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  • 7 weeks ago
Listen to Masters champion Gary Player's spirited response on the golf ball rollback debate. He believes the money spent extending courses is wasteful and could be better used to support communities, schools, and hospitals.
Transcript
00:00I believe the ball should be cut back 60 yards, only for professional golf.
00:04Let's leave amateur golf as it is.
00:06They're the heart of the game.
00:07The professional golf is not.
00:09But in regards to professional golf, cut the ball back 60 yards.
00:12It's a tragedy.
00:14We've got away from the concept of golf when it started originally.
00:18A par 5, a par 4, and a par 3.
00:20There is no such thing as a par 5 in the world today.
00:23We saw Rory hit a 7-iron last year when he won the Masters.
00:27They're hitting 8-irons and 7-irons to par 5s.
00:31Now, I remember Jack, who was as long as anybody playing golf today other than DeChamro,
00:37that the third hole is vivid in my mind.
00:39He used to drive in a wedge.
00:41Now they drive over the green.
00:43So we're in our infancy.
00:45We've never had a big man play golf of note.
00:48Wait until LeBron James comes out, Michael Jordan.
00:52And they are because incentivization is so great.
00:55There's so much money that people around the world are exercising and going to the gym,
01:01which originally I was criticized and condemned for doing that.
01:04They're lifting weights now.
01:06They'll drive the first green here very easily.
01:09They're going to be driving many, many par 4s.
01:12So where are we going?
01:14And now, but here's the crucial thing.
01:17The amount of money that we're spending around the world probably relates to $100 million.
01:22Whatever the figure is, it's exorbitant.
01:25They're putting that money into making golf courses longer.
01:28We're running out of water in the world.
01:31It's fertilization.
01:32Machinery is so expensive.
01:34Labor, oil, whatever costs you want to put in there.
01:38Where are we going?
01:39That money is being wasted.
01:41Or if they cut the ball back, we don't have to make these changes.
01:45Look what they've done here.
01:46It's amazing when you think what this golf course used to play and what it plays now.
01:51That money could be allocated to African-American areas where they need to be able to play golf
01:57and encourage them to play golf for schools, for hospitals.
02:01We're just wasting the money.
02:02That's the crucial thing for me.
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