Although Tiger Woods may not make it look so, golf is an exceedingly difficult game to play for most of us. Yet, because of the exceptional ability of Mr. Woods and a relatively few number of professional golfers, this Golf Digest article reports that the United States Golf Association is now officially searching for a more sluggish golf ball.
In an email dated April 11, the USGA is asking about 35 golf equipment manufacturers for prototype golf balls that fly shorter distances than those currently allowed. The email requests that manufacturers submit two golf-ball designs, one that would land 25 yards shorter on average than the USGA’s current standard, and another that would fall 15 yards shorter. The email stated that participation in the new prototype ball is voluntary and did not set a timetable for submitting the prototypes.
Until around 2000 or so, most good golfers used liquid-filled wound golf balls that were soft and easy to control, but did not fly as far as hard balls with solid cores and urethane covers. However, newer ball technology has now produced balls have a solid core and a urethane cover that are as easy to control as the old liquid-filled balls, so the good golfers are pounding these balls longer distances.
So, what’s wrong with hitting a golf ball further, you ask? Well, while most golfers are looking for any edge to make a difficult game easier, proud course owners contend that that the new balls make their courses too easy to play. As a result, a few course owners have lengthened their courses to make them more challenging, but golf “traditionalists” believe that such acts are sacriligeous and akin to retrofitting a work of art. Meanwhile, the vast majority of golfers do not hit a golf ball appreciably further with the new balls, and many of the new longer courses that are created to challenge the long hitters are simply torture chambers for the average golfer. Nevertheless, the mantra to rein in the golf ball coninutes on. Prominent professionals such as Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman have lobbied for limits on golf equipment for years and Augusta National Golf Club, host of last weekend’s Masters Tournament, is also calling for technological restrictions.
On the other hand, golf manufacturers are resisting the call for restrictions. Outside the insulated world of professional golf, manufacturers understand that golf as a sport is struggled to keep golfers playing. The number of rounds played in the U.S. was about 495 million in 2003, which is down from a peak of around 520 million in 2000, and industry statistics reflect that new golfers each year are offset roughly by the number of people who give up the game.
Some manufacturers have suggested that the USGA consider allowing separate technologies for pros and recreational golfers, which would make the sport easier for recreational players while maintaining stricter standards for professionals. However, such a move would break with golf’s tradition of maintaining the same rules for all players, and it is highly uncertain how such a break would be received in the marketplace. Moreover, inasmuch as everyone from Mr. Woods to low-handicap recreational golfers can qualify for open tournaments, differing technological standards would raise the issue of where the USGA would draw the “technology line?”
So, in the end, the USGA should just leave good enough alone. No golfers are quitting the game because of technological innovations in golf equipment. The fact that a few professionals’ ability to hit the long ball is making a few courses obsolescent for professional tournament golf is an inadequate reason to make an already impossible game more difficult for the vast majority of golfers.
Neutralizing good golfers
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Speaking of golf, 
With Spring Break in the air, golfers’ thoughts turn to fairways, greens and, while sitting at the computer, golf blogs.