Golf: Tackling power hitters

Six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus (left) with his son, Jack Nicklaus II, goes to the eighth green at the Augusta National Golf Club yesterday. Picture / Reuters

The verbal sparring over the best way to rein-in golf's power hitters has gone another round at Augusta National.

In one corner, six-time Masters winner Jack Nicklaus again presenting his case for golf balls to be made differently so they don't fly so far and thus render once challenging golf courses a pushover for the long hitter.

"If the golf ball goes shorter you don't have to come out every year and change the golf course," says the man regarded as the best player of all time.

In the other corner, Masters chairman Hootie Johnson, who has overseen the addition of nearly 500m of extra length to the Augusta National layout since Tiger Woods overpowered it en route to his first Masters win in 1997.

Johnson says his club is not going to introduce a special Masters ball.

"We don't want to take the golf ball off the table," he said, while suggesting the issue could be revisited, "but we are comfortable with what we are doing to our course for the Masters tournament."

The latest changes to Augusta National have been a constant in pre- Masters discussion. One of the par fours is now more than 500 yards (465m) and the par three fourth hole is 240 yards. Many prominent players are unhappy with the changes.

Nicklaus can't see the rationale behind golf courses world wide continuing to be lengthened for the modern game's long hitters who regularly strike balls 290m off the tee.

"They have this problem with every golf course in the world. How do you fit this new game with new technology on to old golf courses?

"If they have this problem all over the world mainly because of the way golf balls are made, doesn't it make sense to change the golf ball? It seems we're coming at the problem from the other side."

But Johnson, who insists he speaks only for his club, said they just had to make changes to stop Augusta National becoming too short for modern golfers.

"When I saw Phil Mickelson hit a drive down the 11th hole in 1998 when it was 455 yards, and he had 94 yards left to the front of the green, I knew we had to do something."

The hole is now 50 yards longer and the fairway is narrower.

Golf's rule makers, the Royal and Ancient and the United States Golf Association, are reluctant to put restrictions on ball manufacturers because the majority of golfers, the club members and casual players, don't get the same advantage from new technology as the professionals.

Nicklaus continues to be the loudest voice for restrictions on how far a golf ball can be hit.

He admits there's an issue with the balance between the touring professional and the club and casual golfer, but wonders why professional tours and major championships can't introduce their own standard of ball.

"I promise you, it's very simple to bring that ball back 10 per cent and still keep the same characteristics."

His calls are likely to go unheeded in the foreseeable future and the earthmovers can look forward to plenty of work for some time yet.