USGA and R&A announce proposal to limit golf ball performance for elite level competition

[Ghost of Snead]

I'm here for the new Titleist Pro ball. 

[rope_hook]

Absolutely unnecessary. I don't know more than a handful of actual golf fans that want this. Every other sport supports their athletes getting better, which is all that is happening. The old guard (Usga and R&A) need to let the game evolve. 

[Canyonaro]

2 hours ago, bekgolf said:

Growing up the rough, narrowing fairways, and planting trees just doesn't occur to these guys. 

 

Or just not bikini waxing the fairways. The rollout on drives is bananas at a lot of your events. Maybe the fairway shouldn't roll six or seven on the stimp?

[mosesgolf]

Here we go again!!!!!!

BTW USGA socks!!!!

[bazinky]

Best point I've seem against this idea is that bifurcation may mean that amatuers will be driving the ball as far or farther than pros. If that occurs, I think it will seriously hurt the marketability of the sport. 

Edited March 14, 2023 by bazinky
Typo

[pollo]

What about softening the fairways so they aren’t concrete runways that give an extra 50 yards of roll? That combined with thicker rough for every tourney and not just the US Open would go a long ways to “lengthening” the course without having to modify the ball.

Edited March 17, 2023 by pollo

[TLUBulldogGolf]

Good but the change seems too minor the way the article phrases it.

[DatSliceDoe]

Just take some notes from this course's green complexes and apply them at like 50% strength to a few holes on every tour stop by 2026 instead. Should easily fix the driver/wedge game we have today. People would probably love it too for the novelty.

 

 

[TiScape]

3 hours ago, Blaiser said:

Well this thread is about to go nuts.

‘Distance debate’ 2.0 😩 

[QuigleyDU]

I am just going to say I think it is really dumb. This will be my only post in this thread that will likely get a half dozen members banned. Lol

[So_Cal]

2 hours ago, NevinW said:

Good, should have happened quite a while ago.  Bifurcation is needed.

 

Makes 100% sense.  I’m not going to debate here but it’s been clear for a while that equipment surpassed courses for elite players long ago.  It’s not about protecting par IMO but shot values.  If you want to win a major you should have to hit all clubs in the bag.  Hello @milesgiles ?

[PureStrikes54]

Packed courses and driving ranges.  Game as popular as ever. Astronomical prices and lengthy wait lists for private clubs. Massive sellouts at all tournaments and majors. Equipment and apparel business booming. Attracting a youthful fan base that hardly existed 4 years ago. 
 

USGA and R&A, “what a perfect time to screw that up” 

[So_Cal]

1 minute ago, PureStrikes54 said:

Packed courses and driving ranges.  Game as popular as ever. Astronomical prices and lengthy wait lists for private clubs. Massive sellouts at all tournaments and majors. Equipment and apparel business booming. Attracting a youthful fan base that hardly existed 4 years ago. 
 

USGA and R&A, “what a perfect time to screw that up” 

Maybe if enough people quit I can get tee times again.  Looks like a win win.  I joke…

[nikegolfer93]

I don't get why anyone would want this. 

" this would be a form of bifurcating the equipment rules where elite players would use equipment tested at different standards compared to how equipment used by all other golfers is deemed conforming."
 

So the pros will be using different golf balls that are worse than what's offered in market? 

[nikegolfer93]

1 hour ago, rope_hook said:

Absolutely unnecessary. I don't know more than a handful of actual golf fans that want this. Every other sport supports their athletes getting better, which is all that is happening. The old guard (Usga and R&A) need to let the game evolve. 

 

Imagine the NBA choosing to make the 3 point line further because Curry was shooting too good from the current distance. 

Wtf is USGA doing? 

[widow-maker]

The ball is already limited.  Figure out what it needs to be and everybody should play it, not just tour pros.  If it's getting too expensive to maintain golf courses for increased distance then figure out a solution and stick with it.  They could probably make a golf ball that would go 500 yards but I doubt that would be the best thing for the game going forward.  But, I don't think there should be bifurcation.  They could put a limit on the golf ball and most of us probably wouldn't notice because we can't compress it to it's max anyway. 

[TiScape]

Play the ball Rory plays… Oh never mind. 😂 

[nauticaltownship]

6 minutes ago, nikegolfer93 said:

 

Imagine the NBA choosing to make the 3 point line further because Curry was shooting too good from the current distance. 

Wtf is USGA doing? 

Imagine the MLB making their players use wood bats! People like watching home runs!

[bekgolf]

1 minute ago, nauticaltownship said:

Imagine the MLB making their players use wood bats! People like watching home runs!

 

Now you are talking, hickory shafts!

[CLEVELAND59]

Honestly I am here because I think the R&A and USGA suck and I can't wait for the Manufacturers to laugh in their faces and drag them through the court system until they they both go broke.

[PJE]

Time for the PGA Tour and the OEMs to abandon USGA rules. They can agree to a new set of rules for Tour events.  Effectively, supersede the USGA and R&A and finally kill their stranglehold on the game. 
If the USGA had their way, amateurs would max out at 225 off the tee. We may as well go back to hickory shafts. 

[m d g]

I assume there would still be multiple manufacturers adhering to a limiting standard.

 

But a lot of money could be made on auctioning off the rights to be the only ones to make 'the' ball each year...

