Opinion & Analysis
The ghost of Allan Robertson: A few thoughts on the distance debate
It’s that time of year in certain parts of the world. Ghosts, ghouls, and ghoblins roam the lawns. Departed ancestors return to these fields to visit with living descendants. It’s also a time (is it ever not?) when curmudgeons and ancients decry the advances of technology in the world of golf equipment.
Pretty big narrative leap, I’ll admit, but I have your attention, aye? An October 16th tweet from noted teacher Jim McClean suggested that it would be fun to see PGA Tour players tee it up for one week with wooden heads and a balata ball.
Others beg for a rolling-back of technological potency, raising property acreage as a critical determinant. Fact is, 90 percent of golfers have no experience with hitting the ball too far, nor with outgrowing a golf course. And yet, the cries persist.
Recently, I was awakened from a satisfying slumber by the ghost of Allan Robertson. The long-dead Scot was in a lather, equal parts pissed at Old Tom Morris for playing a guttie, and at three social-media channels, all of which had put him on temporary suspension for engaging violently with unsupportive followers. He also mentioned the inaccuracies of his Wikipedia page, which credits him for a 100-year old business, despite having only spent the better part of 44 years on this terrestrial sphere. Who knew that the afterlife offered such drip internet access?
I’m not certain if Old Tom cared (or was even alive) that his beloved gutta percha ball was replaced by the Haskell. I believe him to have been preoccupied with the warming of the North Sea (where he took his morning constitutional swims) and the impending arrival of metal shafts and laminated-wood heads. Should that also long-dead Scot pay me a nighttime visit, I’ll be certain to ask him. I do know that Ben Hogan gave no sheets about technology’s advances; he was in the business of making clubs by then, and took advantage of those advances. Sam Snead was still kicking the tops of doors, and Byron Nelson was pondering the technological onslaught of farriers, in the shoeing of horses on his ranch.
And how about the women? Well, the ladies of golfing greatness have better things to do than piss and moan about technology. They concern themselves with what really matters in golf and in life. Sorry, fellas, it’s an us-problem. Records are broken thanks to all means of advancement. Want to have some fun? Watch this video or this video or this video. If you need much more, have a reassessment of what matters.
Solutions
Either forget the classic courses or hide the holes. Classic golf courses cannot stand up in length alone to today’s professional golfers. Bringing in the rough takes driver out of their hands, and isn’t a course supposed to provide a viable challenge to every club in the bag? Instead, identify four nearly-impossible locations on every putting surface, and cut the hole in one of them, each day. Let the fellows take swings at every par-4 green with driver, at every par-five green with driver and plus-one. Two things will happen: the frustration from waiting waiting waiting will eliminate the mentally-weak contestants, and the nigh-impossible putting will eliminate even more of them. What will happen with scoring? I don’t know. Neither did Old Tom Morris, Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., Lady Heathcoat Amory, or Mildred Didrickson, when new technology arrived on the scene. They shrugged their shoulders, stayed away from Twitter and the Tok, and went about their business.
Add the tournament courses. Build courses that can reach 8,500 yards in length, and hold events on those layouts. Two examples from other sports: the NFL made extra points longer. Has it impacted game results? Maybe. The NBA kept the rim at ten feet. Has it impacted game results? Maybe. We don’t play MLB or MLS on ancient diamonds and pitches. We play their matches and games on technologically-advanced surfaces. Build/Retrofit a series of nondescript courses as tournament venues. Take the par-5 holes to 700 yards, then advance the par-4 fairways to 550 yards. Drive and pitch holes check-in at 400 yards, at least until Bryson DeChambeau and Kyle Berkshire figure a few more things out.
Note to the young guys and the old guys from this 55-year old guy: live your era, then let it go. I know things.
As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.
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Deacon Blues
Oct 21, 2021 at 8:28 pm
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the pros continuing to play the classic courses. Just change the pars as necessary to reflect what the pros are likely to average. The USGA has been doing this for years. Some courses we know as par 72 should be par 68 (or even fewer) for the pros. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Ronald Montesano
Nov 20, 2021 at 8:51 am
I agree with you, Deacon. The problem is, we are not members of those clubs (assumption on my part.) The members don’t want to do that, don’t want their courses shamed by low scores, so the trickery problem rears its head.
