GOLF
Improvements to clubs and balls are forcing owners to make courses more challenging,
and adding length has become a standard strategy, said Jim Applegate, executive vice
president of Penn-Florida Club Properties, owner of Ballantrae since 2005.
The company poured $3 million into reconstruction of the Nicklaus 72-par championship
course, tearing out all the greens and starting over from the bottom up. Work completed in
November. The length went from 6,851 yards to 7,145.
Today’s clubs and balls in the hands of advanced players are capable of driving the ball
farther than ever before. But that isn’t necessarily a favor to the player who gets out there
once or twice a week, and it adds to the challenge of designing a good course for all skill
levels, Nicklaus said.
“The new clubs are so high tech that only the pro can hit really well with them,” he said.
But the clubs are only part of the problem for average golfers. Today’s balls, revolutionized
in the 1990s, are the biggest villains, he says. He advocates changes to ball specifications
which would limit the distance balls can fly.
The split between what the pro can do and what the average golfer can achieve is everwidening
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because courses are being lengthened to suit the pros who can shoot a ball over
300 yards with ease, achieving 20 to 30 strokes under par, he says. Meanwhile it’s harder for
the average golfer to play a good game on the extra-long courses.
Nicklaus, holder of 18 major championship titles, said he can no longer play from the back
tees (used by pros because they are farthest from the hole) because he just can’t swing as
hard as before.
“A golfer has to swing at 110 mph to play like a pro today,” Nicklaus said.
“Last year my swing was down to 108. This year it’s 100. I can’t keep the ball in the air
anymore. If I can’t, how can you? A lot of people said they wanted to play like Jack Nicklaus.
Well, now they can.”
The less time a ball spends in the air, the more strokes it takes to complete a game.
“What’s happening is they try to keep the game the same for the average golfer as for the
pro,” Nicklaus said of the equipment manufacturers.
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“A golfer
has to swing
at 110 mph
to play like
a pro
today.”
— Jack Nicklaus
The water feature was changed slightly on the 11th green.