'We've Gone Far Enough With The Golf Ball' - Johnny Miller In Favour Of Limiting Hitting Distances
The 1973 US Open-winning legend thinks it’s time driving distances of the game’s top players were curbed
US Open legend Johnny Miller thinks the time has come to limit hitting distances, particularly as many courses have been lengthened to accommodate the issue.
In March, the USGA and The R&A announced a golf ball rollback plan, which would mean elite players use a different ball to recreational players and, speaking to the media before the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, Miller explained why he thinks driving distances should be curbed. He said: “I think we've gone far enough with the golf ball.
"Everything goes so much farther. It's like the guys are - used to be if you had 220 to the green, that was a 4-wood. Now these guys can hit a 5-iron 220. It's like, hitting the ball so far. It's sort of forcing championships to have to lengthen.”
The US Open is known for the often brutally difficult way the courses are set up, and Miller suggested that one way to ensure even the biggest hitters remain challenged is to adopt that kind of approach in other tournaments.
He said: “Golf itself is pretty strong. They know how to set up the courses, but they shouldn't be - USGA or any of the tournaments shouldn't be afraid of setting, maybe not every hole really hard, but the bottom line is you want it to be a challenge for the pros. They need to know that par on some holes is really what you're trying to get, not a birdie.”
Miller produced arguably the greatest round in US Open history with his 63 in the final round in 1973, and he explained that despite those extra driving distances, players would still consider it a good round. He continued: “Is 63 a good round? It's a good round today. Yeah, it's a dang good round. It's not like the guys are shooting 58.
“There's only so many chances if you hit every green, like I said, to get 8-under. Can you make eight out of 18 putts? Are you hitting it close enough to the hole to get 18 putts?”
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‘Golf Used To Be A Little More Pure'
As his playing days began to wind down, Miller began a long career as an analyst on NBC – a role he left in 2019, three years before the game changed dramatically with the emergence of LIV Golf. Away from the golf ball rollback debate, he admitted he would still enjoy the role today, but felt the game has lost some of its purity.
He said: “The whole atmosphere is changing. I'm not thrilled about the gambling part now in golf. That's an understatement. There's just been a lot of changes. In a way golf used to be a little more pure. I don't miss that part of it. But I still would have liked to have announced if I would have been the age I was when I started with NBC.”
Miller has also been made this year’s Bob Jones Award winner, the USGA’s highest honour that recognises respect, character and a commitment to fair play, and the 76-year-old, who also won the 1976 Open Championship, admitted it was an emotional experience.
He said: “There was a lot of good feelings last night, a lot of emotion, a lot of tears. We brought tears to a lot of people's eyes, and mine. I was sleeping like a rock this morning. Normally I wake up at 6am every morning. I think I could have slept until 9. It was emotional.”
Miller's comments on the driving distance debate came just a day after 2021 US Open winner Jon Rahm warned that the golf ball rollback proposals could lead to a 'slippery slope.'
Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.
He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.
Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.
Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.
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