What golf ball rollback means for professional, recreational golfers

NASSAU, Bahamas – At least one person says it’s monstrous. Others say they don’t understand the anger. But everyone has opinions.

The decision by the USGA and R&A to universally roll back golf balls at all levels of golf is now one of the most talked about topics in the game. After three years of a ‘notice and comment’ period during which the governing bodies proposed a split system, with only the pros using a different ball, such strong opposition to split led to a universal decision.

In less than a decade, the golf balls you and the pros use will no longer be within the rules. But there’s a lot more we need to work through with this huge step.

What does rolling the ball back mean?

Golf balls will be scaled back to ensure they can’t travel as far, combating a long-term problem of player spacing increasing while golf courses remain the same length (or undergo expensive renovations to increase spacing). Manufacturers will have to create new balls that meet the new standards. The previous system tested balls at a speed of 200 km/h and ensured they did not go beyond the distance limit of 317 meters. The new rules increase the test to 200 km/h, which would obviously send the ball further, meaning the balls would have to be scaled back. The longest hitters will lose 13-15 yards, the USGA said, while LPGA players could lose 5-7 yards. According to the USGA, the average recreational golfer loses less than 3-5 yards.

Why are we doing this?

During the 2022-2023 season, 98 PGA Tour professionals averaged more than 300 yards off the tee. Just 10 years ago, only 13 did so. The 75th tallest player on the tour this year, Kevin Roy, averaged 303.4 yards, or 31.5 yards more than his 1998 counterpart, Guy Boros. This is due to improvements in club and ball technology, raising concerns among many in the game that professional golf is becoming a worse product as players can push it to the point where the courses can no longer keep up. As Tiger Woods put it on Saturday: “We just don’t have enough properties anymore.” Woods, as he himself noted, is hitting the golf ball longer than ever, despite all the surgeries he has undergone over the past nine years.

The governing bodies only wanted to make this change for the highest levels of golf and did not want to impact the recreational golfer. But there was strong opposition to that idea, especially from the PGA Tour and top equipment manufacturers, with many arguing that one of the great things about golf is that professional and recreational golfers all play on the same equipment. For example, those people, PGA Tour policy board member Patrick Cantlay, also said that a split would mean manufacturers would have to spend millions of dollars developing multiple different golf balls for different skill levels.

Even that is debatable – Rory McIlroy contradicted that point last week when he tweeted: “The game is already divided. Do you think we play the same as you?’

I don’t understand the anger about the golf ball rolling back. It won’t make any difference to the average golfer and will put golf back on the path to sustainability. It will also help bring back certain skills to the professional game that have been eradicated over the past twenty years.…

— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) December 3, 2023

Perhaps some of the criticism of the split was actually a fight to stop the rollback altogether, but R&A head Martin Slumbers told Golf Digest: “There are only three options: we can split; you change the whole game; or you do nothing. And doing nothing is not an option.” Because opposition to demerger was so strong, the USGA and R&A continued to roll back demerger for everyone.

This received a lot of backlash online, but they are continuing with the changes.

“There will be a lot of ambulance chasers and alarmists who will make this thing look a lot worse than it actually is,” USGA CEO Mike Whan told The Golf Channel. “…I don’t want a few loud voices trying to get more clicks, more viewers and more phone calls to create a frenzy that is, quite frankly, not based on fact.”

When will it come into effect?

The rollback will begin for elite players and leagues in 2028, and apply to everyone in 2030.

What does it mean for the recreational golfer?

You need new golf balls. Possibly. The new rules don’t go into effect for non-elite players until 2030, so you get two years to see the pros play with this setup before you have to conform.

One of the main problems some have with the universal return roll is that most recreational golfers don’t hit it far enough to make distance an issue. PGA Tour golfer Keegan Bradley told reporters in the Bahamas this week: “It’s monstrous that the amateur world is hitting the ball shorter. I can’t think of anything dumber than that. I don’t think it’s smart at all, especially when the popularity of golf literally comes from COVID.”

The counter to that would be that courses can adjust the tee boxes (and the cost to move them up is much less than to move them back) and that length is generally more about how far you hit the tee box compared to the standard than over a certain length. number. McIlroy also refuted points like Bradley’s, saying: “The people angry about this decision shouldn’t be angry at the governing bodies, they should be angry at elite professionals and club/ball manufacturers because they didn’t want a split.”

McIlroy also said: “It won’t make any difference to the average golfer and puts golf back on the path to sustainability. It will also help bring back certain skills to the professional game that have been eradicated over the past two decades.”

Also keep in mind that the average golfer can regain that 5 percent loss in distance through the right equipment, lessons, better fitness, or not playing the worn-out balls they find in the bushes.

What does it mean for the PGA Tour pros?

This is the part that’s hard to figure out, and the answer might not come until 2028.

The fundamental goal is to make golf a game that rewards hitting multiple types of shots and achieving success with all the clubs in your bag. The concern is not literally that people are going too far. It is the case that certain courses are converted into ‘driving the ball far and hitting a short wedge’, which some say makes the game worse. Many will forever cite the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot, in which long hitter Bryson DeChambeau was able to launch far, not worry too much about accuracy and still get up and down en route to a big win . That’s obviously the extreme, but it’s the simplest example of the problem.

Many professionals say much more needs to be done with course design and layout, which could serve as a deterrent to the bomb-and-gouge approach. Scottie Scheffler earlier this year called TPC Sawgrass, Colonial and Hilton Head courses that have “stood the test of time” with designs that penalize poor handling. But on other courses, trees have been removed and the choice has simply been made to grow out of the rough environment, which is not always enough.

The governing bodies are probably hoping that drives will go back about 50 feet and you’ll see more players hitting long irons into the green. Again, the goal is to reward a complete golf game.

Will it solve the problem?

Probably not, but it would be a lot harder to roll back equipment (although the USGA and R&A also indicated they will continue to test driver creep and driver forgiveness for off-center hits) and the governing bodies thought something about that . had to be done. Some of the best courses in the world, from Pebble Beach to St. Andrews, were at risk of being overwhelmed by where the game was going. Augusta National famously expanded the 13th hole by 35 yards by purchasing the property behind the old back tees. Almost no other program can afford to do such things.

Big decisions like these will always have unintended consequences. Maybe it will create new problems. Maybe it creates a completely different advantage that we can take advantage of. But as Slumbers said, doing nothing wasn’t an option, and in the short term it could make professional golf a better product.

(Top photo: Angel Martinez/Getty Images)