Jack Nicklaus has been shouting from the rooftops for years about the golf ball rollback.
The 18-time major winner has sounded the alarm about the rapid advancement of technology in the sport, which looks set to make historic golf courses obsolete. The distances that modern pros hit the ball is forcing places like St Andrews to make sweeping renovations in order to stay relevant in the modern game.
A golf ball rollback in on the way to help trim the distances, but that’s a controversial topic. Some players, like Bryson DeChambeau, think there should be no limit on technology. Others think this rollback won’t do enough to take distance away from the players.
But Nicklaus said that Rory McIlroy could really benefit from the new ball when the rollback eventually comes into effect.
How Rory McIlroy could benefit from the golf ball rollback
Before this year’s Memorial Tournament, the subject of the golf ball rollback was put to Nicklaus. It was explained to him that the current ball that Cameron Young uses would conform to the new standards, and he shared his reaction to that.
Nicklaus said, “Well, you know, maybe it’s okay. You know, I think that Cam has had a great run and he’s played very, very well this year. I’m very happy for him. And, you know, most of the guys, whatever the golf ball is, they pass the golf ball back to what, 2030 now?
“I mean, it was 2026, then it went to 2028, I think it’s back to 2030. And it’s crazy. I keep saying, it’s like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic anyway. It’s not very much. And, you know, I mean, it’s like, it’s going to amount to – well it’s going to amount to you to probably less than a yard.”
He continued, “It won’t make any difference about a yard to you. Maybe two at the absolute most. And you’ll never know that. And, you know, to the pro maybe, to a Rory or maybe as long as there is, might have maybe 12 to 14 yards it might pull him back. It might be a benefit. Might keep him out of trouble. I don’t know.
“But you know, I mean, it’s insignificant. The only thing that’s good about it is that it’s actually reined in the game back a little bit and pulled it back to where it shouldn’t get any further than that. Let’s hope not. I mean, we run out of real estate. We run out of time to play. We run out of money. We run out of water. You run out of all kinds of things.”
The Memorial is played at Muirfield Village, Jack’s place. It’s a place owned and designed by Nicklaus, and he’s struggling to keep it up to par with modern technology.
Nicklaus said, “I mean, you know, we’re not all like Augusta where we can go buy another golf course if we need to lengthen the tee. I mean, it just, I say that facetiously, but it’s, you know, they had the ability to be able to do some of those things. Not many other people can do that.
“I mean, if I want to lengthen this golf course anymore I got to go buy Dublin Road, you know. You can’t make that happen. And so that’s only the 6th hole. But we’re limited by what we’ve got. So you can keep making it so we’re, to where the game can’t be played.
“I mean if Cam’s playing a ball that’s happy with and it conforms, you know, tell him to give it to the other guys and let ’em try it.”
Jack Nicklaus makes bold claim on why players are against the golf ball rollback
Some pros are generally critical of the golf ball rollback for various reasons. DeChambeau said that technology in golf shouldn’t be limited, and others say it won’t make any difference to the game.
But Nicklaus thinks he knows the real reason that golf pros are not in favour of the move. He said, “Most of the reason why the guys will complain about the golf ball being brought back is because of the manufacturers.
“And I mean, the manufacturer complains to a player and says, No, no, don’t you tell ’em that you want that golf ball rolled back, otherwise you aren’t going to be working for us. You know, we got manufacturers that are in there because they can tell the players that they got to do that.
“I think we had one instance of that earlier by a fellow who used to play out here. And I don’t understand why a manufacturer would worry about that from the standpoint because, you know, if you make the best golf ball you’re going to continue to make the golf ball whether it goes five yards further or five yards shorter. It’s not a big deal.
“It’s just now getting to the point where we got to buy more land to build, to do anything. I mean, we had, we have probably, in this country today we probably have, if you don’t touch the golf courses that are out there, and play them the way they are.
“We probably don’t have 20, 25 maybe 30 golf courses that are really of championship caliber, really, without fooling around with them. If the ball was brought back a little bit, you know, we would have a lot more golf courses.”
It’s clear that something must be done to take distance away from these players, but as always seems to be the case, money is running this conversation. So long as manufacturers put their pockets ahead of the game, then this problem will persist.
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