If there’s one man in the world still living who has seen it all in golf, it’s Gary Player.
Now 89, nine-time major winning golfer Player has played through six decades of golf at a professional level and is as well placed as anyone to comment on the development of the game over the years.
Since Player’s first major win in 1959, he has seen the game come on leaps and bounds, with technological advances completely changing the game.
Nowadays, if a PGA Tour player isn’t hitting it 300 yards plus regularly off the tee, then he isn’t winning.
Of course, the equipment used plays a big role in how successful some golfers are. Changes in putter are regular, while the use of hybrids and modern golf balls have also made the game a tad easier.
However, according to Player, both balls and certain putters are something that should have been banned some time ago.
What Gary Player said the PGA Tour should ban back in 2013
Much like players like Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan before him, Gary Player was never allowed to rely on simply hitting the ball a mile.
Instead, he relied on skill and finesse in his short-game, which in the end, led him to such success.
Indeed, when Player was speaking about the game of golf way back in 2013, he insisted back then that the golf ball needed changing, and certain putters needed banning from the game.
“If you have a slight tremble in golf you cannot win majors. Now they come along and anchor that and there’s no more tremble. No more tremble at all. You have made the game so much easier, and you have basically in my opinion, golf is 30 to 40 percent nerves. You have taken the nerves out,” Player said on the subject of anchor putters.
“Coming down the line I had done all this mind changing and exercising and keeping my body in shape and be prepared for the last nine holes. Now a guy comes along and has a belly putter, and he has the yips but he can handle it.
“You are talking 27 years ago I saw this, and I said this is wrong. Because nerves, training the mind. 40 per cent of the game is almost half the game. A large percentage, I don’t know exactly what, they have eliminated it. But what I don’t understand, don’t stop the weekend golfer. Let him do that. If he wants to have fun, let him have all the technology.
“There are two things they have to do on the pro tour. They have to cut the ball back 50 yards immediately and and they have to stop this belly putter and long putter immediately, that’s my opinion.”
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The PGA Tour stars who’ve had success with the belly putter
Also known as the long or mid-length putters, we see them to this day on the PGA Tour with certain players opting to use them.
The idea is that the added length of the shaft enables the putter to be ‘anchored’, which is what Player is suggesting the problem is.
Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship in 2011 with the belly putter, while Adam Scott is famous for using it and having success as well. In the modern era, we’ve even seen younger players like Akshay Bhatia and Will Zalatoris have a go with the long stick.
As for Player’s comments on the ball being rolled back, well, that is an argument that is ongoing.
As of 2028, the PGA Tour will introduce the rules on golf balls being rolled back and subsequently, seeing players unable to hit the ball quite as far.
Indeed, just like Gary Player, one of golf’s biggest hitters, Rory McIlroy, has defended the roll-back decision.
“I don’t understand the anger about the golf ball roll back. It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability,” McIlroy said back in 2023.
“It will also help bring back certain skills in the pro game that have been eradicated over the past 2 decades.”
With other golf matters also changing before 2028 and beyond, the game could look very different as it heads into the 2030s.
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