"To take a course that has hosted seven Open Championships and spend the money that they must have spent to redo the course," groaned the Bear to RTE, "all the records for that course go out of the window. It's another golf course, a new site. That course is out of the window and it's all to do with, frankly, the ego of the golf ball manufacturers. It's all because of the threat of lawsuits. Frankly it's ridiculous that manufacturers can control the game of golf. The biggest problem we have today is keeping golfers in the game. Well, you have golfers taking longer and longer to play the game because of the equipment."
The problem for Jack is that modern balls are perfectly legal; they do not exceed the Overall Distance Standard set out by golf's ruling bodies. But when the ODS was set, the only balls that nudged it were rock-hard bullets; now, thanks to multi-layer, solid core, soft covered balls, you can have the power with control.
The other problem for Jack is that the recent power explosion is caused by several factors, and not just ball technology. Wally Uihlein, Chairman and CEO of Titleist parent company Acushnet, likes to point to launch monitors and better optimising of equipment, improved golf course conditioning, and stronger athletes. Jack is right; rolling back the ball would go a long way to reversing course obsolesence and slow play. But why ballmakers should take the hit while everyone else continues to develop and progress? That's a tough one.
Duncan Lennard