Walter
Oct 21, 2021 at 1:05 pm
Did Allan Robertson knew about Broom Force.
Ronald Montesano
Nov 20, 2021 at 8:55 am
I cannot speak for Sir Allan, but I suspect that he might have suspected something about its properties. He did not post about it on Twitter, so we’ll never know for certain.
Mr. Smash
Oct 21, 2021 at 12:12 pm
Race car drivers never complain that the car is going too fast. If you are looking for Hogan and Snead and Nelson (or Rory, DJ and Bryson) to tell you that the ball is going too far you won’t ever find it. But if you ask the guys responsible for being able to keep the car planted on the track (game on the course) you my find they wouldn’t mind a rollback or at minimum a halt in the distance race.
You can’t stop a guy from getting bigger or stronger and faster. But you can stop his ability to use the equipment to capitalize on that strength. (You can’t swing it 140mph with a broom stick stiff shaft or a driver face made to handle it.)
Jack was long with persimmon and steel shafts. Bryson will be long with persimmon and steel shafts. It isn’t about limiting stronger players from using distance or balancing their advantage, it, for me, is about keeping the game sustainable and right sized to the playing grounds.
Ronald Montesano
Nov 20, 2021 at 8:57 am
I do understand your point. I have a question: How many of us normal amateurs are capable of making the game unsustainable? I suspect the answer is zero. It is the minute percentage of golf professionals who are able to unlock the magic of technology to this degree. That’s why I say, give them their own courses.
Karsten's Ghost
Oct 20, 2021 at 5:16 pm
Why is this all so bloody difficult?
Golf ball max compression = 60.
That’s it. That’s all you gotta do.
Chuck
Oct 20, 2021 at 12:31 pm
I might have some more criticisms if I knew exactly what Ron was proposing; I honestly don’t.
As for Ben Hogan being unconcerned with equipment technology, let’s all face the fact that during his time as an active tour player and then as an equipment manufacturer, there was NEVER any development like the solid core urethane ball. Ben, like Arnold Palmer (another equipment company owner, and a proponent of a ball rollback) lived a life in golf where steel shafts, balata balls and modest-sized driver heads (largely wooden) were the standard.
I have ZERO doubt but that if Ben Hogan were alive today and Chairman of the Board of his golf club manufacturing company, he’d be in favor of a ball rollback. Like Nicklaus, Player, Trevino, Woods, Els and too many others to list fully, all are.
It is a simple proposition; do we want to preserve the ability to host golf’s greatest championships on golf’s historic venues, or do we want to throw that away in the interest of not offending a small number of golf ball manufacturers and their contracted Tour stars?
As Geoff Shackelford has very rightly observed; in no other sport are the venues upon which the game is played, as critical or as fragile as in golf.
I do not have adequate words, for how much more I care about The Old Course than Titleist’s urethane ball patents.
Greg McNeill
Oct 20, 2021 at 10:31 am
Another factor: decrease fairway roll. I’ve played in 2 pro-ams, both at Bay Hill, a course I’ve played many times in casual rounds so I know how far driver tends to go there. At both pro-ams, the fairways were extremely firm with grass mowed tight. On almost every drive where I managed to keep it in the fairway, my tee shot ended up 25-30 yards past my normal distance. It wasn’t because I was striking the ball exceptionally well- it was because the ball rolled out forever. I realize that today’s players tend to carry their drivers further and rely less on roll but it does make a difference.
Majduffer
Oct 20, 2021 at 10:27 am
The fools in the USGA ivory tower have not a clue about the advancement of physical kinetics. Bryson and others hit the baller further not because of equipment, but because they have engineered their physical capabilities to peak performance due to science and dedication to practice. No matter what you do to courses or equipment, if I have a 140mph swing speed versus your 125, then I will always be hitting a lot shorter distance into the green than you. My proximity to the flag will usually be a lot closer to the flag than yours. If you narrow fairways or increase the rough, then I’ll hit my fairway wood and still hit the fairway. I’ll be hitting 9i in versus your 7i and be closer. I’ll dominate the field on long par3s as I’ll be hitting short irons versus you hitting long irons. Long hitters will dominate the game just as the fastest sprinters dominate track. Making courses with trick greens etc. will only make a mockery of the game. Jack and Tiger dominated the game because of their physical capabilities and training. Now the fools on the USGA hill want to deny this to today’s golf athletes.
