European Ryder Cup legend calls for drastic change in golf: "It's not quite right"

European Ryder Cup legend Colin Montgomerie has reiterated his desire to see professionals play with a completely different golf ball to amateurs.

In 2023, golf's rule makers announced plans to control the distance of the ball.

Earlier this summer, however, the R&A and USGA announced that changes to the rollback would be delayed until January 2030.

Alternative solutions, such as bifurcation, will be revisited. 

But Montgomerie told the most recent edition of the Old Boys, New Balls podcast that action needs to be taken now.

"It is a problem," said the 63-year-old.

"We've got two Opens coming up, we've got St Andrews next year, 2027, and then we've got Royal Lytham in 2028.

"[Those are] two courses without the wind, if it's calm, we could see some really, really low scoring, meaning the distance the guys are hitting it now is bizarre. 350 [yard drives] is becoming on a links course average.

"Being a course designer in a way, we used to build courses where the dogleg was set at 265 yards.

"That was the post that we put in, and then we went left or right from there as a dogleg. Well, that's now 320.

"So where are we going here? Lytham especially, was not designed for someone who hits the ball 350 yards. It wasn't designed that way.

"The bunkers are obsolete, they're out of the way. We can't keep buying new land because Lytham's tight anyway. St Andrews is tight, you can't really make it any bigger.

"So what do we do? The only way is to reduce the ball, reduce the clubs. We can't reduce the actual human specimen. 

"It just used to be the ball and the club that was the problem. Now, it's the ball, the club, and the athlete."

Montgomerie explained that, during his pomp, the players were physically different. 

"With all respect to him, Woosie [Ian Woosnam] was never an athlete. Seve [Ballesteros] wasn't really. [Sandy] Lyle was natural.

"[Nick] Faldo gave it a bit of a gym thing, but nothing untoward. [Bernhard] Langer was never athletic.

"Look at [Arnold] Palmer; [Jack] Nicklaus was really not, but now they are.

"Now they're six foot five and hitting the balls absolute miles and in the gym every minute of the day.

"We have to roll back the ball, bring it back. 

"But of course, the powers that be don't want that because what happens is the amateurs suffer because we don't want to have two different golf balls for amateurs and pros."

Montgomerie added: "But I think the time has come now where they say, 'okay, there's your professional golf ball, there's your golf ball for this tournament'.

"We're the only sport that brings the ball to the game. You don't bring your own rugby ball to it, you're given it for the match. 

"The cricket ball. Snooker, the balls are presented. Tennis, the balls are presented.

"But golf, we bring our own equipment to it, and it's not quite right.

"We need to stabilise this and we need to make this as one, and I think it's about time that we use a professional ball that doesn't go as far, and brings those great bunkers at Lytham for instance, and St Andrews, back into play."