Nicklaus doesnt fit that description. Hes been wanting the ball rolled back forever
Every sport that uses ball and stick doesnt change to different type balls in competition.
Just pick the ball and play it.
Its not rocket science
Nonsense. If Tom Brady was allowed to use a different ball he deflate them
Its an easy fix for tournament play.
play the same ball
<<<
<<<Tournaments could supply the balls. They make enough on entries god knows.
The point of golf should be the experience. I was taught it was a game of integrity, honor and respect. At some point all that went out the window… none of that is going on now.
However, golf can be enjoyed simply as an experience and an appreciation for it’s many aspects.
Course design is something I really appreciate. I have three opponents when I play… even if playing alone. I am playing the architect, I am playing the weather of the day, and I am playing the greenskeeper’s set up… pin placements, tees, rough, speed of greens etc.
There is a great a beautiful challenge in that… something I find every bit as enjoyable as a competition against other golfers.
Ultimately it’s about how I feel at the end of the day. How did I play? How did I score with what I brought out there?
I have a fascination with equipment. I find it very interesting the feel and ball flight differences between a set of Hogan Powerthrusts and a set of 57 Dynapowers. I’m interested in why Hogan shaved the toe weight off the Powerthrusts and recentered the mass. It’s interesting to me how the Dynas play with an overall low profile clubhead and what that does to ball flight… why did Palmer play the Dynas? His Peerless irons he put out years later are basically those Dynas. Hit them and find out for yourself.
Modern clubs generally speaking don’t interest me because they are poorly designed for accuracy.
I much prefer difficult courses, narrow bowling alley fairways (tougher) and small greens (harder to hit)… and holes that are crafted across a more natural terrain, so that I feel I am playing the natural slope and contour of the topography. I want the architect to have spent the time to offer various strategies and have also considered the potential for various weather conditions… even summer vs winter. It goes deep, and I am there to appreciate and understand this, with admiration and respect when it’s been done tastefully, challenging yet fair. There is a line in the sand here… a line of quality.
I want to play the courses as they were designed to be played… with venue appropriate equipment. If I shoot 65 and tie a course record, I want to know I did it fair and square, not because I live in the year 2022 and essentially get to pick up my ball after a tee shot and march it 50 yards down the fairway and pretend my wedge into the par four is the same as a 5 iron was 40 years ago.
When I sip a red ale after the round I want to know I did it… correctly, and time or decade doesn’t matter. Golf, the timeless game… that’s how I play.
I have friends who surf long boards… because it’s what they like… they feel, it’s a way of doing things. They could surf shorter faster high tech boards, but it doesn’t feel right to them.
Musician friends who still play jazz drums because they respect the discipline and the craft. They pass on programming their beats on a computer program because they want to feel it in their body.
I hit persimmon because it feels good. I like that I can build my own club, set it up how I like it, and know that it is a totally unique and one of a kind. I prefer organic materials over mass produced cast clubs. Same reason some prefer their produce from the local farmers market over the corporate factory farmed crops. They taste better and are healthier for the body in general.
The feel of the strike is everything. I have no interest in having that muted with cavity backs or perimeter weighting. That feeling of a dead perfect strike off the sweetspot that sends a vibration up the shaft into your hands and into your core… that is what I am taking home with me. Those are the body memories I want. I also want the negative punishing feel of a poorly struck shot so my brain can remember NOT to do that again any time soon.
It’s how you get better.
Golf is a great game. It’s still there, you just have to embrace it and take the deep dive.
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That’s a great post and I agree with much of what you say. It isn’t just golf that’s so different. Everything is. The instantaneous nature of everything, media, phones, texting, everything is so noisy, and there is no escaping from it. There are trade-offs to everything…everything comes to an end eventually…I am reminded of how it is with cars. I used to do basic maintenance on my cars. It was easy. Today, you can’t. It’s not intuitive or organic or hands on at all. It’s all computer diagnostics, pre-packaged parts assemblies, and of course digital controls, switches, everything. But the cars are better, safer, and more functional than ever.
Golf will never go back to equipment standards of the 1950s or 60s or whatever era some people think was the best. Maybe hickory was actually better, gutta percha. Couldn’t hit those 200 yards. I won’t argue with anyone who claims the game was better in the Hogan-Palmer-Nicklaus era, because we all get to define for ourselves what we think is best. They can roll the ball back, and yes it will change how players play certain golf courses. They won’t have to build new back tees (although they may have to build new forward tees for ladies, whose tees are already too long at almost every golf course) or move bunkers anymore, at least not for a while.
