The Reason Why Jay Monahan Defied The Governing Bodies

THE distance debate has reared its ugly head again with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announcing that his organisation will not be complying with any plans to change the characteristics of the modern-day golf ball.

The R&A and USGA, who effectively write the rules of the game, have made no secret of their desire to reduce the distance that today’s professionals propel that 1.68in golf ball. 

My colleague, Kieran Clark, took issue with Monahan. I have a slightly different take on the controversy. 

It goes against every fibre of my being that a professional golf tour should suddenly decide to make up its own rules. If it starts with the golf ball, where does it end? 

And there will be a huge backlash if Monahan is serious.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

There are other considerations too. How would Monahan react if The R&A were to turn round and tell him that his members could no longer play in The Open? And here’s the thing - if The R&A decide to impose restrictions on the distance golf balls travel, those rules would apply at The Open. And they would also be imposed at the US Open.

So, for 50 week of the year, players would be expected to use one type of ball and then have to adapt to another at two of golf’s majors. Hasn’t our sport suffered enough inner turmoil? This would make it a laughing stock.

I watched the recent Scottish Open, where the likes of Rory McIlroy were hitting the golf ball 400 yards. It is a joke. Golf was never meant to be played that way.

But if anybody really believes that it is Monahan who is calling the shots here then I believe they are sadly mistaken.

I may be wrong, but my gut tells me that the pressure for the PGA Tour’s stance is coming from the golf ball and club manufacturers.

Just stop and think about it for a moment. Titleist market their Pro V1 range on the basis of both feel and, crucially, distance. They employ lots of clever people who sole task is to keep developing projectiles that travel ever further. And they invest hundreds of millions of dollars into achieving this.

When was the last time you saw a driver advertised while extolling its accuracy from the tee. Every manufacturer on the planet wants to come up with a club that will hit the ball further than anything their rivals can produce.

Royal Liverpool hosted the recent Open Championship. It is a traditional links course that measures 7,350 yards. It is not tricked up, but here’s the thing - anybody who found a fairway bunker knew that they were almost certainly dropping a stroke.

Now look at the courses used on a weekly basis on the PGA Tour. A player finds a bunker and it is no punishment whatsoever. I have said this before, and I will say it again - if you want to make the world’s best players stop and think about where they are hitting the golf ball, put proper lips on fairway bunkers and let the rough grow.

If you doubt whether that will work I refer you once again to The Open at Royal Liverpool, where a man who is not a long hitter but finds lots of fairways and putts like a god beat the rest of the field by SIX strokes.

The likes of McIlroy and Jon Rahm thrashed away with drivers, found rough and bunkers and grew increasingly frustrated.

There is no need to change the golf ball. Change the way courses are set up instead. Period!

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