Dan O’Neill On The Ball
Monday, May 9, 2005 at 10:18 AM With a column on the ball/distance/USGA, Dan O’Neill of the St. Louis Post Dispatch shows his liberal technophobic bias, citing recent talk at Bellerive about blowing the place up to modernize a course opened in the 60s. O’Neill says a competition ball or rolled back ball would make a huge difference.
“The difference is that places such as Bellerive wouldn't have to re-invent themselves. The difference is that historic layouts like The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., or St. Louis Country Club (site of the 1947 U.S. Open) become championship-viable again. Finally, the USGA seems to be getting the message, a message driven more loudly in recent months by influential types such as PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson, a message suggesting these entities might take action if the USGA does not. It is golf's version of a congressional hearing.”
He also refutes those, like the USGA’s Executive Director, who say golf has never gone “backwards” with equipment. He also reminds us that these are the same people who were testing balls with wood drivers up until last year.
The game went through similar palpitations over distance control in the late 1920s. In 1931, the USGA mandated a bigger, lighter ball, from 1.62 inches in diameter to 1.68 inches, and from 1.62 ounces in weight to 1.55 ounces. The "balloon ball" proved unpopular and after a year the allowed weight was increased to 1.62 ounces, keeping the size at 1.68 inches. The organization has been out of step, not out of character. Until last year, the USGA was testing balls with a laminated wooden driver swung mechanically at a speed of 109 mph. The top players today are using titanium-faced drivers and swinging at speeds of 120 mph or more. The USGA is a day late here, but hopefully it will take a serious look at where this is headed and what it is doing to the game's great playing surfaces. Hopefully, it will draw a line in the sand; that is, before the sand has to be dug up and replaced by a series of extravagant pot bunkers.
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