The King Has Spoken
Sunday, November 28, 2004 at 11:23 AM Arnold Palmer has long prefaced his comments on the distance "debate," indicating that slowing down the ball would be the easiest solution for a major problem.
But his comments took on an edgier tone while visiting Australia. Shockingly, he is not on the "better athletes" World Tour, instead offering these comments during a visit to the Australian Open. They were reported by Bernie McGuire in the Irish Independent (reg. required):
“You cannot stop R & D on golf equipment no matter what rules you put in place, but what we have to stop is the golf ball. That doesn't require a major change but we do need to slow the golf ball down.
"The golf courses that I am designing all over the world now are upwards of 7600 yards and if you hire me to do a golf course for you, you want a course that they won't tear apart. You'll say, 'Build it so they can't shoot the scores'.
"I'm not sure I can because they are hitting it so far. I have a grandson who carries the ball in the air with a driver 300 yards consistently. He is 17 years old.
"It is an ongoing thing. It is happening and it will continue to happen. The only way you are going to curb development is with the golf ball.
"We can make golf courses impossible to play without lengthening them but that is unlikely to happen. The one area where you can keep golf as we have all known it in our lifetime in proper perspective is the golf ball."
The article also included comments from Nick Faldo and Bob Charles who both reiterated Palmer’s message.
"The golf ball has changed the face of golf forever and it was left way too long before anything was done about it," Faldo said.
"The first big leap was 20 years ago when Titleist brought out their 384 model and that went 20 yards further than anything else at the time.
"Slowly since then the golf ball is being driven longer and longer and (Jack) Nicklaus has been beating the drum about the golf ball for two decades now and nothing's happened.
"It's all too late now and this is where we are now with the public, the players and the tour's all loving the fact that guys hit it now 350 yards.
"The whole issue with the golf ball is in the hands of the manufacturers and they have to come up with something that is really challenging for the pros but I can't see that happening in the foreseeable future."
Bob Charles said: "It's just that modern technology has taken a lot of skill away. The ball goes straighter and it's easier to control.
"It's ridiculous. It's not golf, and the sooner the powers-that-be put clamps on the performance of the ball, put restrictions on manufacturers on how far the ball goes, the better for everybody.
"A lot of courses are becoming obsolete with the ball being driven 300-350 yards. Courses should max out at 7000 yards. They're now playing 7200-7400 yards. It's not a level playing field any more.
"Everywhere you go people are looking for tees further back. It shouldn't be that way."