an example here: it’s boring when you see 42 cars that look identical running around the track. Back in the day, you could tell the Pontiac from the Chevy and the Ford from the Dodge without any issues at all and it was more fun to root for your driver and their car. Now, it’s just a bunch of template cars running circles for a few hours. Could you imagine that the first thing that happens in golf is the ball, then everyone has to carry the same clubs – you know, to keep it even – then they have to use the same grips because of the contractual agreement that the PGA made with _______. It’s going to be a mess.

If I don’t support shortening the ball, then what’s my solution to the issue? Well, let’s take The Old Course for example. Let’s take those 380 yard par 4’s on that and place some bunkers at the 300 yard point in the fairway to put a premium on target golf off the tee. Then, maybe we carve out a few greenside bunkers that are dug in to create a wall on the front, but a simple pitch out to the rear. If they want to go after that green off the tee, they can, but they may not have a second shot if they miss, right? At 7115 yards, there should never been a need for more distance off the tee there. It’s all about punishing those that try to hit 300-350 yards off every tee and leave a wedge into the green. Tighten fairways from about 30 yards to 20 yards in that landing area. Keep them wider up until about 275 and start tapering them in. That’s going to put a premium on accuracy and skill, not just distance. Perhaps another alternative is using more fairway “OB” stakes for keeping people from hitting into the wrong fairway as a better way to play a hole? All of these moves can be done for almost nothing and honestly won’t affect the average golfer or the game at all.

By toughening the course, the PGA Tour will be more exciting to watch. Equipment manufacturer’s will have an entire new market of hybrids and driving irons once again and ball manufacturer’s can keep turning out better and better products year after year without the threat of being shut down by regulations. It’s truly an easy solution – don’t make the course longer, make it harder. Shrink the fairways and the greens. Increase the number and difficulty of the bunkers and hazards. Then let them play in adverse weather more often (lightning is still ok to skip out on, but no more “rain delays") and enjoy watching Pebble Beach kick their butts in the spring. These –20 scores are like watching an NBA game that is 72-35… It’s just as much fun as watching skilled players hit great shots when they need to control it perfectly. Anyways, those are just my thoughts on things, but my opinion is pretty worthless. If you have thoughts, let me know in the comments below.