The Golf Ball Rollback: Four Common Sense Alternatives

The uproar over the golf ball rollback sure has died down, hasn’t it?

That’s the way it is with uproars. They’re largely unsustainable for one simple reason: new uproars come along and take their place. There’s only so much rage to go around.

And here’s the crazy thing. The golf ball rollback was announced barely over two months ago, and it may already be old news.

Consider the following:

• It was announced within a day of Jon Rahm’s jump to LIV.
• The PGA Tour continues its flirtation with PIF and the Saudis.
• At the same time, the Tour announces a multi-billion-dollar deal with the Strategic Sports Group.
• We’ve had over 60 new product launches.
• We’ve had a lift, clean and place-tainted 60 at Pebble, a 59 at LIV and a drunken shit-show at the WMO.

Seriously, who has had the time to think about a rolled-back golf ball?

But two months have passed since the golf ball rollback was announced. And “two months” is the new definition of “eternity” in today’s world. So we figured, “What the hell. Let’s take one last look at what the USGA and R&A are doing and why they’re doing it. And, because it’s a prerequisite for adult thinking, let’s also take one last stab at offering alternatives.”

The Golf Ball Rollback: What Is It?

Make no mistake: Unless something drastic like a major lawsuit happens, the golf ball rollback is going to happen. To bring it all back to your frontal lobe, here are the new distance rules:

• 317 yards (+/- 3 yards) at 125 mph swing speed
• 11-degree launch angle, 2,200 RPM spin

For the record, the old standard we’ve been living with since the early 2000s was identical except at a 120-mph swing speed.

The new regulations go into effect in January 2028 for elite competitions and in January 2030 for the likes of you and me. Any new model golf balls submitted for conformance testing will have to meet these new standards by October 2027. We can only assume that any “new” balls introduced to the market as of 2028 will comply with the rollback. Recreational players can play the “old” ball until January 2030, but we’ll have to stock up.

According to the USGA/R&A, approximately one-third of the golf balls currently on the conforming list will comply with the new rules. Those are primarily two- and three-piece ionomer-covered balls.

Again according to the USGA/R&A, PGA/DP World Tour/LIV players would see an 11-yard average driving distance loss. LPGA/LET players might lose up to seven yards, while we everyday types might lose five yards or less. As swing speed goes down, so does the yardage loss.

We did check with a few OEMs and, based on their calculations and testing, a 4.5 to five percent distance loss can be expected with swing speeds between 100 and 115 mph. That distance loss will also depend on whether OEMs reach the new rules by lowering the velocity or by some sort of dimple pattern alteration.

Why Are The USGA/R&A Doing This?

Every ball technology shift, from gutta percha to Haskell to wound balata to solid core, has caused governing bodies to flip out over distance. In 2002, not long after solid-core balls became the rule, the USGA and R&A issued a joint statement on equipment regulations. Their focus would be “to protect golf’s best traditions and to ensure skill is the dominant element of success throughout the game.”

And since 2002, increases in driving distance have slowed. In 1980, with persimmons, balatas, and guys who looked like Craig Stadler, the average Tour driving distance was 256 yards. By 2003, with solid-core balls, metalwoods and guys who looked like Tiger Woods, driving distance jumped to 286 yards.

But by 2023, the average driving distance was just a tick less than 300 yards. That’s an increase of just under 14 yards over the past 20 years. Coincidentally, the single biggest increase came in 2017, the year NIKE left the golf equipment business.

The governing bodies’ concern is twofold. Altruistically, they want to protect the integrity of the game and preserve it from being a “bomb and gouge” display. On the practical side, they admit driving distance limits the number of venues that can offer stern enough tests for elite players.

Legacy courses may not be able, or even willing, to get longer to host elite events. But that’s their problem. Most of the courses we regular people play aren’t going to host those events and aren’t any longer today than they were in 1985.

The Golf Ball Rollback: What About Us Regular People?

The USGA/R&A say recreational golfers will “only” lose five yards worth of driver distance. That’s 15 feet and I think we can agree that’s imperceptible.  What’s more, the USGA/R&A assert that once you get to the 5-iron, even elite players won’t see much, if any, distance loss. At lower swing speeds, driver distance loss is even less off the tee and non-existent off the turf.

