For all his ideas about what can be done at Augusta National for
it to remain a great test, Jack Nicklaus prefers that the course
not be touched. He wants to change the golf ball.
A growing number of insiders believe the game is facing a
crisis, and a revised ball is the simplest way to combat the
effects of stronger athletes playing with superior equipment on
better conditioned courses. "It does appear that the gap between
the distance superstars and the average player hit the ball is
widening," concedes Frank Thomas, technical director of the
USGA, who in the past had maintained that existing restrictions
on the ball were sufficient. "There is certainly a perceived
problem, and it might be a real one."
Golf's elders are still opposed to Nicklaus's remedy—the
establishment of a tournament ball used only by pros. The USGA
doesn't like that idea because golf has never had different
equipment regulations for different classes of players. Among
other reasons, manufacturers don't like the idea because
consumers have shown a desire to play what the pros play.
There is, however, a simpler solution: make all balls slightly
lighter. For a Tour player, a ball that weighs less than the
regulation 1.62 ounces doesn't carry as far on full shots, would
roll less and would be harder to control in the wind. In 1931
the USGA first regulated ball weight, settling on 1.55 ounces.
The pros, who had grown accustomed to playing heavier balls,
found the new one difficult to play and dubbed it the Floater.
The weight was adjusted to 1.62 ounces the following year.
There's more. According to Thomas, for an average player whose
drives are in the 185- to 200-yard range, the lighter ball might
even go farther. "The lighter ball might be a very tidy way of
increasing the demands on professionals and not hurting the
other 99 percent of golfers," says Thomas.
That might appease manufacturers. "It's a very intriguing idea,"
says Wally Uihlein, CEO of Titleist. If Augusta National gets
massacred again next week, a lighter ball might also be an idea
whose time has come.
A Simple Solution
