Defeating the ball, Butch Harmon says, is not the answer.
Even shaking the driver may be too late.
“Unfortunately, I think it’s past time for that to happen,” Harmon said.
“Manufacturers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing these clubs.”
But there may be another idea to solve golf’s distance problem, says the GOLF Top 100 hall of fame teachers. And it comes from Jose Maria Olazabal, a two-time Masters winner.
Appearing on a recent episode of “The Smylie Show” podcast – which you can watch in full here – Harmon was asked by host Smylie Kaufman where he stood on potential changes to the distance limit, a topic that has seen some news over the past two weeks at the US Open. There, the four governing bodies of golf – the USGA, the R&A, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour – said that instead of the arrival of the ball in stages – 2028 for the pros and 2030 for other golfers – there will be a one-day launch in January 2030. The teams also say that changes can be made beyond football.
Then there’s what Harmon heard from Olazabal.
He said you don’t have to fix the ball.
Or the driver.
Any clubs.
Just cut their number of plays – from 14 to nine.
Then, Olazabal said, he will learn “who can play.”
“You know, I think to myself, I don’t know how we got to 14,” Harmon said on the podcast. “I don’t know where that comes from, wouldn’t it be good to have a tournament where you can only use nine clubs?
And as he said, “Oh, you’ve got to hit golf shots. You can’t bomb something out there and take it out – you’ve got to play golf.’ It would be fun.”
Can it work? It is possible. Of course, club sales will drop with lighter bags. Still, players will have to control trajectories better and shape the ball, said Kaufman, also a PGA Tour winner.
“Think about this, Smylie, and you know this,” Hamon said on the podcast. “You’re going to have a guy come out and shoot 62 or [6]3. And they will say that the whole yard was perfect; I had yards of stock. Then the next day he shot 73. ‘Oh, I was in the courtyard.’ Well, imagine if you only got eight clubs to choose from. You will always have a place in the middle of the yard.
“I would like to see one tournament played like that just to see what the situation will be like and what they will choose and how they will do it. It would be fun.”
Editor’s note: To watch the entire podcast of The Smylie Show with Harmon, please click here.
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