Last month the USGA took another step and gave ‘notice and comment’ to golf fans and the golf industry that they are proceeding with plans to reduce the distance a golf ball can fly for professionals and elite amateurs.
Given more athletic golfers and advancements to golf equipment, elite golfers can consistently drive over 300 yards. This prodigious distance is making older, more traditional golf courses obsolete for championship play. The required enhancements to golf courses to keep up with the longer carries are extremely expensive for the golf courses, not to mention the additional costs to keep the additional yardage maintained.
Golf fans are split on the benefits of the proposed rollback for professionals. One of the key aspects of golf is that average golfers can play many of the courses the pros play on and try to hit the same shots they see the pros pull off on television, with the same equipment.
Golf ball manufacturers will be required to design and produce two different golf balls. One for PGA Tour, as well as USGA competitions and another for the everyday golfer.
Titleist controls over 50% of the golf ball market and their President and CEO, David Maher issued this statement,
“Playing by a unified set of rules is an essential part of the game’s allure, contributes to its global understanding and appeal, and eliminates the inconsistency and instability that would come from multiple sets of equipment standards. Unification is a powerfully positive force in the game, and we believe that equipment bifurcation would be detrimental to golf’s long-term well-being. As a result, we will actively participate in this conversation with the governing bodies, worldwide professional tours, PGA Professional organizations, amateur associations and federations, and golfers, in an effort to contribute to the continued enjoyment and growth of the game.”
One of the leading golfers on the PGA Tour, Justin Thomas has openly spoken against the idea of different balls for professionals and average golfers.
Mike May and Kieran Clark joined Back 9 Report to discuss the Pros and Cons of a golf ball rollback. You can see the entire episode here:
Golf’s ruling bodies, the USGA and The R&A, have been studying this issue for over 20 years and have provided data that proves the ever-increasing distance a golf ball can travel. Given that the trend continues on its current path, courses will be forced to add acreage and length to their courses.
As early as 2017, when Tiger Woods was asked about mandating different golf balls for the professionals, he answered,
“There is no reason why golf can’t be like baseball and have a line of demarcation between college, or amateur and the professional ranks, which would be the minor leagues all the way up to the bigs. My idea was to have it so that every professional would have to play a reduced-flight ball. Even if you played a pro-member you would have a reduced-flight ball for the pro, and have to play with that type of ball, where as the amateur, go ahead and make it fun, juice the golf balls up, juice the clubs up and let them go have a great time. But at a professional level I see no reason why we can’t have it very similar to where baseball has it right now.”
Jack Nicklaus has long proposed using a different golf ball for professionals, but the general golfing public is still not that enthusiastic about any change to the golf ball.
Even though the gap between the average golfer and the professional is wider than it’s ever been, change is difficult for golfers.
Proposed USGA Rollback Making Waves
