The United States Golf Association has been talking for quite a while about limiting the length that a golf ball flies or rolling it back. Surprisingly, when announcing their decision they did not limit the mandate to just the elite professional golfers but also to the everyday recreational players. I think it’s fair to say that the majority of the real golf world was not happy at the announcement. That includes vehement disagreement within the industry itself.
One of the more poignant responses came from the founder and CEO of LA Golf, Reed Dickens.
Leading up to this decision, there was a lot of talk and agreement that the solution was in bifurcating the rules related to the golf ball. Bifurcating the rules would allow all but the most elite competitors to continue to benefit from the present golf ball technology and only roll back the elite professionals.
So, how much distance will you lose? According to the USGA, here are the estimated distance losses.
The USGA was joined and coordinated this decision with the R&A. Personally, I’m no fan of the announcement and find the overall timing terrible. Certainly, rollback the best of the best if necessary to protect legacy golf courses that cannot be lengthened. However, don’t take anything away from the every day golfers. One good response on X, formerly known as Twitter was from an account @gymslob.
