Nicklaus, speaking at a press conference to promote September’s Presidents Cup in Canada between the United States and an International side captained by Gary Player, has long been in favour of a reduction in the distance a ball flies.

“I’ve never really spoken to any ball manufacturer who has actually told me that they’re against it,” he commented. “I’ve spoken to quite a few who are for it.

“If you take the ball and roll it back, whatever the percentage might be (10% has been talked about), you really are bringing about 17,000 or 18,000 or 19,000 golf courses in the United States that are basically obsolete to the professional back into play for a possible event.

“The average golfer now has a golf ball that is so high tech and clubs that are so high tech that they may hit the ball on the face of the golf club maybe one out of 10 shots.

“When they hit that one out of 10 shots on the face they say ’Wow, look how far that goes’ and they love it. But on the other nine shots the ball goes much shorter than it would have if they didn’t have such a high-tech piece of equipment or ball.

“Part of this whole thing is to bring people in the game and keep them in the game. And if you have a golf ball that you don’t know whether you’re going to hit it on the face or not and there’s 50 yards of difference between a good shot and a bad shot, it’s hard to learn how to play golf.

“I’d love to see the game be brought together for the average golfer and the pros. Right now all they advertise on television is ’play what the pros play’. Well, they can’t play it – they just don’t have the clubhead speed to play it.”