Legendary golf coach floats outlandish idea to solve distance issue: "It would be interesting"

Legendary golf coach Butch Harmon has outlined why he believes rolling back the golf ball isn't the answer to the distance problem in the men's game.

Golf's rule-makers announced before the U.S. Open that plans to limit how far balls can fly in the professional game have been put on hold until at least 2030.

The USGA & R&A said there remains a lack of consensus among golf's stakeholders over how to grapple with the issue.

They thought they had found the answer by previously outlining that, from 2028, the elite professionals would see their driving distances reduced by around 15 yards as a result of balls being manufactured to new distance-curbing specifications.

But it now seems that alternative options, such as bifurcation, are back on the table.

Harmon outlined his thoughts on the issue during a recent appearance on Smylie Kaufman's podcast.

The 82-year-old, who is best known for his 11-year partnership with Tiger Woods that yielded eight of his 15 major wins, told the former PGA Tour member that "the time has passed" to simply limit the distance the ball can travel.

"The manufacturers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing these clubs," Harmon said. 

So what is the solution?

According to Harmon, he recently spoke to former Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal about the thorny topic, where the Spaniard suggested that the top players should simply be allowed to use fewer clubs.

Currently, professionals are allowed to use 14 clubs in their bag, but Harmon likes the idea of reducing that figure to just nine.

That would determine "who can really play", according to Harmon.

"You know, I'm thinking to myself, well, I don't know how we ever got to 14 anyway," Harmon said.

"I don't know where that came from. Wouldn't it be great to be a tournament where you could only use nine clubs? And if you got a putter, now you only got eight clubs.

"And like he [Olazabal] says, 'Oh, you have to hit golf shots. You can't bomb the thing out there and wedge it out of the — you have to play golf.' It would be interesting."

Harmon added: "Think about this, Smylie, and you know this.

"You'll have a guy who'll go out and shoot 62 or 63. And they'll say every yardage was perfect; I had stock yardages.

"And then the next day he shoots 73. 'Oh, I was in between yardages.' Well, imagine if you only got eight clubs to pick from. You're always going to have an in-between yardage.

"I would like to just see one tournament played like that just for the heck of it.

"Just to see what the scenario would be and what they would choose and how they would do it. It would be fun."