AUGUSTA - Golf fans, it’s time for a vocabulary lesson. So, open your dictionaries.
The word of the day is: Bifurcate.
As a verb it means to cause to divide into two branches or parts. The word has dominated the golf world the past couple of years. That has been especially so this week at the Masters as the debate over golf technology and distance has been at the forefront.
Essentially there is much debate on whether there should be a different golf ball for professionals and amateurs. Should pros have a ball that has been dialed back to stop the increasing pressure on golf courses to contain the added length of today’s players? Should amateurs be able to take advantage of advancements in technology to get more enjoyment from the game?
Different branches.
Governing bodies the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient have been taking a deeper look into the issue, including a Distance Insights Report issued in February of 2020. A year later, they issued more documents involving several areas including shorter golf balls.
Augusta National Golf Club lengthened the par-5 13th hole, adding 35 yards, for this year’s Masters. It’s another attempt – and an expensive one – to keep the course up with the changing times and technology.
“There are legitimate reasons to move the ball back,” two-time Masters champion Tom Watson said. “And I concur. I think listening to Jack (Nicklaus) for all these years when he started being very public about saying we have to reduce how far the ball goes. That’s the major factor. Yes, the clubs themselves help you hit the ball a little bit longer, but the ball was the biggest factor. In 2001 when the Pro V1 came out, it put a huge boost to the distance you could hit the ball, and then all the other ball manufacturers went that route.”
Augusta National may be out of room to lengthen its holes. Several have been lengthened over the years. The work at No. 13 came years after the club purchased land behind the property. Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said this week that the club is in favor of changes to the golf ball.
“We have been consistent in our support of the governing bodies, and we restate our desire to see distance addressed,” Ridley said.
Years ago, there was discussion from former chairman Hootie Johnson that the Masters could develop its own ball for the tournament. Ridley said that is not a “practical solution.”
Last month the game’s governing bodies proposed a new Model Local Rule, to take effect in January 2026, where tournament organizers could ensure competitors play golf balls that go shorter than the current legal models on the market used by pros and amateur.
Count Tiger Woods among those who believe the professionals should play a different ball.
“The average (drive) number used to be, what, 280 off the tee, 279 when I first came out on tour,” Woods said. “Now the guys are carrying it 320, okay. So not every golf course can be like Augusta National and move property and moving holes back. There’s only so many golf courses you can do that on, and we still want to be able to play the old traditional great golf courses. …
“It’s exciting to see Rory McIlroy hit it 340 yards on every hole. But does it challenge us and separate the guys who can really hit the ball in the middle of the face and control their shots? I think if you roll the ball back a little bit, you’ll see that the better ball-strikers will have more of an advantage over the guys who miss it a little bit.”
McIlroy initially called the Distance Insights Report a “huge waste of time and money.” He said this week that he understands the need to take a long look at equipment.
“There’s so many angles that you can come at this argument,’ McIlroy said. “I think the only thing that you can regulate when it comes to golf is the equipment. Like we can’t regulate the way a course is set up. We can’t regulate the size of a course. Augusta National have lengthened the 13th tee, and they have gone to great lengths to do that in terms of the money that was spent and everything else that goes on around it. Not every golf course in the world has that luxury.
“To me, if we really want to keep the old, historical venues relevant, if that’s something that’s really important to the game of golf, then I would say that this is a step in the right direction.”
Playing a practice round earlier this week, Woods brought several old balata-type balls to No. 13 and had McIlroy hit the technology from the late 90s. It elicited an “Oh, my God” comment from McIlroy, according to Woods, who said he didn’t want to roll the ball back that far.
One of the major issues concerning the game’s top players is what ball do the game’s top amateurs play. It must be decided whether they would play a professional ball. Watson also said come 2026 there could be a billion-dollar worth of golf balls that can’t be used any longer.
The debate is nothing new, Nicklaus reminded. He recalled that Bobby Jones once warned of golf ball distance in one of his books.
“He wrote in his last book, he said the biggest problem we have to face in the game in the future is the distance of how far the golf ball goes,” Nicklaus said. “Back in about 1930, okay?”
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