Gary Player is certainly no shrinking violet and he always shoots from the hip when asked about ways in which he would like the game to evolve.
There haven’t been many better golfers in the history of the game than Gary Player.
The diminutive South African won 159 professional tournaments worldwide, including nine major championships.
Player ranks himself as the third greatest golfer in history, behind only Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
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While some may not agree with the 90-year-old’s opinion, his stance is a more than fair one to take.
Since he stopped playing competitively, the nine-time major champion has forged a reputation as one of the most uncompromising golf analysts in the game.
In fact, Player is one of the harshest critics of modern-day players.
He is also fairly outspoken when it comes to rules he would like to see changed.
Gary Player wanted one club banned and said what was ‘killing the game’
More than a decade ago now, Player made it very clear that changes had to be made.
And Player opened up on what he strongly believed golf’s governing bodies needed to change specifically, when speaking to the Florida Times-Union back in 2013.
“Damn ball is killing the game,“ Player exclaimed.
“On the pro tours, they should cut the ball back 50 yards immediately and stop the long and belly putter immediately.”
“I realized a long time ago that I was going to be a small man [Player is 5 feet 7], so I worked on my mind and my putting so I could play under pressure.
“This game is basically 30 to 40 percent nerves, and I worked very hard to be able to keep my nerves on the last nine holes of tournaments.
“Then you got guys like Orville [the 1969 U.S. Open champion] who came along 40 years ago and were using long putters and taking the nerves out of putting. They would anchor and no more trembling. It made the game so much easier. When I first saw this, I said this was wrong.“
Player got his wish regarding the belly putter in 2016 but he will have to wait until 2028 before the golf ball rollback is brought into play by the USGA and the R&A.
There are numerous arguments both for and against the golf ball rollback, but nobody knows whether the impact will be positive or negative until it becomes official in 2028.
Gary Player believes there needs to be golf ball bifurcation
Despite Player’s insistence that a change needed to be made to the golf ball and long putters, he did admit that he was against restrictions being brought in for recreational golfers.
“I don’t want to take those putters away from the weekend player,“ he said.
Which would you rather eliminate from your golf game?
“Let them have all the technology they can get. Let them have fun. People will tell you it’s the same game. It’s not the same game.
“If they think it’s the same game, then go and try playing against Tiger Woods, even with your handicap. Those people don’t have any conception of what the standard of play is for the top professionals.“
Taking Player’s comments into account, it’s interesting to note that amateurs will have to play under the same rules as professionals, but not until 2030.
It remains to be seen whether that ruling will affect the popularity of the game moving forward.
Hopefully, golf’s governing bodies haven’t made a big mistake by bringing in the golf ball rollback rule for amateurs as well as professionals.
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