Arnold Palmer has pleaded for the speed of the golf ball to be curbed. The 74-year-old, who will play his 50th and final Masters this week, believes a slower ball is preferable to the lengthening of courses.
He said: "Like it or not, I think the ball needs to be slowed down, rather than continuing to try make the golf courses longer and longer.
"You can probably lighten it a little. You can probably enlarge it a little. There are all kinds of ways."
He added: "But I think that if you're going to try to do something about the distance these people hit the golf ball, that's where you have to go.
"If you don't slow it down, as time goes on, the problem is going to become more severe.
"These young people are growing stronger, and equipment and the modern world is going to get better, and I'm not just talking golf ball.
"I'm talking equipment, the things that they (the manufacturers) do to shafts and clubs and heads and all within the rules."
Augusta National was controversially extended by 285 yards for the 2002 Masters in what is widely considered the biggest overhaul in the tournament's 68-year history.
Nine of the holes were lengthened to stretch the famous layout to 7,270 yards, a move described by Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson to "keep this golf course current".
MMIX
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