Like most courses, Royal Birkdale—site of this year’s British Open Championship—has had to undergo some changes in response to the extraordinary distances players now are hitting the ball. Sixteen of the eighteen holes have changed since Arnold Palmer won the Open Championship there forty years ago.
Jack Nicklaus, for one, is not amused:
Three-time British Open winner Jack Nicklaus said it’s “stupid’’ that courses are forced to make alterations because modern balls fly so much farther.
“You’ve got one of the greatest golf courses in the world, and they changed 16 holes because of a stupid golf ball,’’ Nicklaus, the winner of a record 18 majors, said in an interview in May. “That is just ridiculous.’’
More on the changes to Royal Birkdale and the players reactions in Bloomberg.
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We all know how Jack feels about the golf ball. But I have to say I agree with him. There are some real masterpiece golf courses that have become obsolete (or have had to undergo drastic modifications) due to equipment. That’s sad, in my opinion.
Jack should do some research before he concerns himself with the golf ball again. 155 yards were added, and nearly half on one hole alone because the green was moved back (#17). The vast majority of the changes more to do with things beyond “distance.”