Penton: Golf putting brakes on ball flight distance
By Bruce Penton
The world of professional golf is set to undergo a major transformation within the next two years, as the two major governing bodies — the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient — have decided to go ahead with ‘rolling back’ the golf ball.
Nothing in cast in stone about the rollback, but USGA CEO Mike Whan says the change will be made starting in 2028. After myriad studies, the two golf bodies came to the conclusion that the ever-increasing distance today’s best players were getting off the tee was relegating some of the world’s best courses to ‘pitch and putts’. Cameron Champ led the PGA Tour in driving distance in 2024 at 322.8 yards. Rory McIlroy was second at 320.2 and the top 102 golfers managed to exceed, on average, the 300-yard mark. Throw in a good downwind on some long par-5s and some of the longer hitters would be looking at a pitching wedge or less for their second shots.
The change is coming, according to the governing bodies, but details have yet to be worked out. Golf ball manufacturers are not totally on board, and debate rages about whether the golf ball rollback will apply to the overall game — pros and amateurs alike — or whether there will be two types of balls: The rolled-back pro version and the still-explosive amateur kind.
Most of today’s best golf courses were built decades ago, when a long-hitting golfer might pound out a 270-yard drive. Today, some of those courses have become obsolete because of the tremendous distances the world’s best golfers are realizing. Of course, better fitness and athleticism has led to the distance explosion, too, but those in charge of the game’s direction feel that rolling back the golf ball would be the best course of action to bring top-notch skill back into the game.
Which leads one to wonder what other sports might do to protect the integrity of their games:
— If scoring became too prevalent in the National Hockey League, would there be an outcry to reduce the width of the net? Or, if scoring dropped off, could the net be widened?
— In basketball, some of today’s behemoths make dunking look so easy that perhaps 12 feet, not 10, would be the appropriate height for the basket. (Why is it 10 feet? The game's inventor, James Naismith, placed his first hoop on a gymnasium railing, which was 10 feet off the ground.)
While the golf ball is generally regarded as the culprit in the distance debate, some people are looking at golf club manufacturers as being equally culpable. Technology advances lead the likes of Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist and Srixon to advertise to the world that their clubs provide the distance a golfer needs to shoot lower scores.
The longer the ball goes, the bigger the course must be built. And the more land that’s required, the more expense it requires to water and maintain the grounds. It has to slow down somewhere. And like it or not, it’s starting with the ball rollback.
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Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca