"I hate seeing the athletes be punished or discouraged from continuing to work and get better."
Wednesday 5 February 2020 23:37, UK
Phil Mickelson claims the proposals from golf's governing bodies to put an end to the increase in hitting distances would result in "punishing athletes for getting better".
Mickelson was reacting to the findings of the Distance Insight Project Report published by the R&A and USGA on Tuesday, in which they concluded that further increases in average hitting distances would be "undesirable" and "detrimental" to the game's future.
The veteran left-hander remains adamant that top professionals hitting the ball further than ever are a result of increased strength and fitness rather than innovations in equipment.
The R&A and USGA will now conduct a broad review of golf equipment and ball specifications after warning that "the inherent strategic challenge presented by many golf courses can be compromised."
When asked for his view of the report ahead of his defence of this week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Mickelson said: "I don't feel that you should punish the athletes for getting better. I don't think we have had massive equipment changes, we've just had athletes that have been able to take advantage of the equipment more so now than in the past.
"And I hate to see that discouraged. You look at what Bryson (DeChambeau) has done by getting in the gym, getting after it, lifting weights, and hitting bombs, and now you're talking about trying to roll it back because he's made himself a better athlete?
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"I don't know if I agree with that, but I also don't really understand the whole scope of how it affects the game and how it affects agronomy and golf courses and so forth, so I'm not sure I'm the best one to really comment on it.
"I just know from the small little bubble of the PGA Tour, I hate seeing the athletes be punished or discouraged from continuing to work and get better. The way I view it is that you can win on the PGA Tour without hitting the ball long.
"You can out-putt, you can out-strike, you can have great weeks and win golf tournaments without being the longest guy or without overpowering a golf course, but you cannot dominate the sport without speed.
"You might be able to do it for a year or two, but you can't out-perform everyone consistently without clubhead speed, because there's no substitute for speed in this game. It allows you to put more spin on the ball, it allows you to hit the ball longer, make carries come in higher and softer into the greens.
"It allows you to do more with a golf ball than if you don't have speed and the best players in the world are going to have to have speed, so there's no substitute."
Mickelson insisted that, if and when the R&A and USGA introduce measures to halt the increase in distance, the best players in the world would still prosper, but he also questioned the decision-making process by a governing body of amateurs overseeing a professional sport.
"I think the best players will still find ways to win," he added. "They might not do it by overpowering the golf course with driver, but they will find ways to do it with their iron play or what have you. I think the best players will always kind of find a way to win and do what it takes.
"But I struggle with some of our governing bodies. I struggle with it because we're the only professional sport in the world that is governed by a group of amateurs, and that leads to some questionable directions that we go down. I wish that we had people that are involved in the sport professionally to be in charge a little bit more."
