Concerned golfers claim technology gone too far

HE may not have won last week’s Dubai Desert Classic but Ernie Els showed why players and administrators alike are running scared of him when he reached a 351-yard hole with one blow in his final round.

The second hole at the Emirates course is a par four, but the South African made a mockery of it as he reached the green with his drive and two-putted for the easiest of birdies.

Els, with the help of a new Titleist-designed ball, has been reducing European and US tour courses to their knees all year, setting scoring records and winning four tournaments along the way.

He is regularly clearing over 300 yards with his drives and the chance of a playoff in Dubai on Sunday was only denied him by, ironically, a duffed chip after he comfortably reached the par-five final hole in two.

While such prodigious hitting has lifted the numbers in Els' bank account into the stratosphere, his ability to reduce even the longest courses to little more than a pitch and putt is alarming course designers, tournament organisers and players alike.

Els is not the only player to benefit from developments which many feel, quite literally, have gone too far.

Ten years ago, only a very small minority were hitting the ball over 300 yards. Now, for the world's top 10 at least, it is the norm.

"The R&A and the USGA have just blown it," said six-times major winner Nick Faldo, a man who built his career on precision rather than power, at last month's Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth.

"The horse has bolted so far past the gate that it's in stud. The R&A and the USGA should have done something long ago about the ball and the surface area in the face of the driver.

"It's these two aspects that are doing all the harm and the thing that surprises me is how the golf ball keeps passing the so-called velocity test. It just seems ridiculous and the ruling bodies have blown it."

Faldo was speaking shortly after Els had coasted to a record-shattering victory at Lake Karrinyup, the South African completing the four rounds on a staggering 29-under-par total for his fourth tournament win of 2003 in just five starts.

"Ernie's 100 under par in five events and it's only February," added Faldo. "While he's awesome at the moment, I'm teeing up knowing I'm going to be 40 yards behind him."

Australia's Jack Newton, who finished second behind Tom Watson in the 1975 British Open at Carnoustie, also accused the game's ruling bodies of falling short in their responsibilities.

"Lake Karrinyup is a highly respected golf course but to shoot 29 under par is monstrous," he said. "It's the authorities who are to blame but they're so scared to say anything for fear of being sued.

"Guys like Els are just making mince meat of these great golf courses."

Ian Woosnam, the 1991 US Masters champion, echoed those sentiments at last week's Dubai Desert Classic.

"There doesn't seem to be any finesse any more cut one against the wind or hook one against the wind, hit one low," the diminutive Welshman said at the Emirates Golf Club. "The whole game has changed really. It's just hit it as far as you can, hit it as hard as you can.

"The game to me is gone and I don't like it any more. It's not fun. It doesn't matter, it's just get a seven-iron 180 yards and hit it as hard as you can because the ball goes straight. It's just a power game at the moment."

Tim Finchem, head of the US PGA Tour, is fully aware something needs to be done, and soon.

"There's no reason the ball needs to go any further," he said, suggesting that a tournament ball, constructed to new specifications, should be imposed on the professionals.

"It would be appropriate to put some standards in place that more or less draws a line in the sand with regard to how far the ball goes."

However Woosnam, like Faldo, believes it is probably too late for any remedy.

"Everything moves on, but probably the only way to go is to go backwards," he said. "You have to change the ball to make those shots again, get softer covers and squeeze the ball and make it go different shapes.

"But that's the way the manufacturers want it to go, come out with a club or a ball that hits it further. It's spoiling all the golf courses you have to make the golf courses 8,000 yards long. It's a shame really. It's taking a lot of guys out of the ball game, especially the older guys."

Strong words and strong emotions expressed by key figures in the modern game.

But what these words cannot take away is that the game's bigger hitters, like Tiger Woods and Els, still have to make the best possible use of the high-tech golf balls and drivers, dovetailing all the ingredients of the golf swing into a cohesive whole.

In this regard, there is equally little doubt that Woods and Els are succeeding in spectacular fashion.