No need to take drastic action over big-hitters

Today should have been the opening day of the 149th Open championship at Royal St George’s.

Unfortunately we will have to wait until 2021 before the Claret Jug is contested again but it is encouraging to see the main tours back up and running on both sides of the Atlantic, even if we aren’t able to play with spectators at the moment.

I was interested to read the comments from R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers who said he won’t allow golf ’s big hitters to keep dismantling courses – even if that means manufacturers being reined in.

His comments were in reference to Bryson DeChambeau who has made some major gains in his driving distance by putting on about 45lb over the past nine months. He has reaped the benefits of that extra distance off the tee but I’m not sure I agree we should be taking any drastic action.

It is not as though everyone is overpowering golf courses. Bryson has had one win on a week that was favourable to taking chances off the tee but he also led the putting stats.

We had players in the past such as John Daly and Tiger Woods who were able to hit the ball a huge distance but it takes more than that to win events.

Martin Slumbers