THE INTERVIEW: SIMON HOLMES – Golf News

The professional game has been completely dominated by the technology, that’s why we are seeing guys that are built like rugby players now playing golf.

With the combination of the new ball driver, power has become incredibly valuable, whereas before when Faldo and Seve played, power was nice, but the way the ball behaved it was much more important to be actuate and control the power.

Now it’s just the case of maximum power. We’re starting to hear rumours of the regulators looking at the combination and thinking, you know what, the artistry, shoot making and the skill moving the ball is becoming less and less, the technology will force the players to adapt.

In the amateur game, I see so much more camaraderie, the beauty of a golf course, being with four of your friends or family.

My dad is 90 and he plays with my 17-year-old son. They go off in a buggy and play nine holes, have lunch together and come back with their golf stories, that part of the amateur game hasn’t been focussed on enough.

Time is becoming more and more precious, the peace and quiet, the lack of technology and the way we are surrounded by our phones and technology chases us all day.

I think people who think golf is too stuffy or elitist have missed out on what golf offers and we will see families playing together more and more.

Which up-and-coming players are you most excited about right now?

I think the Højgaard Twins are very good, Ludvig Åberg will win majors, he has a fantastic mind.

The South African Aldrich Potgieter is also set for stardom, the power he brings to the game, I was on the range and he doing a ball and club testing, just working on moving the ball around and he was hitting it 387 yards in the air, he can also chip and putt.

There’s so many top college players in American that have faster ball speeds that your PGA Tour average because they have been promoted to do that for the past four years because of the massive reward.

There will be a generation of players coming out on Tour and do what Ludvig and Jordan Spieth and Victor Hovland have done already, not learning the trade on tour over 3-4 years, they’re primed and so aggressive.

If you could change one rule or tradition in golf, what would it be and why?

I’m still very much against, if you hit an amazing drive down the middle and you found yourself in a divot, you just can’t move the ball a couple of inches and call it temporary ground under repair, it seems to be an unnecessary rub of the green