Billy Payne says golfer conditioning to blame for golf balls going further, not equipment

The chairman of Augusta National has shared his thoughts on why the golf ball is going further – and it’s not because of the equipment.

The latest episode of The Golf Show on FoxSports featured an interview with Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne who was recently in Australia for the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne.

Brett Ogle chatted to Payne about all manner of golf topics including Olympic golf, the removal of the Eisenhower tree and the lengthening of Augusta National.

After telling Ogle that Augusta had not added more than 500-yards to the golf course because of one particular person, Payne offered up a startling piece of information on why he thought the golf ball is going further than it used to be.

“You know the kids keep getting longer. I really think for a four or five-year period we blamed it on the equipment,” Payne said. “I really think it’s the conditioning of these young kids.”

“You know they come to the game now much more athletic than they were in the past.”

In response, Mike Clayton offered these stats on Twitter:

@pencil1957 @aussiegolfer @foxgolf @geoffshac PGA TOUR 02 1st 306 10th – 292 100th 280 ’14 1 – 314 10- 304 100- 288. Looks longer to me

— Michael Clayton (@MichaelClayto15) October 28, 2014

And what about the amateur game most of us are more familiar with? Could it be that those golf balls you’ve bought to go further are only going further because you’re better conditioned? And those new drivers that have been told go further? Is it all a lie? Are we all just a lot better conditioned than we used to be?

The link to the interview is here – and it seems you can watch it for yourself by signing up or paying a subscription.