USGA DISTANCE INSIGHT

[MtlJeff]

I'd just have a PGA tour ball.

The USGA doesn't really care about anyone other than tour. And it wouldn't be that hard to have a few 7500yd courses that can host US Ams.

All the USGA cares about is the optics of the tour.

[Bad9]

Wasn't DLIII hitting a steel shafted persimmon driver over 300? It may have even been with a balata ball but I'm not sure. Whats to say that the top 10-20 drivers out there now couldn't do the same as I believe there are more, better trained athletes playing pro golf than there was when he was doing it. How far would these guys hit a 300cc club, not that much less than they do know I imagine. If they implement new limits as suggested above and it makes 10-20yds difference what actually changes?

[jvincent]

A tour ball will never fly because of the money tied up in the marketing of "play what the pros play" and making that a shorter ball for the amateurs kills the golf ball market.

I still think the "solution" is really quite simple.

Adjust the distance test to reflect today's clubhead speeds and launch. This should bring the longer hitters back to the pack a little bit.Grow the rough and narrow the fairways in the long hitter zone on tour.Firm up the fairways on tour to get more ball bouncing into the rough.

[molecularman]

Like I said, you won't be able to nullify a longer hitter hitting it far. But it isn't just about pure yardage, it's about making a club harder to hit and more penalizing on mishits. There will be a much larger risk to reward ratio.

 

[MtlJeff]

I believe titleist wouldn't want that for sure.

But how much does the USGA and PGA tour really need sponsorship money from manufacturers? Cant they just get cialis and Visa and etc.

Does the USGA need to care what Titleist thinks?

[klebs01]

Ok update to the test,but why do you want to punish long hitters? Why should they be disproportionately impacted?why do you want to punish long hitters? Though this may actually benefit them by just having them hit more fairways by hitting less club than short knockers. This target golf would actually make the game a lot more boring by decreasing strategy and making it target golf. Agree with firming up fairways, but combined with #2 this would just increase the advantage of longer hitters.

[Holy Moses]

I’m all for moving up tees, but if a course spent a lot of money on a longer course as the USGA did nothing for years, I’d expect more

[Sean2]

@MtlJeff The USGA should care about recreational golfers...we are what keeps the game afloat. Without us there would be no Tour, no OEM's, and no golf shops, etc.

[MtlJeff]

Agree with you 100%, in fact I wrote a column on that for this site actually

[Sean2]

Maybe the article should be "re-issued", and maybe the USGA will read it. :-)

[MtlJeff]

I dont think they read it LOL. Though one reader commented I didn't know what I was talking about because I was a Canadian socialist.

That comment might not age well!

[jvincent]

The whole premise of the distance report is that the top players in the game are hitting it too far and removing shotmaking and strategy from the game.

If you're going to fix that then you have to target the top guys. Long guys will always have an advantage if they can also keep it in play. You could make the argument that they should just narrow the fairways the entire length of the fairway to not only punish the long guys but all the inaccurate guys.

 

[jvincent]

Golf ball revenue plays a big part in the bottom line of all the big manufacturers so if you want to keep them healthy then you can't reduce that revenue stream.

[Sean2]

Well, having met you he got part of it right...you ARE social. :-)

[Sean2]

Today, Phil hit about 50% of the fairways, and averaging 305. Imagine his score if the rough was penal. Don't dial back anything, just make smarter courses.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Maybe just ban drivers for pro/AM events.

[MtlJeff]

I get that for sure, I just don't know why the USGA would really care about how well Titleist does as a company.

They could just commission a company to build them thousands of balls and be done with it.

Ball OEMs could market to amateurs and let the chips fall.

I'm against any changes FWIW. I just dont see why the USGA would really care about ball sales

[klebs01]

Narrowing the whole thing also benefits the long hitter over the short hitter. The US open at Marion was a long hitters course because they would just hit 4i off the tee and the short hitters couldn’t keep up. Erin Hills was much more balanced. Harmon could keep up with brooks until the very end because he could play different strategies.

I understand the premise of the report. Just disagree that your “easy” solutions would help anything. I think they would make the problems worse and further cement the high speed straight ball hitter as the only way to succeed.

[mahonie]

From the report, the Top 5% pros are driving longer and far less accurate with it and still cleaning up...you are right, you have to make the areas outside the fairway more penal (and make the fairways more strategic so that you have to be in the right place to score).

[jmck]

Agreed about course setup, but funnily enough this is one week they can’t....Apropos of nothing, they have to keep the rough short at Pebble this week so as to get the 10 handicap CEOs around in under 90.

[Argonne69]

Probably a few yards. The younger players don't seem to be a heck of a lot better. The 65+ crowd down here take their golf quite seriously, playing 3 to 5 times a week. They may not have high swing speeds, but they somewhat make up for it with better contact. I'd say they hit a lot more fairways, and get more roll than the weekend golfer who misses more than half the fairways.

I agree that defining an average golfer is a challenge.

[Sean2]

Good point.

[Holy Moses]

Then why is the USGA saying that distance is a problem at every level of golf?

[Sean2]

Distance is a problem at our level...most of us don't hit if far enough. I don't know how the USGA could say what it said. Maybe the members of the board are all big hitters.

[James the Hogan Fan]

An acre is 220 yards by 22 yards, a football field about 1.3 acres. (And more accurately said an acre is the area of a rectangle of sides 220x22, but can be of any shape)I know of one that has, my home course, which is 5 years old, added tees on two holes which added 40 and 60 yards, respectively. The GM laments that the course was built to the length it was built (6700yards now 6800) because if we were a little longer we could attract mini tours.

But across town another course at 7200 yards stopped mowing a couple back tees because no one used them. I guess it's a wash?

[MtlJeff]

Because they are liars with an obvious bias

I was just saying what I would do

[Holy Moses]

If the USGA imposes limits on the weekend warrior golfer, it will be the death of their organization. I’m hoping they are only actually alarmed at elite golfers and pros and don’t want to sound like they are singling anyone out until they recommendations come out in a year.

[James the Hogan Fan]

Blade you play with those high level ams/have seen it firsthand, are they too good to make the bifurcation point Am/Pro? That way an event like the NCAAs or the US am is the best of those who play everyone's equipment, but if you want to get paid, you gotta use the pro stuff. Just like the Aluminum/Wood cutoff in baseball.

[klebs01]

They have done it in the past numerous times and been fine. Furthermore, the weekend hack doesn’t hit the ball solid enough to be impacted by changes.

[jvincent]

The USGA needs Titleist and all the other golf companies, including the PGA Tour, to stay healthy so that they can keep the money rolling in.

Any attempt to create a "tour only" ball will generate lawsuits that the USGA does not want.