The Great Triumvirate: Player joins Messrs. Palmer and Nicklaus as an honourary starter.
This year’s Masters Tournament marks Gary Player’s introduction as an Honourary Starter. Given both his place in the event’s history and mastery of the provocative soundbite, it’s an appointment long overdue.
The South African, now 76, celebrated his graduation to ceremonial status by giving a pre-tournament press conference yesterday and, in true Gary Player fashion, holding forth on a range of pertinent (and not so pertinent) topics.
Highlights included:
- On competition with Jack and Arnie: “I’ve been training very hard. I’ve just come from the gym right now, in fact. I increased my sit‑ups and my weights. Absolutely. We’ve been very competitive… When they beat me, I said, ‘Well played, you played like a champion.’ When I beat them, they said the same thing. And that’s how good friends are supposed to be.”
- On Rory’s US Open bounce-back: “That was remarkable for me to see that. If you look at certain competitors‑‑ well, if you look at‑‑ I hate to ever mention names. But if you look at Ed Snead, Ed Snead had to finish with one par on the last three holes to win, and he bogeyed all three holes. And you never, ever heard of Ed Snead again. He never won again…”
- On I.K. Kim’s Kraft Nabisco meltdown: “I don’t often watch golf, but on Sunday, I watched this lady miss a putt that long (gesturing one foot in length). She could knock it in at midnight; she could knock it in blindfolded; she could knock it in at with one hand; she could kick it in and she missed the putt. I pray that that doesn’t have an effect on it, but that could. That could ruin her career. That’s possible. I don’t say it will, but it’s possible. My heart bled for her.”
- On equipment: “You know, I’ve been playing very well lately. I’ve been beating my age. But every round I’ve played, I’ve beaten my age by at least five shots lately. And it’s such an easier game now. It’s just quite unbelievable. The ball goes 50 yards further… So [developers] get together and lengthen the golf course. More water, more fuel, more labor, more machinery, and the costs go up. And they say, oh, we have to levy the members and the members don’t like it, and the members resign. And that’s why golf has declined, because these people have gone the wrong way.”
- More on equipment: “So I think we have gone about it the wrong way for the betterment of golf. I’m just shocked when I see all these young people on the Tour, too. I see them playing with a putter up here and a putter here. I was playing with a guy the other day with a putter in his nose. This is a Pro‑Am and I said, what the hell are you doing?”
- On the two-ball solution: “Two balls? Definitely. Look, I mentioned this, and the R&A, which I’m a very big fan of, said that you‑‑ they are the same game. They are not the same game. If you think they are the same game, bring an amateur to come and play against Tiger Woods, and you’ll sure as hell see they are not the same game. You are oblivious to the fact that it’s not the same game. It ain’t the same game. “
Why can’t they all be like this?
Conor Nagle
He says what he means, and means what he says.
I do think the pros should play with different equipment from amateurs, but the two-ball solution doesn’t seem to be the right one.
Instead, I think they should force the pros to play with blades, so that misses are truly penalized – PGA players should not be allowed to use game-enhancement irons. Basically, the PGA should limit the heel-to-toe blade length, MOI, bounce, and COR of irons. Every guy on the PGA Tour should have to use clubs are about as hard to hit as a set of, say, Titleist MBs. These clubs, of course, would be no different from the current “players” irons that just about every manufacturer already makes. A miss should be miss.
Second, they should outlaw graphite shafts on Tour. This might kill the entire graphite shaft business, but so what (do you really know anyone – other than a Tour player – who has the horsepower to swing an X-flex Diamana ‘Ahina 70x5ct anyway?). Modern graphite shafts have crazy low torque ratings (given their weight) and finely-tuned bend profiles that allow players to extract every last bit of distance from their swings.
Finally, they should make the pros use very low-profile grooves (smaller than even today’s conforming grooves). If you’ve ever seen an old-school iron from the 70′s (or earlier), the grooves look more like scratch marks. Today’s grooves look like tank treads. Tour players should not be able to stop a 5 iron from the rough on the hood of a car…
Player is always the best interview.
One thing the Tour can do to tackle the prodigious length these golfers are getting is to grow the rough to something really heavy.
At the moment the guys feel that they can hit the lights out of the ball and if they miss the fairway they almost always still have a shot to the green.
Take that away and see if they are so keen to beat the ball 350 yards. I suspect not.
Technology will continue to prevail, the ultimate golf equalizer is putting. That is where R*A and PGA should start.
Limiting Driver to 460cc and length to 46 inches, if that is not technical (technology), then what is?
I will say, limiting ball distance at certain swing speed and ball speed and smash factor with spin rate is next. But, then, is that golf any more?
I will say the more eloquent solution is course architecture, more dogleg, more undulated fairways and greens, more trees, more bunkers, narrower the fairway for the pros, longer rough for the pros, tougher pin position for the pros, faster greens, more Bay Hill setups, that will keep the score low enough to test the pros.
Longer course does not necessary equalize the technologies. It’s all in the setup.
Steel shafts only in all clubs. No cavity backs or speed slots. Driver heads 250cc max. That ought to do it.