Nick Faldo proposes banning tees to reduce driver distance in pro golf

Nick Faldo calls for limiting how far the golf ball goes by reducing the size of the driver face or banning tee pegs – for professionals.

Nick Faldo sat down with Geoff Shackelford on The Shack Show podcast and among other things he lamented the prestigious distances professional golfers are hitting the golf ball and completely overpowering golf courses.

“Back in persimmon days, and balata ball, there were only a handful of really great drivers,” Faldo said. “you know, obviously, Greg (Norman) was great, and Jack. Obviously Trevino was great for his way, (Tom) Watson, Seve (Ballesteros) was a great driver; I know it went sideways at times”.

“But you can name them. It was only a dozen max. There’s only a dozen poor drivers now”.

Put Nick Faldo down as a reduce-the-driver-head size kind of guy. From this week’s Shack Show. https://t.co/xiYSn6zRzx pic.twitter.com/37ust56D1k

— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) April 27, 2020

Faldo went on to mention two potential changes that golf’s governing bodies could introduce to stop the ball going so far with the driver.

The first was to change the driver itself by reducing the size of the driver face and ensuring there would again be a sweet spot, rather than a “sweet face”.

“If we brought the size of the face down so… there were some serious mis-hits,” Faldo said. “So the sweet spot for the pro is a real sweet spot, not a sweet face; that’s what it is now.”

Faldo’s second idea has raised some eyebrows. While he admits he has said it somewhat in jest in the past, it certainly would decrease the number of times pro golfers use driver for their tee shot.

“The other simplest way, saying in jest at times, if we ban tee pegs,” Faldo said. “If they went and played a tournament with no tee pegs, right? Well, the guys would have to alter their driver.”

Check out the full, entertaining Shack Show podcast below.