Cameron Young didn’t know it at the time – and wasn’t even trying to make headlines anyway – but his strong season was accompanied by news from the PGA Championship that he was reportedly playing with a golf ball that would be considered conforming under new golf ball return guidelines has continued to gain traction.
And golf’s greatest greatest champion has now entered.
Jack Nicklaus met with the media at Muirfield Village on Tuesday as his course and tournament prepare to host the world’s best for this week’s match. Memoriala signature event on the PGA Tour.
Nicklaus was asked for his thoughts on the comeback. Basically, given that Young has seen only minimal loss in distance, are the proposed changes enough to not only stem the increasing distance in development, but also keep some of the best golf courses in the world from becoming obsolete?
After being filled in on exactly what happened to Young at the PGA Championship, Nicklaus had a lot to say, delving into the role of manufacturers, the future of championship golf courses and more.
“I keep saying, it’s like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic,” Nicklaus said. “It’s not much.”
Nicklaus went on to ask the reporter who asked him the question if he played golf.
“It’s not going to make a difference, to you, maybe 2 yards, and you’d never know it,” he said, noting that amateur golfers will see little difference with the rebound of the golf ball. “For the pro, maybe, Rory (McIlroy), who’s probably as long as he is, maybe 12 to 14 feet might pull it. It might be a benefit. It might keep him out of trouble. I don’t know. But you know, I mean, it’s irrelevant.
“The only thing that’s good about it is that it’s actually held the game back a bit and pulled it back to where it doesn’t have to go any further than that; let’s hope not,” he continued. “I mean, we’re running out of real estate. We’re running out of time to play. We’re running out of money. We’re running out of water. You run out of all kinds of things. You know, we’re not all like Augusta where we can go buy another golf course if we have to extend the drive. I say that in a cool way … but we’re limited by what we can do where you can play.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler spoke on the subject during his press conference on Wednesday. He said while he agrees with some of the principles behind the golf ball rollback, there are lingering issues.
“When you start moving it just 8 yards, not only does it disproportionately affect some players — where you have some guys it won’t affect at all, and some guys it will affect 15 to 20 yards — I think it creates some problems within our game when you start changing the rules,” Scheffler said. “And then, on top of that, I think it’s a bigger issue in terms of golf course design where power is being rewarded a lot.”
He added that while he likes how classic, tight golf courses like Harbor Town or last week’s venue, Colonial, challenge players in different ways, the way many courses are now — open with fewer penalties — dictates how younger players learn the game. If distance and power pay off, he says, guys will hit the gym and work on speed drills to meet the challenge.
Nicklaus concluded his final answer on the subject by saying that golf ball rebound is not a popular topic, although the better word might be that remains controversial.
“Most of the reason guys will complain about golf ball spin is because of the manufacturers,” Nicklaus said. “And I mean, the manufacturer complains to a player and says, ‘No, no, don’t tell them you want the golf ball to go back, or you’re not going to work for us.’
“Now we’re getting to the point where we have to buy more land to build on, to do anything,” he continued. “I mean, in this country today we probably have, if you don’t touch the golf courses that are out there and play them as they are, we probably don’t have 20, 25, maybe 30 golf courses that are really championship caliber without being cheated on. If the ball went back a little bit, we’d have a lot more golf courses.”
