News broke this week that Jack Nicklaus had dinner with the Executive Director of the USGA Mike Davis where they discussed the possibility of using golf balls that don't travel as far, as the 18-time major winner believes the game is being ruined by the modern ball.
Nicklaus claims the spectacle is being ruined as balls are travelling too far, making shorter holes and many courses obsolete, as those with heavy drives far too often leave themselves with merely the flick of a wedge before being in putting range.
As always Nathan was joined by Fionn Davenport and Peter Lawrie to discuss the week's talking points on Golf Weekly, and discussed the possibility of changing the ball to decrease the distance it travels from the drive.
Both men agreed that the ball needs to be slowed down, but noted that scoring averages haven't changed throughout the years, with Lawrie posing the idea that faster greens make it more difficult to put, which has compensated for the distances gained from the players first swing on a hole.
"Agronomy has moved on to such an extent that the greens are much more difficult to put on. I actually was talking to a referee a good time ago, if you actually slowed the greens down your round of golf would be much faster".
"On the slow greens your ten footer can go maybe a foot past, maybe at most two foot past. Your ten footer on fast greens can go five and six feet past, and then your five and six footer can go another five or six feet past".
While Lawrie was in agreement that change is needed, he also made the point that it may not be as easy as most people think, as many players prefer the modern ball and fast greens and may be opposed to change.
"But people want to play on fast greens because they like fast greens, therefore that's where the scoring average is the thing, that's where the anomaly in the scoring average is. It's that the greens are far more difficult, it's actually not about the golf ball in relation to how far it goes".
"I totally agree with Jack Nicklaus. The golf ball goes far too far. It's destroying golf courses, it's destroyed St. Andrews completely, the home of golf supposedly, but the R&A and the USGA have been exceptionally slow to do anything".
Davenport disagreed with Nicklaus' assessment that the only course that hasn't been made obsolete is Augusta, and had doubts about the impact Nicklaus' comments would have on those who police the rules of the game.
"He's spotted that the golf ball and not the golf club is the difference between the ball travelling much further than not, but the fact that he's been yelling about this for 40 years suggests that the powers that be in golf, as much as they pay respect to the greatest golfer of all time, they couldn't care less what he actually thinks. They don't care".
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