The swingin’ style of Jack Newton, circa early ‘80s. The swingin’ style of Jack Newton, circa early ‘80s. Images: Getty Images

Did you get a blast seeing The Shark in the hunt at last year’s British Open?

I did, because the way the game’s played now, with the modern equipment, these young blokes tee it up high and just bash it and it goes about four million miles, but they got some fierce wind and Greg’s experience showed. These young blokes were still whacking it up in the air; meanwhile he’s hitting seven irons a hundred metres to keep it under the wind because that’s the way you have to play in those sorts of conditions.

So a bit of a victory for the old school?

You could say that. They’re used to playing in pristine conditions, but British golf isn’t about that – it’s about handling the conditions in front of you on the day.

So where do you stand on the technological advances in golf? Has it altered the character of the game today for the worse?

I’ve been a long-time advocate on that. The golf ball they’re playing with today goes between 45-50 metres further than what we played with. Ten metres is one club – so that’s four to five clubs’ difference when you’re hitting to the green. And you’ve got a graphite driver with a big head on it that hits knuckle balls that just go forever. You’ve got many of the great courses in the world under siege. So they have to trick them up to make them difficult, and that makes a joke of it.

Which is the case at Augusta now, isn’t it?

It’s so long now compared to when I played it, and with very difficult, fast, sloping greens, so you’ve really got to be a long hitter with nerves of steel on the greens, which of course plays right into Tiger’s hands. But it’s not just the ball. With the gear we had you had to learn to play different shots (with the same clubs), so a lot of the good shotmakers are gone - the Lee Trevinos and Ray Floyds and Jack Nicklaus. I’m not saying they’re no good these days, it’s just a totally different game now by comparison.