Jack Nicklaus was warmly welcomed to the KPMG Golf Business Forum at Powerscourt near Dublin, yesterday morning. He received a standing ovation lasting almost one minute from the 310 delegates as he arrived to collect the KPMG Lifetime Achievement Award from Forum Founder Andrea Sartori.
“A lifetime achievement award?” quipped the golf legend, “That’s means it must be getting near the end!”
Invited to address his audience, in which 45 countries were represented, he reviewed the progress of golf development throughout the world. Nicklaus Design has worked in more than 60 countries and currently has assignments in nearly 30.
“To see the game grow – it’s been kind of fun,” he said.
After the presentation Jack Nicklaus was interviewed by Shane O’Donaghue, golf commentator for RTE and BBC, who alerted Jack Nicklaus to the R&A’s recent announcement that they have made changes to stretch the length of 16 holes at Royal Birkdale in preparation for this year’s Open Championship. O’Donaghue asked for Jack’s reaction to this news.
“I think that it’s ridiculous,” said Nicklaus. “Royal Birkdale has hosted seven Open Championships. Now it’s seems sort of silly to me that when we have a game of golf which really didn’t change a lot between about 1935, when we first had steel shafts, until about 1995; in sixty years the golf ball only travelled an extra 15 – 20 yards.
“All of a sudden, since 1995 the golf ball goes now about 50 – 60 yards further. Well, obviously if you’ve got golf balls travelling that far, it just ruins everything that has been traditional about the game of golf.
“To take a golf course that has hosted seven Open Championships and spend the money that they must have spent to redo the course……. All the records for that course go out of the window. It’s another golf course; it’s a new site. That course is out of the window and it’s all to do with, frankly, the ego of the golf ball manufacturers.
“It’s all because of the threat of lawsuits. Frankly it’s ridiculous that manufacturers can control the game of golf. The game of golf should remain the same.
“The biggest problem we have today is keeping golfers in the game. Well, you have golfers taking longer and longer to play the game because of the equipment. It takes longer to get round.
“You used to have golfers being able to play golf in three and a half hours or less. Now, if it takes four and a half hours or less it’s a miracle.
“What sporting event anywhere in the world takes longer that about three hours? If golf took three hours you could tell your wife that if you left the house at 8 am you’d be back for lunch at noon. Now if you leave the house at 8 am you’ll probably be home at 4 pm wasting a whole day.
“As a result we have a whole lot of kids in our country, never mind anywhere else, who don’t play, or who don’t play very much. They play other sports.
“That’s a shame and it’s all been dictated by equipment.
“That’s what happened in the game today and it would be very simple for the R&A and USGA to bring the golf ball back 10 – 12%.
“We have thousands of golf courses which are obsolete now – they would come back into play and be possible championship venues again. There are wonderful golf courses around the world that tournaments won’t look at anymore.
“But we shouldn’t just look at tournaments. We should look at average golfers. The average golfer needs a golf course of around 6,500 yards or 5,900 metres. We try to keep in that area.
“You can put the back tees anywhere you want. But don’t try to make anything in between.
“The worst thing that can happen is for the average golfer to walk out and say this golf course is too tough. You want the average golfer to walk out and have fun. If some people want to punish themselves, that’s fine but to me the game is supposed to be fun.
“It’s supposed to be played in a fairly rapid, short period of time with your friends. It’s a game of fun.”
Nicklaus Design www.nicklaus.com
KPMG Golf Business Forum www.golfbusinessforum.com
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