I think it’s the most atrocious thing that you could do to the game of golf. It’s not about rolling golf balls back; it’s about making golf courses more difficult. I think it’s the most unimaginative, uninspiring, game-cutting thing you could do. Everybody wants to see people hit it farther.”
This last point, coming from Bryson DeChambeau, is certainly true. Fans always cluster round the big hitters, of which Bryson is certainly one, and they are wowed when a huge drive reaches 400+.
And the big-name big hitters have clearly been eating their spinach over the years because the 400-yard drives, though still no less impressive, have become more commonplace. It was Max Homa at the recent Sentry tournament who blasted a 477-yard drive to achieve a PGA TOUR distance record. Max later remarked: “For it being uphill into the wind with no roll I was pretty proud of this one.”
We should also mention that Cameron Young shot 470 yards at the same event, and in 2004, again at The Sentry, David Love III’s club connected with a ball that reached 476 yards.
Powerful Drives
But it is arguably Tiger Woods who changed the landscape of golf more than any other player in the modern history of the game and, in his heyday, especially with his hugely powerful drives. The longest recorded drive achieved by Tiger rocketed to an extraordinary 498 yards, on the 18th at Kapalua in the Mercedes Championship of 2002.
With this distance-hitting trend set to continue—to the awed delight of the fans, the sponsors and the media—why spoil the entertainment value and the fun by introducing a retrograde ball?
Threatening Sustainability
To simplify somewhat, it was back in 2020 that the concerns of the game’s governing bodies the R&A and USGA were first known—those concerns being that many courses would become too small to host professional tournaments, thus threatening the sustainability of golf courses. At the time, The R&A and USGA looked at the problem in great detail, with a joint “Distance Insight Project.”
The Project studied ball distances over a hundred-year period, and found that by the end of 2019, the average drive of the 20 longest hitters on the European and PGA tours was 310 yards. The then-USGA CEO Mike Davis said at the time, “The expectation of every generation that they’re going to hit it longer thanthe previous generation, we think that is taking golf in the wrong direction, and we do see some really good opportunities to mitigate these pressures.”
To overcome the problem, this “wrong direction,” the R&A and
USGA’s have set out plans to rollback the golf ball and reduce the distance the ball is able travel. They initially proposed the introduction of a Model Local Rule which would have pros using different golf balls to those balls used by recreational golfers. But the plan received widespread opposition.
New Balls
Undeterred, and to overcome opponents of a two-tier game, the R&A and USGA instead will now rollback the golf ball for both professionals and recreation players. So one rule fits all, although the change is not effective until 2028 for tour and elite golf, and 2030 for recreational golfers. The new balls are expected to cause a reduction in distance of 11-15 yards for professionals, with recreational players affected by a decrease of less than five yards. R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers argues the measures are “proportionate” and will have “minimal” impact on recreational players, although not everyone is in agreement.
Changes “disproportional”
The PGA TOUR have said they still believe the changes are “disproportional to the rate of increase we see when analysing PGA TOUR radar data.” And in a letter to its members, the players, Commissioner Jay Monahan stated: “We do not support today’s announcement […] believing a more moderate adjustment is appropriate.”
The governing bodies’ plans (R&A and USGA) have also received criticism from some equipment manufacturers. David Abeles, TaylorMade CEO has said: “As a brand that prioritizes improving product performance for golfers of all skill levels, the decision to proceed with the golf ball rollback is disappointing. While appreciative of the opportunity to have a seat at the table and a voice in the debate, we feel like the rollback is simply disconnected from what golfers believe is best for the game.”
Speaking on Golf Channel, USGA CEO Mike Whan’s response was to urge that the loud voices of opposition don’t drown out the facts, “to make this seem so much worse than it really is.”
Changes Supporters
The intended changes set out by the R&A and the USGA also have their supporters amongst the players. Rory McIlroy commented in December, that the new distance-limiting golf ball “ … will bring back some skills into the pro game that have maybe been lost. I actually think it will make the pro game more entertaining to watch—you will see a different variety of games succeed. It’s not just going to be this ‘bomb and gouge’ that we see predominantly now when you watch the top level of golf.” And he added that “environmental factors” were the biggest reason to embrace the change, saying: “As golf courses are getting longer, they’re needing more acreage to build courses, is that sustainable? Because they’re building more acreage they’re needing more water to maintain them.”
Padraig Harrington has said the new rules would also make the sport safer. In a radio interview, he said: “I think everybody who plays golf would know of a golf course where there has been a hole closed or re-designed because it has become dangerous because people hit it too far. When people who hit it far miss, they miss big. It is causing play to slow down, it’s dangerous, it’s expensive for golf courses to build more open and wider so people don’t get hurt.”
Tiger Woods, too, is a rollback supporter, saying, “ … understanding that, yeah, we’ve been hammering the ball needs to slow down, but it has kept speeding up my entire career and here we are.”
Here we are, indeed—still with some strongly divided opinions being hotly debated. However, judging by the current trend, the likely outcome of this controversial topic appears to be going only one way, given that every contribution toward global sustainability is seen as a bonus.
This was first published in Essential Golf – you can read the complete magazine here.