Skip to content

Golfers voice wide range of opinions on distance report

Jamie Squire / Getty Images Sport / Getty

After the USGA and R&A released their Distance Insight Project on Tuesday, arguing that the surge in distance is detrimental to golf, players at Pebble Beach for this week's PGA Tour event shared their reactions.

As expected, there was a huge range of opinions on the issue and its causes, and not much agreement on what, if anything, should be done.

Phil Mickelson suggested that some of golf's distance gains are simply the result of today's players being better athletes.

"I also don't feel that you should punish the athletes for getting better," Mickelson said Wednesday at his Pebble Beach Pro-Am press conference, according to Golf Channel's Randall Mell. "I don't think that we have had massive equipment changes. We have just had athletes that have been able to take advantage of the equipment, more so than in the past."

However, the 49-year-old Mickelson did acknowledge that the modern solid-core golf ball was a big reason his distance has increased since he was 21.

Padraig Harrington told Golfweek's Adam Schupak that when he started playing professionally, 280 yards was a long drive. The influx of long hitters has diminished the advantage of hitting it far, the three-time major winner said, and shorter-hitting players are suffering because courses are set up to deal with the bombers.

Harrington, an ambassador of the R&A, says he's told executive director Martin Slumbers that he supports rolling back the golf ball to help preserve the game's best courses.

"It's purely because of the cost to the golf course - the size, the maintenance, the water, all the costs. There are great golf courses that can't be used," Harrington said. "... My personal opinion is, I would set new specifications and let the manufacturers have another race to the top. If the ball was rolled back 10 percent, we'd all start again and off we'd go."

Harold Varner III, on the other hand, said he doesn't see any issue with how far the ball is traveling.

"Hell no, distance isn't a problem on our level," he said, according to Schupak. "It's way firmer out here on Tour. When I go back home, I'm never hitting it over 300. Out here I am."

The 29-year-old, who's never finished outside the top 40 in driving distance during his four years on the PGA Tour, said he wouldn't want to play in a tournament that required the use of distance-limiting equipment.

"No," Varner said. "If you have a God-given talent and worked to be as good as you can be, and in this case, being able to hit the ball far, you should be able to use it. LeBron James is 6-9 and can run over everyone. Is he not allowed to play with them? That's weak. If I didn't hit it far enough, I'd get up for the challenge."

Paul Casey admitted he hadn't read the USGA's report yet, but he approached the issue from a different perspective.

"The golf courses became longer because the golf developers said if we can make the golf courses longer, we can get four more houses on that hole and two more on that hole, etc.," Casey said. "That's more money. And that's when the manufactures and the players - including the amateurs - rose to the challenge. They had to start hitting the ball longer. I don't like us players and the manufactures getting the blame."

Billy Horschel backed Casey's take on Twitter.

Jack Nicklaus has been vocal about his concerns regarding distance in today's game. On Tuesday, he characterized the report as a step in the right direction.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox