The golf ball that made golfers too good!

This is the 13th hole at Augusta National Golf Club. And to get there, you have to hit a series of shots around the corner. One to go down the fairway and a few more to go around the corner to the green. But not if you're Bubba Watson. "Bubba Watson with the driver." At the 2014 Masters, he did something remarkable.

His drive went left and into the woods, looked like a big mistake. Until the announcers realized what Bubba was doing. This ball flew far enough to cross the trees and land in front of the green. Bubba cut the corner. And that shot helped him win the tournament. But it also showed that golf could be in trouble. Players like Bubba can hit the ball too far. Bernhard Langer is a professional golfer who averaged 280 yards in 2018. That's 20 more yards than at 30. And that jump is part of a much larger trend. Since 1980, the average distance covered on the PGA Pro Tour has climbed more than 30 yards. So the question arises, what is the reason for this growth?

The truth is that there are many reasons why golfers hit the ball farther. They are stronger, their clubs are top class and the courses are in better condition. But while all of these factors played a role, one thing in particular became the focus of debate: the earliest golf balls were probably wooden or "hairy," made of ...cloth filled with hair. Then came the "Feathers", which were made of leather filled with ... feathers. And then the "Gutties" that were made... Maybe you've never heard of gutta-percha, the tropical tree that produced the sap used to make gutta boards.

When playing Gutties, golfers noticed that their older, damaged and scratched balls flew farther than new ones. So they started carving patterns in the Guttis to get a longer distance. And after trying different designs, golfers have found that dimples work best. Dimpled balls fly farther because the air in contact with the bump creates a protective layer of turbulence around the golf ball. And that creates less wake and less drag on the ball. Dimples were around long before this line started going up, so they don't really explain what's going on here.

And I mean here. See that jump? This is the steepest part of this trend line. Something caused it, and it wasn't holes. It was this: the golf ball that revolutionized the sport. I know what you're thinking - it looks like any other golf ball. But not when you look inside. So for about 100 years before the Pro V1, the regular golf ball was a "wound ball". Inside is a rubber band wrapped around the core and sometimes filled with a liquid that you can see when you cut it open like golfer Rick Shiels. But when you open the Pro V1, you'll see what makes this ball different.

It is a solid, multi-layered core. Before the Pro V1 and similar balls, players had to choose between a solid core ball, which is good for distance, or a twist ball, which is better for accuracy. But a multilayer ball can do both. Its rigid core aids in long flight and flexible outer layers allow the golfer to control spin when hitting closer to the hole. Before 2000, almost all players hit the ball.

But since then, almost all US Open pros have switched to hitting solid multi-threaded balls like the Pro V1. And this year, the average per carry went up six yards. "Unusual and alarming" is a 2017 report that described the increase in driving by professional players. Hitting the ball too far means golfers can send the ball flying over obstacles designed to make the game more difficult. And it makes some courses obsolete. Especially older ones like Oakmont Country Club, where modern players take over holes designed in another era. Now the authorities are considering what can be done to limit the distance.

Making golf balls bigger would increase drag and a heavier ball would fall out of the air faster. However, plugging the holes or removing the Pro V1's successful innovations such as layers and materials can also reduce golf ball flight and solve the problem. But not everyone is happy with the idea. "We own our production process, our technology and our responsibility to the end user." As this epic marketing video shows, Titleist invests heavily in golf ball production.

And for ball manufacturers, even a small change in production would cost a lot of money. But they probably shouldn't worry too much. The truth is golf has had its version of this debate for almost a hundred years and nothing has been settled.

The ball flight debate started a long time ago when people asked "does it go too far?" until 1936. And in the end, it might not even matter. Remember the 13th hole at Augusta? It was fixed. The club just bought some ground behind the tee box to pull it back and make it further around the corner. It doesn't matter what ball you use.

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