The Bolivian owner of Valderrama, Spain's venue for the 1997 Ryder Cup, was speaking in Munich in a debate entitled: "Lengthen the course or shorten the ball".

"Problems are on the way. We are in danger of spoiling the game," Patino said.

"There has to be a limit imposed or else it will become a drive and a wedge game.

"Golf will become boring, just as tennis has become boring and people will be driven away from the game."

Patino also said some courses would become obsolete because many of the hazards would no longer come into play.

He called for the governing bodies to agree, at least for Major championships, that players use a ball that flies maybe 20 yards less than the recent innovations.

"The players of the major tours have the future of the game in their hands," he added.

"They must protect the integrity of the traditional golf courses.

"There are fewer people watching golf and it is becoming a worry. There have to be some controls."

However, Frank Thomas, the former US Golf Association technical director who invented the graphite shaft, said it would be dangerous to have one rule for professionals or Majors and another for amateur players.

Last month the International Tennis Federation agreed the introduction of bigger, slower balls in an attempt to prevent the game becoming completely dominated by the serve.