Barry
Oct 20, 2021 at 10:50 am
I totally agree with you – golf is a sport and physical skill should be rewarded! But you are making the case for regulation, not against it. As you say it so well, distance is relative…no matter what the conditions, someone who is more athletic and swings it faster is going to hit it past someone slower. If that’s the case, why does it matter if you dial back the equipment to save water and land? Those are not free, and they add expense to everything in golf (whether you know it or not). Pace of play is another issue that longer courses don’t help.
Every sane sport in the world makes adjustments to the rules from time to time to keep competitive balance in check. Only in golf, with an army of clueless amateurs who think “they are playing the same game as the pros” do we let the equipment manufacturers dictate everything.
Golf is an entertainment product. Leave the ams alone, bifurcate to challenge the male pros, and call it a day.
Donald Hume
Oct 20, 2021 at 1:26 pm
You just have to look at the scoring last weekend to see the problem. Valderrama tight, tough layout with trees/rough/ doglegs and bunkers. Winning score -6.
Summit Club, desert drive and pitch course, some difficulty in desert lies but if the pros can get a swing it’s not an issue. Pointless having bunkers at 300 yards as these guys fly them with 3 wood and sometimes even less.
Unfortunately TV and the masses only want to see birdies and eagles, rather than tough golf courses played in par. TV dictates to the PGA and they set up the courses appropriately. Longer hitting players should have an advantage but only if the can find tough fairways
Al Cleverdon
Oct 20, 2021 at 9:27 am
Simple solutions. Replace all bunkers with pot bunkers…Grow the rough, not necessarily to U.S. Open standards but I’m sure they can figure out a height that is fair but still penalizing…Narrow the fairways but if the first two suggestions are implemented they shouldn’t have to be narrowed a lot…Gradually, over the years, make the greens as fast and undulating as possible without being unfair… You’re welcome!…and thanks for the chuckles… Good article.
No
Oct 20, 2021 at 9:35 am
That would render a golf course nearly unplayable for the the other 51 weeks of year. Why punish amateur golfers for a tournament played at a course one week a year?
Chuck
Oct 20, 2021 at 12:19 pm
That is the “simple” solution?!?
J
Oct 20, 2021 at 4:56 pm
Not the pot bunkers, but letting grass grow is pretty simple 😉
Peter
Oct 20, 2021 at 8:40 am
This article is such a mess it’s hard to know where to begin…
* the dudes bitching the loudest about equipment regulation aren’t young, they are old guys who think that hitting it further at 70 than 25 is a constitutional right.. 460 cc +ProV1 are like viagra, you’ll pry it from their cold dead hands. I mean god forbid you might have to hit the gym and actually swing faster to hit it further.
* why only 8500 yards, make not make it a nice round 10,000? water and land are just limitless resources we can piss away!
* screw the old course, it’s just the home of golf…far more important Acushnet makes its 4Q numbers!
* baseball DOES have stadiums over 100 years old (Wrigley and Fenway) and they are some of the most loved places in all of sports. If the idiots that run golf ran the MLB, they would have been torn down 30 years ago so Easton could sell more carbon tungsten chromoly bats. With the the blue blazers in barge you’d have guys hitting 900 foot bombs and pitchers in full body armor.
Ronald, maybe just two scotches before posting next time.
Ronnie Mundt
Oct 19, 2021 at 4:15 pm
Sounds to me like 55 year old doesn’t want to give up his crutches, the 460cc driver and rock hard ball that doesn’t spin.
Jbone
Oct 19, 2021 at 9:16 pm
Sounds to me like people can’t let go of the past.
Let’s watch the pros play their own clubs to the best of their ability.
Matt Aamold
Oct 19, 2021 at 10:28 pm
Curious, how would rolling back equipment remove their ability?