Monty: If The Ball Doesn't Change, The Courses Have To

Monty at the Masters...

The one big change is 11, that's the big change that I find. That's become a very, very difficult hole. If it was hard before, now it's become very difficult. But the rest of the course, I agree with the changes. I think we have to keep going, provided that if we never change the golf ball, we have to keep changing the course and if we change the golf ball, we'll have to change courses. Wish we had done this 15 years ago in 1990 that you found a ball that was good but you can't go backward in this world, you have go forward. If the golf ball doesn't change, the courses have to.

Q. Specifically, what's the difficulty on 11 for you?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Generally holes that start with a 5 and it says par 4, are generally the problem, yeah. (Laughter) So that tends to be that one.

And...

Q. Phil Mickelson is using two drivers in his bag this week.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, he is, yes.

Q. What's your reaction to that?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, I think with the manufacturers now being able to do that, I think it's sensible. He's sort of caught everybody on the hot, really, I think and good luck to him. He tried it last week as an experiment and it certainly worked. Won by, what was it 14 or something crazy. I think you'll find, and not just on this course, you'll find a lot of people using two drivers now. Why try and change one swing to accommodate a hole. Why not if the club is designed to go left or right or whatever, why not use that? We have a number of courses that you can think of immediately that would favor both and certainly used more than a 3 iron or 4 iron in a round of golf. There's no reason why that can't be the same. It will give him an advantage of hitting the fairways around here which we all know is crucial. The rough isn't long, but we need control from the fairways and distance.

Comments

[J.P.]

Not only has the game become all driver, and no long irons, but now it has become 2 drivers, and all short irons. If you don't need 4 wood 2 iron and 3 iron anymore because of todays golf ball, why not throw another driver in the bag. Geoff, this is ruining my fantasy golf picks. Everybody wants to pick the same 10 players.

Its funny how the current big hitters don't (don't change it now, because we have a huge advantage) want anything changed, when players like Fred Funk and many others are calling for the ball to be rolled back and held in check.

[St. Pete]

He must have had some of those branding sessions with the LPGA Life Coach. Now he's a product, and can't speak for himself, like he did a few years ago.

ERNIE ELS - In the February, 2003 Golf World: "I am not totally against technology but they do have to put a governor on the golf ball ... perhaps even the administrators should just consider bringing back wooden-headed clubs."

Wally and Titleist would go nuts.

[Smolmania]

JP,
How can you say the big hitters don't want things changed? Just look at the last post about Els' comments. Tiger's widely on record talking about the ball. He'd like to have to work the ball, to hit shots. If we went back to that ball, Funk would be closer to him in distance, but his ball striking ability and short game would -- over the long run -- win out.

The real question is what kind of game do we want, golfing or flogging? If there's going to be a vote, I'll choose the former.

[J.P.]

Smolmania,
Did I miss something on Ernie? This is what I got out of it.

I think with technology, with all of these golf courses changing, I think we just hold back and see where it goes. See how we play the game on this new Augusta National. I think we've just got to give it some time and see where it goes. I don't think anything should be rushed now with technology or anything. Let's see where it goes.

AAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhh, hold back and see where its going? It's already gone tooooooooo-farrrrrrrrrrrr.