PARIS, Dec 31: World number one Tiger Woods admits he would like to see golf officials make the game tougher. The 30-year-old is convinced that the dramatic changes to the golf ball and clubs over the past few years has dramatically altered the sport and reduced a lot of the shot-making and skill.

“It’s all about keeping the skill factor. At the moment, equipment has brought everyone closer together. It’s harder to separate from the field, without a doubt. It’s a challenge,” Woods told Golf Digest.

“I’d like to see more spin added to the golf ball, so misses would be more pronounced and good shots more rewarded,” says Woods. “Anytime you bring maneuverability back into the game of golf, it’s going to favor the better players who understand how to control the golf ball.

“It still matters in firm conditions or in wind. I always like to shape something in there a little bit just because I’m giving myself a fatter area for playing a miss, because it’s not a game of perfection. I’d eliminate the 60-degree wedge and set a 56-degree limit.

“For one, it would bring more feel back into the game. Because now guys lay up to exact yardages and hit nothing but full shots. Nobody hits half shots anymore.

“And it would make the short game around the green a lot harder. If guys didn’t have a 60-degree or even a 64-degree wedge to save them, you wouldn’t see them being as aggressive going into the greens, because they couldn’t short-side themselves as much.

Woods says he would like to see golf the way it used to be played and a return of the shotmakers.

“I enjoy moving the ball and hitting different shots, and I think that’s the way golf should be played,” he says.

“But the game has changed since I’ve been on tour. It’s hard to make the ball move. You look at the old guys who are or were true shotmakers, like when I played with Lee Trevino at Bighorn and he blew my mind with some of the shots he hit.

“Then you look on tour and you ask, ‘Who’s a true shotmaker? Who actually maneuvers the ball or does something different with it?’ And there really aren’t that many, if any, out here anymore.”

Woods admits he was forced to join the rest of the tour and exploit the changes made to the equipment.

One key reason was that dozens of players who he used to outdrive, were bombing the ball past him.

“I didn’t originally go along with the equipment changing everyone else was doing, and I got left behind,” he explained.

“There were guys hitting the ball farther than me who I used to outdrive, no problem. My swing changes have given me some distance, and I got with the technology.

“My ball still spins more than anyone else’s so I’ve still got room in the golf ball [to hit it longer]. But as far as equipment, I’m pretty much with everyone else.”

Woods says that although he plays more approaches from the rough than before that is part of the changes in the game brought about by equipment.

“People are more critical of me because I’m playing more approaches from the rough. But it’s a tradeoff that’s worth it. I’m driving the ball farther, hitting more par 5s in two, trying to drive more par 4s, and I’m hitting the driver more often because I feel much more confident.

“It’s going to lead to fewer fairways hit, but if they’re solid drives that roll through into the first cut, I’m fine with that — even in the deep stuff, if it was a good shot, because I’ve still got a shorter shot in.

“Of course, I don’t like the shots I hit way off line that are just terrible shots. Those shots I can’t live with. So I continue to refine.”

And as he does, the rest of the Tour had better watch out.—AFP