Jim Furyk thinks the size of driver heads should be reduced in the professional game.
He said: “I’ll tell you what I would do. I’m not going to be very popular for this, but I would reduce the size of the driver head.
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“Maybe not necessarily for the average golfer, but I would do that for the golf professional. Because you can hit it all over the face right now and it’s pretty forgiving. You don’t lose a lot of distance.”
Furyk also revealed that his own experiences had led him to that conclusion. He added: “I play a mini driver in my bag for my three wood. And when I hit that mini good, it goes darn near just as far as my driver.
“It’s less than 10 yards difference. But if I mishit it, if I hit it a little thin, a little on the toe, a little on the heel, I lose a bunch of yardage.
“I think you’ve gotten these young guys that are rearing back and swinging 110 per cent at it, and you can kind of cover areas on the face and get a lot of forgiveness and a lot of distance.
Furyk thinks such a change would force professionals to add more variety off the tee. He explained: “I just think it would show an extra skill set. They’re extremely talented, don’t get me wrong, but I think it would also limit guys swinging 110 per cent at it all the time.
“They’d have to pick and choose their spots and maybe golf courses wouldn’t have to quite be as long.”
Big hitters including Aldrich Potgieter would be affected by the chance suggested by Jim Furyk
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The point about the length of layouts made by Furyk, who branched out into golf course design in 2025, touches on a debate never too far from the headlines: the golf ball rollback plan.
As things stand, the golf ball is due to be rolled back in the professional game in 2028, to “reduce the impact increased hitting distances have on golf’s long-term sustainability”.
However, it is hugely controversial, with some unhappy that long hitters in the pro game will be impacted through no fault of their own.
Furyk’s suggestion of reducing the size of driver heads is the latest take on how to ensure golf courses don’t necessarily need to keep increasing in length.