Neil Coles, who finished in a share of second place behind Tom Weiskopf in the 1973 Open and went on to win the Senior Open (in 1987) at a time when he was doubling as a golf course architect, is now 88. He stepped down as a long-time chairman of what was then the European Tour’s Board of Directors in 2013, but this well-rounded citizen has a thing or two to say about the modern game.
Let’s start with the USGA and R&A proposal that a new ball be introduced – in January 2026 – which could see the professionals and amateurs at the “elite male level” having 15 yards docked from their drives.
“The situation’s reminded me of the long-putter debate,” said Coles, an eight-time Ryder Cup player. “In both cases they’ve left it too long to do too much about it.” (In the case of the anchored stroke used with long putters, the governing bodies started talking about it in earnest in November 2011 and, after a 90-day comment period in 2013, the ban finally came into play on January 1, 2016. Today, plenty of golfers will tell you they are never entirely sure whether someone is anchoring his putter or not.)
“With regard to the ball,” Coles said, “they’ve known what’s been coming on the length front for years. It’s pretty obvious to me that since balls go through velocity tests pretty regularly, they could have kept the situation in check a bit at a time instead of arriving at the situation they’re in now.”
He went on from there to say that he is not entirely sure where the new length is coming from: “It could be the ball, but it could just as easily be the clubs or the physical strength of the top golfers. They’re so much fitter and stronger than they were in my day.”
"... they could have kept the situation in check a bit at a time instead of arriving at the situation they’re in now.”
Neil Coles on ball proposal
Whatever it is, he believes having one ball for the elite and another for the more ordinary golfer is not the answer. “I honestly don’t see how that can square with the advertising side of things. The advertising of golf balls has always been linked to the professionals.”
As you would expect, different architects have their own ideas. Jeremy Slessor, the managing director of European Golf Design, the company which has adapted Italy’s Marco Simone Golf & Country Club for the forthcoming Ryder Cup, wonders whether a single, bigger ball would work: “Since the R&A eventually agreed to do as the Americans in changing from the 1.62 (-inch diameter) ball to the 1.68, they could go from 1.68 to 1.74 and cut 10 percent off the distance that way.”
That it might help to keep scoring under control at the same time as it stops courses from becoming redundant is neither here nor there as far as Slessor is concerned. “Much depends how sacrosanct you view par,” he said. “Personally, I don’t care if they’re winning tournaments at 20-under par when they used to win them at 10-under.”
Martin Ebert, from the course-architecture firm Mackenzie & Ebert, is simply adamant that something has to happen. To him, the most worrying aspect of the distance debate concerns how it is affecting the pace of play, with particular reference to the par-5s. “More and more of the top players are reaching these holes in two,” Ebert said, “and they’re having to wait for the greens to clear because of it.”
His mind went back to last year’s Open at St Andrews, where he had watched as Tiger Woods, who will have had more procedures on his back, knees and legs than he has won majors, unleashed a drive of 417 yards at the 614-yard 14th as it ran out of fairway. (Rory McIlroy knocked his 380-yard drive into the rough before catching a flier with his second, a wedge, and getting up and down from off the green for birdie.)
"I would have gone, too. You almost can’t refuse that kind of an offer, especially when you’re ... nearing the end of your career. "
Neil Coles on LIV Golf
Coles, who was 67 when he won his 10th and final European Senior Tour event, the 2002 Lawrence Batley Seniors, believes the best way of keeping long hitters reined in would be to make courses tougher than they already are.
“In my day,” he said, “you couldn’t drop the ball next to the pin and hope for it to stick where it landed because the greens were so firm. You had to leave your second short of the green, and then you had to fashion a shot which would get you close to the hole. It wasn’t easy, but it was definitely more interesting than what you see today.”
Dealing briefly with the source of concern that is the DP World Tour’s close ties with the PGA Tour, Coles recalled what happened when George O’Grady was the chief executive and Coles was still the chairman. “There were two occasions when they, the Americans, wanted to invest in the European Tour and we turned the offer down.”
LIV Golf, which is back in the headlines as a series of DP World Tour players have handed in their resignation to the tour which paved the way for their success, also has made him think.
On being reminded of how Michael Campbell, the 2005 US Open champion, had conducted an informal survey among his fellow seniors, and how nine out of 10 had conceded they would have gone to LIV given half a chance, Coles had a reply at the ready.
“I would have gone, too,” he said. “You almost can’t refuse that kind of an offer, especially when you’re like (Lee) Westwood and (Ian) Poulter in nearing the end of your career.”
Not, mind you, that he thought LIV had gone about its business in the right way.
“It’s a shame they settled for that shotgun format,” Coles said. “A shotgun start has little or no appeal. You can’t follow it, and it doesn’t have a climax like the traditional tournaments. It’s more like an exhibition. They should increase their fields to 100 and bring in some younger guys. It’s a pity that that kind of money isn’t being spread around a bit more.”
Asked where he thought LIV Golf is going to go from here, he paused briefly before giving his verdict.
“Who knows? It came in with a bang, and it might just go out with a bang.”
E-MAIL LEWINE
Top: Long removed from his competitive days, Neil Coles still has plenty to say about golf.
phil inglis, getty images