Georgie Bingham: I want to always be able to compare myself to the pros
Georgie Bingham hits an approach during the Pro Am for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on May 23, 2018 in Virginia Water, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images).
Another balls up!!
I’m anti bifurcation. I found this out this week because god dammit if I have to read the word one more time I am going to scream!!
The PGA have been busy attempting to repair the gaping wound that exists between the top brass and the players and hey while I like the idea of the players board thing, it’s very HORSE, STABLE, BOLTED - this is little consolation for the players who found out when we did about Saudi Arabia owning mens professional golf as we know it. And while Phil Mickelson is still out there throwing bombs and behaving like a bit of a dick about LIV golf, it was the PGA’s stance on ball distances that caught my eye in recent weeks.
Long and short of it, the USGA and R&A want golfers to play with a modified ball that means they won’t be able to hit as far. This means that pros would use different balls to amateurs which is, my friends, called Bifurcation. I didn’t know that until the other week.
“I want to always be able to compare myself to the pros. I want their clothes, their shoes, their clubs and their balls”
The PGA have come out against modified balls, meaning they’re heading for more conflict in the next few years ahead of the introduction in 2026. And they’ve announced by burying it in a document to the players, which perplexes me greatly - I can only imagine that they hoped no one would spot it, and down the line they’ll be able to say “oh yeah, no we decided against that ages ago, did no one tell you?”
I am a little bit on team PGA here because golf is THE ONLY SPORT where I can play a pro, and beat them relative to my own game. I can’t get in a boat and beat a rower at rowing, I can’t beat Serena Williams at tennis, I most certainly couldn’t win a horse race. But, I could reasonably take to a course with a pro and take my shots according to my handicap and beat them. Not ONLY that but I like the fact my iron lengths are similar to someone like Brian Harman. What a treat to know that occasionally when I hit it bang on I am maybe hitting as well as someone who won this year’s Open Championship. I want to always be able to compare myself to the pros. I want their clothes, their shoes, their clubs and their balls.
“I am a little bit on team PGA here because golf is THE ONLY SPORT where I can play a pro, and beat them relative to my own game. ”
I’ve come to the conclusion that the USGA and R&A decided that a shorter ball was the way forward but they didn’t actually anticipate any of golf’s elite organisations going against it. Now they have and it’s the PGA who have a major problem. Majors are the thing and they trump the tour - BUT should the Masters choose to side with the PGA on this one we may have a two-major-a-year split and that shouldn’t happen. I suspect that the PGA will choose to massively upgrade the Fedex series AGAIN under PIF ownership which in itself could even threaten the four majors by just existing (I know, no prestige or history but I think we now know how much money trumps everything else…). My days - LIV and PIF did all they could to explode the men’s game, could we have SOME cohesion on something please?
Georgie Bingham, broadcaster and journalist, writes a bi-weekly column for The Cut Stuff. She’s golf obsessed. She’s ready to go behind the tour.
Follow us on Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
#BehindTheTour