However, USGA CEO Michael Whan said it himself: “We don’t see recreational golfers obsoleting golf courses any time soon.”

So why the universal change? Because everyone balked at a bifurcation.

Last March the USGA and R&A offered up a model local rule that would allow tournaments the option of using an even more rolled-back ball. That ball limited distance to 317 yards at a 127-mph swing speed. They would have what they wanted and the rest of us would have been left alone.

That model local rule, however, proved to be impractical for many reasons. For one, those balls would have no commercial value. OEMs would still have to research, develop and manufacture a rolled-back ball that no one would buy. And three guess who would wind up picking up that tab at retail?

(Any answer other than “you and me, bub,” doesn’t count.)

Again, a cynic might say the USGA/R&A knew all that going in. But they offered bifurcation anyway. When the negative feedback from stakeholders came in, they said, basically, “Hold my beer.”

There are alternatives to the rollback. We’re sure the USGA and R&A looked at what we’re going to share. But the one thing to remember about the rollback is this: the ball is one thing the game’s governing body can regulate.

Alternative One: Grow The Grass, Soften The Fairway

This one is easy to say, but it’s impractical from the USGA/R&A perspective because they can’t regulate the length of grass. However, a USGA study says longer grass and softer fairways do reduce distance.

Watch any pro event (except the rain-soaked ones we’ve been watching this year) and you’ll see the ball bouncing down the fairway like it was on the Interstate. But the USGA/R&A say softening the fairways could reduce distance anywhere from 4.5 to 10 yards. And growing the grass two-tenths of an inch over normal mowing heights could reduce driving distance by up to four yards.

The USGA, however, should be lauded for its water conservation efforts. And softening the fairways does use more water, so that’s counter to a key USGA pillar. But there’s no reason not to raise the mower blades a hair.

Additionally, letting the rough grow puts more emphasis on finding the fairway.

“If the Tour shaped fairways a bit differently at 300 yards out and with thicker rough, accuracy becomes more important,” says golf ball designer and manufacturer Dean Snell.

Alternative Two: Regulate/Bifurcate Equipment

This is something the USGA and R&A can do. Make no mistake: changes are in the works.

As part of the ball rollback rule, both governing bodies said they’re going to take a closer look at “CT Creep.” CT, “Characteristic Time”, measures how long (in microseconds) the ball stays on the clubface at impact. In effect, it measures how “hot” the club is. After repeated use, however, driver CT can creep beyond tolerance limits and be too hot. The USGA is putting new testing guidelines into place to flag drivers that are too close to the limit.

The USGA/R&A are also putting driver MOI limits on the table. They’re continuing research on driver forgiveness at the elite level and could consider reducing MOI limits and driver head size. That could lead to bifurcation, meaning the pros and elite amateurs play smaller, less forgiving drivers than we do. But again, guess who’s going to pay that freight?

Other equipment ideas have merit. It’s possible to limit the number of clubs a pro or elite amateur can carry in competition. The game would certainly be different with nine or 10 clubs instead of 14. And could there be a model local rule mandating so-called “mini-drivers” at certain events?

Another idea from Dean Snell: mandate shorter tees.

“A half-inch shorter tee would reduce distance by 10 to 15 yards,” he says. “That’s based on how much lower they’d have to tee it, how much spin that adds and how much it reduces loft at impact. They can’t hit the ball as high and it spins more.”

Alternative Three: Do Nothing and Cope

There’s a working theory that the 2022 Open Championship at St Andrews was the breaking point for the R&A and, by extension, the USGA. The Old Course, in all its glory, was a relative lamb with Cam Smith shooting a record 20 under par.

Without wind and rain, the Old Course was a birdie festival, but the fact remains the guy who won was the guy who sank putts. And don’t forget, Jack was driving the 18^th green back in the day.

Professional golf is entertainment. Are you not entertained when Rory cracks one 340 yards? And love him or hate him, Bryson was must-see TV the year he looked like a lumberjack. Yes, bombing makes it a different game. But it also makes it an entertaining one.

