AUGUSTA – Arnold Palmer’s final plea as a competitive player at the Masters was an endorsement of the growing notion a standardized golf ball should be used on the PGA Tour and major championships. Technological advancement in the construction of modern golf balls and the added distance generated are the primary reasons why Augusta National Golf Club needed to lengthen its course by nearly 300 yards and other venerable courses are considered too small to host majors.

It’s an idea worth serious consideration.

“We as an intelligent group of people, intelligent manufacturers, rules people, and tournament sponsors need to really think about slowing the golf ball down,” Palmer said. “I don’t think you can stop much technology on golf clubs. But with one stroke you can bring all the great golf courses back to where they were years ago.”

The issue of using a standardized golf ball on tour has been a topic of conversation at the Masters, where tournament chairman Hootie Johnson broached the subject in the weeks leading up to the tournament.

“We are concerned about how far the golf ball goes today as far as the Masters tournament is concerned,” Johnson said. “I think a general statement would be that we are concerned about the golf game, as well, not just the Masters.”

Golf is one of the few sports that doesn’t have a standardized ball for competition. Football is played with basically the same football. Baseball is played with basically the same baseballs, and all basketballs are basically the same. But golf balls are made differently to suit the golfers who play them. Some offer a higher ball flight. Others offer more spin. All offer added distance.

“Bring it back to where it was in 1958 when I played here and won,” Palmer said. “I’d like to give all those guys some of those golf balls and let them play and see what would happen.”

Manufacturers who spend and reap millions on the development and sale of golf balls seem open to a standardized ball, especially if such a rule were implemented at a tournament like the Masters.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” said Luke Reese, the general manager of Wilson Golf. “I think if the Masters wants to make sure its course is going to be played a certain way, then they’ll say, ‘Here’s the design specs,’ and we’ll all do it. They can do whatever they want. They can make it a blind golf ball and put a Masters logo on it. The Masters is bigger than any of us.”

Callaway CEO Ron Drapeau also endorses the idea. “It makes all the sense in the world to have a ball for elite players, with different specifications that would curtail the distance on a golf ball for maybe national open championships and PGA professionals who are very different players than the rest of the us,” he said. “I think it makes a lot of sense for those players and let everyone else enjoy the game.”

Some players like Greg Norman support the idea; others like Phil Mickelson don’t, saying the spin rate and aerodynamics are designed to fit each player.

“I think it would be incorrect to force me to play with a ball that’s optimum for a shorter, lower-spinning type golf swing,” he said. “I think it would be unfair to that shorter hitter with very little spin to have to play the golf ball that I’m using because he would not be able to keep it in the air.”

Norman is certain a standardized ball would be good for the game.

“Phil Mickelson will still be that much longer than everybody else, and Tiger Woods will be that much longer than everybody else,” he said. “It’s just bring back the distance. The ratio from the long hitters to the short hitters will still be there, so there is no real disparity. It’s just for the protection of the golf course.”

If the Masters were to implement such a rule, Norman is hoping it will force the PGA Tour to do the same for all of its tournaments.

“A lot of these administrations who are probably a little bit afraid to get into the fray of all this might jump on the bandwagon and say, ‘yes, finally somebody has done it. And, yes, let’s go and do it.'”

The manufacturers seem ready to follow the Masters’ lead.

“If we get the specs, we can design around those specs and produce the best ball that we can and brand it in terms of aerodynamics, materials and construction methodologies,” Drapeau said. “It gives us another product to sell.”