Bob Ford On The Ball: "I would be very surprised if it doesn’t roll back."

Thanks to reader Chuck for spotting Robert Blumenthal's Golf Conversation with longtime Oakmont and Seminole professional Bob Ford, who covers a range of topics.

But given that he's been associated with two classic courses, the comments by Ford related to distance and the ball stand out.

GC: Speaking of Jack, Tiger has come out for scaling back the distance of the golf ball for the pros. The head of Bridgestone Golf said the same thing yesterday.

BF: For the elite game? I would tell you that in the last three months, I’ve never heard more comments about it and more people are getting on the bandwagon to do it. Mike Davis is a member here. He’s like, “My goal [by the end of] my career here is to get the ball rolled back.” So I would be very surprised if it doesn’t roll back.

So there's that. And more.

GC: Do you think anyone understands what “bifurcation” means?

(laughter)

BF: I hope so. It’s been a bad word. I don’t quite know how they’re gonna do it. You and I don’t want our ball to go shorter, we know that. Believe it or not, they have developed a golf ball that at our speed, it doesn’t change. At the speed of 108 or more miles an hour, it starts to go down.

I just want to see this supposed ball in action. In our lifetimes. Once.

Or, maybe roll them out at the Crump Cup or the Hugh Wilson or some other old school event and get some feedback?