Golf

Debate over today's golf ball up in air

Nicklaus and others think it flies too far. But what about the average player who wants more distance?

By BOB HARIG
Published April 21, 2005

What once was remarkable is now considered routine. To drive a golf ball 300 yards, while still the stuff of dreams for an average player, happens all the time among professional golfers.

There are 27 players on the PGA Tour who are averaging more than 290 yards per drive, with four of them topping the 300 mark. And those numbers are down from last year - likely due to all the wet weather - when 15 players averaged more than 300 yards off the tee.

While stronger, more fit players factor into hitting the ball farther, so do technological advances in driver heads, shafts and irons.

Then there is the small, dimpled sphere itself, which has changed greatly in a decade and, many believe, the real reason distance is out of sight.

Maybe too far out of sight.

"It's a different game than I played," said Jack Nicklaus, winner of 18 majors who long has believed the golf ball travels too far. "It's a different game than most anybody in my era played.

"You would think there's got to be some way that you could take the game today and put more shot-making back into it where a guy has to put the ball in play."

Nicklaus' solution: a ball used by tour players that is scaled back.

"We don't have a championship golf course in the world today with any standards," Nicklaus said. "All of the golf courses ... the golf ball has gotten beyond it."

Nicklaus believes it is far easier to tone back balls 10 percent than to keep building courses longer.

With all due respect, those who design golf balls for a living cringe at the thought.

"It's not something that we want to do," said Dean Snell, senior director of research and development at TaylorMade. "We've spent years trying to come up with technology to improve the game."

The U.S. Golf Association, however, appears ready to look at the issue of limiting the distance a ball travels. Last week, Golfweek reported that USGA technical director Dick Rugge had sent a letter to manufacturers inviting them to participate in a research project on ball performance.

Rugge invited them to design and make prototype balls that comply with modified rules that would reduce maximum distance by 15 or 25 yards.

"We believe that it is our responsibility to be prepared to make rule changes, if future conditions demonstrate the need to do so," Rugge wrote.

In the past 12 years, the average driving distance on the PGA Tour has increased 17 yards to 287.3. And such change has caused golf course architects to go back to the drawing board.

Renowned architect Rees Jones has been involved in modernizing or adding length to 11 courses before major championships, including four twice.

Among his projects were Pinehurst No. 2 before the 1999 U.S. Open and adding 100 yards before the tournament returns there this year. Balustrol, site of this year's PGA Championship, also has had modifications under Jones.

"When I was starting in the design business, 260, 270 yards was a heck of a drive," Jones said. "That's where all the (fairway) bunkers were. ... I think (scaling the ball back) would be good for the tour players, but I think we have to be careful with the average golfer, so I think it's a double-edged sword."

Some have suggested a "tour" ball that would be used only by professional players in sanctioned events. But that has problems, too.

"If they want to pull the golf balls back, that would be fine," Masters champion Tiger Woods said. "But everybody has different spin rates, different launch conditions, and if you (had one ball), I think it would be detrimental to a bunch of guys."

Golf balls have changed dramatically in the last decade. Most had an elastic thread wound around a liquid or hollow core. The outside was made of natural rubber, or balata. This softer ball did not fly as far, but tour players used it for feel and spin.

Now, balls are made of a solid core, multiple layers of synthetic rubber and a urethane shell. Manufacturers have figured out how to provide players with a ball that travels far while still offering the soft characteristics they like in putting and chipping.

They also have figured out how to reduce spin, the greatest impediment to distance. The less the ball spins when launched, the longer it stays in the air. And all of it has been within the rules.

Of course, manufacturers market most of their golf balls to the average player who yearns for those extra yards, hoping that the success experienced by pro golfers using the same brand names will rub off.

"We don't move the fence back when the home run hitters come up (in baseball)," said TaylorMade's Snell. "That's where the strength comes in. I'm not sure the ball is the answer. Maybe you can put some strategy back into the game with the courses, make them think about trying to hit it 300 yards. Put some trouble there, so they might have to lay off some.

"They don't do that anymore. If it's a dogleg, they hit it over the trees, and wherever the ball is, they try to make birdie from there. The players are stronger, the fairways are perfect, the drivers are longer. It's a lot more than the ball. There are a whole bunch of factors that go into distance."

[Last modified April 21, 2005, 01:06:12]