But the game will not revert in style to what it was in any past era. Whether anyone cares to admit it or not, the players today are better. They swing faster, are better trained (both physical fitness and in how to swing a golf club), have more organized, deeply competitive events from a younger age, and are benefitting from decades of players before them who have showed them how to hit shots, play different courses, manage their games. It’s like youtube, where you can find videos of 12 year old kids playing Jimi Hendrix and Wes Montgomery solos perfectly, note for note. It’s a different world, and making the ball fly shorter won’t change that much.
I will love golf no matter what they do with the ball. I just hope when they decide this, it’s because they truly believe it is the best thing for the 37 million recreational golfers who are the soul of the game, not the few champions or monied “influencers” at the top.
I would not admit this because there is no evidence whatsoever to support it.
Well, we all create our own reality. The evidence is right in front of our eyes.
For goodess sake give it a break. Nobody says players today are worse, but the integrity of the game has slid away from its roots of shotMaking due to club and ball deregulation. Of course we wont go back to hickory or the feather ball. But, most here are tired of 220yd 9irons in US Opens Masters ect…Again, the primary changes would be for tournaments of the best in the world. Amateurs have been playing Molitor Super balls forever and so what.
I would say players like Snead, Trevino , Bobby Jones, Nicklaus , Hogan were more shot makers. With massive hand eye coordination. Extremely gifted
Todays players are faster… stronger
So it is shot making of yesteryears versus speed and power today
They have equipment that will work the ball. Versus having to work it with what you had
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Why amateurs like myself and a million others struggle with this game. We are being forced into convoluted positions that the greats just did as a natural reaction. Kinda think that current teaching trends are taking away the natural side of golf.
The lighter the equipment gets. The more you have to contrive positions
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Just look at that list! I would add Hagen, Nelson, Player, Arnie, Locke and Thomson to name a few.
Q: Who realistically can be spoken of in the same breath from the current era?
A: Tiger (*) - That’s about it in my opinion.
*Tiger with all clubs other than his irons.
We live in the bomb and gauge era.
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I still watch old school Snead or Hogan and Trevino. Love those motions. We may never see anything like that again
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I think maybe one of the last shot makers of the current era would be Bubba Watson. Just a bad putter by top tour standard
Great point. Contrived
From my experience… modern players don’t impress on very narrow courses with small greens that are not so well kept, and have to often take 1 or 2 shot penalties for errant tee shots.
I took many blue chip players out to Mare Island, modern pros, college stars, Amateur champions and never once witnessed any of them able to shoot better than 3 over par on a course that’s just short and terrifying.
They had a mini tour event at Mare… all the hot local pros were there… 4 over par won the event.
I think you had to be a much better player to shoot under par there than any wide open 7400 yard golf course.
For example at Mare, there would be potentially 17 places off the tees that would require the use of the dreaded words… RELOAD!
Most players who were not accuracy conscious would easily find 3 to 5 of those in a round. That’s 6 to 10 over just with bad tee shots. Then if you can’t keep the ball below the hole on the postage stamp greens, there are going to be a few three putts for certain.
The greens were difficult but not impossible… but not in good enough condition to allow anyone to run the tables out there. You’re going to miss putts. You have to keep putting the ball in position over and over, and if you roll it well, you’ll make a few.
Only one par 5 on the course, and very difficult to be on in two because the approach is going to be off a pretty severe downhill lie to an uphill green. If you lay up on top, you can’t get there in two. If you are on the green in two, the green slopes severely from left to right. It’s a great par 5… everything a par 5 should be. It’s all strategy and position, risk vs reward.
There are only 6 places on the course where you could have a level lie from the fairway. It’s a shot makers course. Throw in the afternoon wind and you really have to have some game out there to navigate yourself correctly.
To me, this is what golf should be… a skill based game of strategy, shotmaking, position, and restraint.
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I’ve only heard 20 minutes so far, but a great interview. Thanks for creating and posting this.
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Thanks for posting that interview.
The modern power game exists because it’s what wins. The tour is very darwinian; only the strongest survive, and they all do what gives them the best chance to win. It’s not really all that new for styles to change alot; Jones said Nicklaus “plays a game with which I am not familiar.” I don’t see tour players struggling on any courses, even tight ones with small greens like Colonial and Harbor Town. If they do roll back equipment and ball standards, it will be very interesting to see how the players’ strategies and scores will change. I don’t think they will play a different style, and I’m not convinced winning scores will change by much. I guess it all depends on what, exactly, they change.
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It’s about power on all levels now. And it starts with the young juniors now
But, if I recall . Greg Norman’s first teacher told him to swing out of his shoes when he started. And learn control later
I’d heard that same thing years ago about Nicklaus.