The Great Golf Ball Debate… AGAIN
In my blog of the 16th June, I wrote the following,
Looking at the golf ball issue , it is simply disgraceful that the R&A and USGA have let the major manufacturers dictate the running instead of the game’s ruling bodies. No one wants to see Bryson hit the ball 375 yards off the tee and make most golf courses obsolete. It will potentially be a complete farce at the 2022 Open at St Andrew’s. In calm conditions DeChambeau could drive or get very close to the green at the par four 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 15th,16th and obviously the last. You have to ask yourself, is this what needs to happen to get the R&A to wise up?
What is also crazy in this whole situation is that the PGA Tour (effectively represents the players and the major ball manufacturers), which doesn’t want any change, doesn’t control any of the four majors or the Ryder Cup. If the Masters for example introduced a “tournament” ball then all the others could follow suit and you have the perfect solution. It remains to be seen what will happen but it has reached a stage whereby brute force is winning over skill and that can’t be right.
No one that follows golf could have forecast what DeChambeau did last week at Winged Foot, considering the set up, but as I eluded to above you can accurately forecast what will happen at courses like St Andrews in the future. Gary Player said in 2018 that the golf ball needs to reduced in distance off the tee by around 50 yards, how right he was.