The winner of the FedEx Cup 2021, Patrick Cantlay, was invited to speak on the question of distance which has been agitating the governing bodies for several years. The American is convinced that it is urgent to act to fight against the obsolescence of the courses and to preserve the interest of the game in the future.
During a question-and-answer session with one of its main sponsors and partner at theAT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at the beginning of February, Patrick Cantlay expressed concern about the future of the game of golf.
The subject of the discussion concerned the increasing distance traveled by the golf ball. This is a tricky subject since most of the best players in the world are in contract with equipment manufacturers who provide them with increasingly high performance balls.
The biggest problem is when the architectural integrity of the course is lost. We have come to this point. Something has to change.
However, Cantlay did not evade the question. “It is not a subject that is treated quickly. This deserves attention because it is very difficult to answer. I will therefore give a theoretical answer, but I do not know the means to put into practice. »
“The instinctive reaction is to do nothing. It can cause so much of a stir that it’s not worth ithe began. But in theory the golf ball should travel less distance. »
At the end of logic
For the American, few courses are in fact able to push back the starting areas again and again, for lack of space.
“Today, I take more distant departures than 4 or 5 years ago. And we arrive at the property line, so much so thatAugusta National bought all the adjacent land to build new tee boxes and change hole lengths. »
The solution lies elsewhere according to Cantlay, who explains that he must now regularly travel hundreds of meters backwards to reach the start on the circuit. It is not only a question of technological progress but also of the evolution of strategy with regard to statistics.
“Young people try to hit further and further because the numbers show that the further they hit, the better they score. »
The most worrying point concerns the obsolescence of the courses when these lose all their interest for the long hitters.
“What saddens me the most is that I can no longer go to Cypress Point and play the course the way the architect designed the golf course. The biggest problem is when the architectural integrity of the course is lost. We have come to this point. Something has to change. »
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