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Bifurcation is a word rarely heard outside the game of golf. The dictionary definition is ‘the division of something into two branches or parts’ or, for our needs, it’s where professionals use different equipment to amateurs.
The idea of it has been around forever and we still haven’t reached a logical conclusion. In one camp the amateur wants to play the same game as the men and women on the TV, we can play the same courses (albeit off different tees) and we like to see how we can measure up against the pros.
There’s nothing wrong with the game as it stands, why shouldn’t the big boys have an advantage, what about the millions needed for new R&D etc etc?
In the other camp the courses are running out of room, the men hit it too far, classic courses are obsolete for many tour events, they’re going to destroy the Old Course at St Andrews and where is the crossover for the elite amateurs?
Some key figures in the game fear that St Andrews’ Old Course could soon become too short for the world’s best, and longest hitting, players
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Tiger Woods has plenty of good opinions on the game and he remains, like many of us, somewhere in the middle.
“We want to keep the game so enjoyable and we’re trying to get more participation, and having the larger heads, more forgiving clubs, it adds to the enjoyment of the game,” Woods said. “So there’s a very delicate balancing act.”
“I think it’s on the table whether we bifurcate or not. It’s only one per cent of the guys or women that are going to be using that type of equipment, but we want to keep the game enjoyable, we want to keep having more kids want to play it.”
From January 1 of 2022, the R&A and USGA introduced a new local rule to ensure professionals and elite amateurs do not use 48-inch driver shafts given how far the tour pros are able to send it with lengthened drivers, with the maximum shaft length being 46-inches.
Phil Mickelson called the move ‘pathetic’ and he was forced to use a shorter driver shaft. Bryson DeChambeau had to shelve plans to use a longer driver shaft, and we also saw Brooke Henderson reducing the length of hers from 48-inches to 46.
DeChambeau had to shelve plans to use a 48-inch driver shaft
(Image credit: Getty Images)
This was a start and there will likely be further changes, one way or the other. The most logical move would be to have two separate golf balls, one for the pros and one for the rest of us. So there will be no changing of clubs, it would…
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