[nauticaltownship]

Since the idea of bifurcation is upsetting so many people, here's my explanation for why it's a good idea: the professional games gotten too one dimensional. Even on 480 yard holes, players are hitting driver wedge. The solution to this is not to take all the character out of the courses by further narrowing fairways and growing rough, since this would make the pro game even more one dimensional. By requiring a spinner ball that goes shorter, pros will be required to be more creative and have a bigger variety of shots. The goal isn't to "protect par" and increase scores, but to bring back aspects of the game that were lost since technology eliminated them. An extreme of this would be if the MLB allowed tech in bats to get so out of control that every at bat was either a strike out or a home run. Something would be lost in the game of baseball, so a return to wood bats would restore the integrity of the game. 

[PJE]

One of the cool things about men’s professional golf is how far those guys hit it. So much for that, I guess. 

[So_Cal]

24 minutes ago, nauticaltownship said:

Since the idea of bifurcation is upsetting so many people, here's my explanation for why it's a good idea: the professional games gotten too one dimensional. Even on 480 yard holes, players are hitting driver wedge. The solution to this is not to take all the character out of the courses by further narrowing fairways and growing rough, since this would make the pro game even more one dimensional. By requiring a spinner ball that goes shorter, pros will be required to be more creative and have a bigger variety of shots. The goal isn't to "protect par" and increase scores, but to bring back aspects of the game that were lost since technology eliminated them. An extreme of this would be if the MLB allowed tech in bats to get so out of control that every at bat was either a strike out or a home run. Something would be lost in the game of baseball, so a return to wood bats would restore the integrity of the game. 

The way I read it is most amateurs will pick up distance.  

[Mike412]

41 minutes ago, nauticaltownship said:

Since the idea of bifurcation is upsetting so many people, here's my explanation for why it's a good idea: the professional games gotten too one dimensional. Even on 480 yard holes, players are hitting driver wedge. The solution to this is not to take all the character out of the courses by further narrowing fairways and growing rough, since this would make the pro game even more one dimensional. By requiring a spinner ball that goes shorter, pros will be required to be more creative and have a bigger variety of shots. The goal isn't to "protect par" and increase scores, but to bring back aspects of the game that were lost since technology eliminated them. An extreme of this would be if the MLB allowed tech in bats to get so out of control that every at bat was either a strike out or a home run. Something would be lost in the game of baseball, so a return to wood bats would restore the integrity of the game. 

I agree. Golf isn’t played with just a driver and it isn’t a long drive competition, it’s stroke play. Who gives a crap if some amateurs hit it as far as the pros do on TV. They can’t with the same ball and they can’t strike it as well.

 

Bifurcation is just a strange argument to me. Everyone in the tournament will be playing the same ball and the faster guys will still have a distance advantage over the slower players. It will just bring more mid irons into play on 4’s and tougher to reach 5’s in 2. Personally I don’t care for the narrower fairways and thicker rough and more trees. I don’t see how that’s not just as bad or worse than bifurcation. I also don’t get protecting the tee shot over the approach shot. I want professional golf to be more than a long drive competition.

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by Mike412
Typo

[PracticeSwinger]

1. Will this ever affect my game, i.e. in the long run will companies still produce the ‘longest hackers allowed’ Pro-V1X or will the trend push amateurs to play the Pro-marshmellow that Rory has to put in play?… because, you know, if Xander can slap it around, well any WRXer can…

 

2. Can already see the clickbait; gain 20 yards on Tony Finau in a single lesson!

 

3. Quite frankly, what’s the fun in driving it 276yds and then flipping it on TV to see Morikawa smash it shot after shot to that distance also… knowing too well that we’re light years away ball striking wise…

 

 

[bekgolf]

7 minutes ago, So_Cal said:

The way I read it is most amateurs will pick up distance.  

 

I read it as a local rule that may be put into place by a tournament.  The only way it would affect us is as golf fans seeing the end product on tv.

 

 

More thoughts about a pro only ball:

 

I wonder how a golf ball manufacturer would change r&d on balls?  Surely the cost of coming up with a pushing the limit without going over pro ball that is only played by a very few golfers would have to be absorbed somewhere.

 

Would it affect the longer hitters more than the shorter ones?

 

Ball sponsorships wouldn't matter anymore because we would be playing a different ball than the pros.  Advertising money spent by ball makers would be impacted, so would pro sponsorship money. 

[TiScape]

We have only @jdl to blame for this 😡 

😂 

[Mike412]

8 minutes ago, MtlJayMan said:

3. Quite frankly, what’s the fun in driving it 276yds and then flipping it on TV to see Morikawa smash it shot after shot to that distance also… knowing too well that we’re light years away ball striking wise…

 

 

I see what you’re saying and it’s tough but something has to be done.

 

I think the reason this is a tough situation in our sport is that it’s so much more equipment based than other sports and the fact that it’s a stationary ball and your opponents aren’t playing defense. It’s one of few sports you have one piece of equipment manipulating another piece of equipment and it’s the only one that I can think of that doesn’t have your opponent manipulating one of those with you having to react. So it really is a unique situation golf has that other sports don’t. Course design can only go so far, they aren’t making any more land. So at some point equipment tech has to come into the conversation if golf is to be played with all the clubs in the bag.