I don’t get the notion that distance takes skill out of the game. Distance, after all, is a skill. Equipment is certainly part of it but if were the only part, why isn’t everyone hitting it as far as Rory? And if Rory is the longest, why doesn’t he win all the time? Distance is a skill but other skills are just as important. Modern equipment, extraordinary physical conditioning and near-perfect technique allow Rory to hit it 340, but you still need to hit irons accurately, chip and pitch deftly and, as always, putt lights out to win.

Last I checked, all those are skills, too.

So it’s fair to ask, why does 20 under par offend you? These guys are good,

Alternative Four: Make Championship Courses Shorter

Yep, we said shorter.

If the 2022 Open is a point in favor of a rollback, the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion is the counterpoint. Merion played as a par-70 that year at 6,996 yards, a veritable pitch ‘n’ putt for today’s big hitters, no?

No.

Justin Rose won that year with a score of – wait for it – one over par. The cut line that year was +8.

If you want to minimize distance as a weapon, shortening the distance you have to hit it makes remarkably good sense. The 72^nd hole proved to be the perfect example. Rose was careful off the tee and hit the fairway. He then hit a 4-iron (yes, a 4-iron) into the green to secure par. Phil Mickelson, playing in the final group, needed a birdie to tie but blocked his tee shot into the rough and couldn’t hit the green in two. He needed to hole his pitch for birdie but couldn’t, giving Rose the win.

“On a shorter course, if a guy is hitting pitching wedge into the green and the other guy is hitting an 8-iron, the player hitting 8-iron can still win,” says Snell. “But if the comparison becomes hitting a 7- or 8-iron versus hitting a 4- or 5-iron, that’s a big difference on approach shots to firm, fast greens.”

The Golf Ball Rollback: Thoughts Two Months Later

Wisdom, friends, is a function of time and experience. Over the past two months, we haven’t seen any lawsuits, golf courses aren’t closing and golfers aren’t leaving the game in droves.

The sky, it seems, isn’t falling. But then again, it isn’t 2028 yet, either.

Psychologist Carl Jung famously said, “Thinking is difficult. Therefore, let the herd pronounce judgment.” Said another way, thinking is hard so we reduce ourselves to regurgitated snap judgments and “hot takes.” Even though we believe any of these alternatives to the golf ball rollback are perfectly viable, it’s important to understand the compelling rationales behind the rollback. You can argue it’s a solution in search of a problem, but it’s not something the USGA and R&A did lightly and for no reason.

Simply stated, the USGA and R&A believe they are preserving the game’s future by rolling back the golf ball. Specifically, they freely admit they want to preserve venues for their elite championships, so the big hitters face some kind of challenge.  It’s interesting and instructive to listen to what rollback supporters have to say (The Fried Egg podcast, in particular, shares this point of view very well). That’s not to say we agree with everything, but listening and understanding certainly take emotion out of the equation.

Supporters will say a ball rollback will bring shotmaking and 5-irons back to the pro game. So, ironically, will shorter courses, longer grass, narrower fairways and scarier rough. Supporters also say we “regular” people won’t notice a five- to 10-yard difference. And if those 15 to 30 feet matter, move up a tee box.

But if moving up a tee box restores those 15 to 30 feet then what, pray tell, is the point of it all?

Will Bifurcation Be Back On The Table?

They say that when the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat every problem like a nail. When stakeholders rejected the model local rule and, by extension, bifurcation, that left the governing bodies with only a hammer. And they used it.

Unless something drastic happens, the golf ball rollback is rolling forward. But it’s also clear the USGA and R&A aren’t stopping there. Golf’s governing bodies have been equipment regulation gun-shy ever since dueling with Karsten Solheim over the PING Eye 2 irons in the late ‘80s But they’ve now thrown down the gauntlet. They’re watching CT creep and are looking at driver head size and MOI for elite golfers.

And if either of those happens, bifurcation will be an option again.

The only question is whether the PGA Tour and/or LIV or whatever pro game is left standing will agree to it all.

Remember the USGA and R&A are golf’s governing bodies only with the consent of the governed.