One of golf’s fiercest and oldest debates has reignited as the sport’s governing bodies prepare to introduce controversial restrictions that will shake the game to its core.
The US Golf Association (USGA) and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) are set to determine which balls players can use in an attempt to shorten the distance a ball can be hit.
It’s hardly a new idea – in fact, the debate over distance has been raging for over a century.
The proposed change is seismic and has always triggered heated argument, and this time is no different with an ugly rift between opposing camps once again emerging.
Earlier this year the USGA and R&A proposed new rules around golf balls that would only be applied to elite players.
The rule would have given tournaments the option of making pros use balls that travel around 15 yards less on drives.
But the idea of different rules for pros and recreational players, known as ‘bifurcation’, was heavily criticised, and now the governing bodies have responded with a one-size-fits-all rule.
R&A’s chief executive Martin Slumbers told BBC Sport: “We can bifurcate, as we suggested; you change the whole game; or you do nothing.
“And doing nothing is not an option.”
So why is hitting distance such a big problem for the game, and what comes next?
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HOW ARE THINGS CHANGING?
In 2020, the governing bodies released a stunning report which revealed the significant changes in hitting distances over time.
While it might not be surprising that players are hitting the ball longer as technology and athleticism improves over the decades, the numbers are eye-opening.
The report stated that back in the late 1800s, elite male players typically drove between 160-200 yards, with the biggest hitters maxed out at around 220 yards.
But from 1900 to 1930, there was a significant change to the balls being used, with rubber cores replacing gutta-percha cores (from a tree native to Malaysia and Indonesia).
That meant average driving distances rose to between 220-260 yards, while the top men’s players were hitting around 290 yards.
Over the following decades, driving distances continued to improve – both at a gradual rate thanks to things like athletic improvements and training, and in leaps and bounds when major technical innovations were made to equipment.
In the last three decades, that includes developments like oversized titanium drivers, or new balls using non-wound multiple layers.
In 2003, the average drive on the PGA Tour was 277.9 yards. In 2022, it was 290.5 yards – a 4.5 per cent increase.
But these days more players are bombing the ball long.
In 2003, around 27 per cent of drives on the PGA Tour went over 300 yards. That’s nearly doubled to 50 per cent of drives in 2022.
Over 320 yards? That’s doubled from under eight per cent to nearly 20 per cent of drives.
In the current PGA Tour season, 50 different players have hit a drive over 400 yards.
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On the Ladies PGA Tour, there’s been a three per cent increase in distance from 2003 to 2022. The average LPGA driving distance in 1993 was less than 230 yards – now it’s 257 yards.
It’s not just the pros hitting longer. Amateur male golfers in the UK went from an average driving distance of 200 yards in 1996 to 216 yards in 2019. In general, the average recreational men’s player can hit between 185-240 yards, compared to 130-180 yards around 1930.
For recreational women’s players, the increase has been from 100-150 yards nine decades ago to 145-160 yards today.
The statistics are quite simply staggering.
WHY THAT’S A PROBLEM
The major issue is that as players hit longer, courses must adapt or be left behind.
With increasing hitting lengths, the tactical nuance and the unique challenge of many courses is diminished. Course features like doglegs, slopes, and bunkers can be avoided too easily, reducing the consequences of poor shots.
And the increasing adoption of a data-driven approach to the game means that many players are turning to a more simplistic game plan – hit the ball as long as possible off the tee, even if that comes at the expense of accuracy and strategic play.
The age-old cornerstone of golf, that players must effectively use all 14 clubs and respond creatively to the unique risks and opportunities posed by a particular course, is being eroded.
In many cases, players can effectively overpower the course.
Lengthening the distance of courses has been the predominant approach over the years to address the increase in hitting distances.
But this response itself comes with a raft of problems.
Many courses do not have room in which to expand. Even if they can, expansion is costly, not just immediately but over the long term. Longer courses cost more to build and require more time and resources to maintain, including water – a key concern for the game as the impacts of climate change worsen.
“We know that there are more pressures on courses than ever,” then-USGA CEO Mike Davis said in 2020 (per Golf.com).
“We know that many are operating in the red. The costs are going up, and they’re either borne by all golfers, or the course becomes financially challenged or not in as good a place as it once was.”
In short, as hitting distances increase – and golf’s governing bodies believe that trend will continue in the future – the sport cannot respond simply by lengthening courses.
Something has to be done, the governing bodies believe.
“The expectation of every generation that they’re going to hit it longer than the previous generation, we think that is taking golf in the wrong direction,” Davis said.
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WHY IS IT CONTROVERSIAL?
Well, for one, hitting long is just plain fun. Fun to watch on TV, fun to do on the range or the course.
So widespread is the appeal of bombing the ball off the tee that long drive competitions – where players regularly monster the ball up around 400 yards – have become immensely popular.
LIV superstar and former major winner Bryson DeChambeau even tried his hand at the 2022 World Championship and finished second with a longest of 406 yards.
For most golfers, hitting longer is a key goal. It is a marker of individual progress – not to mention confers bragging rights among friends.
And golf is enjoying an unprecedented global boom in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. So, critics argue, why change things now?
One of the biggest problems is the impact it has on manufacturers, who have been engaged in long-running talks with golf’s governing bodies.
After all, distance is one of the biggest selling points of new equipment – from clubs to balls and more.
Being forced to produce and market balls that are objectively worse would be a nightmare for manufacturers.
Elite players blasting the ball 340-yards-plus in tournament courses also makes for exciting television, so broadcasters have also been somewhat wary of any restrictions.
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WHAT DO THE PROS THINK?
Some think shortening hitting distance is a necessary change.
But there’s plenty of debate over whether the rule should apply only to elite players – like PGA Tour pros – or whether it should apply to all golfers.
After all, the problems that elite golfers are creating for course designers aren’t really that relevant to most recreational golfers.
Everyday hacks simply don’t hit long enough in most cases, or can move to longer tees to increase the distance of the courses they are playing to restore balance.
That’s a large reason why the governing bodies earlier this year signalled that they would apply new ball restrictions only to professionals and elite amateur tournaments.
But that ‘bifurcation’ of the game (differing rules for elite players and recreational players) was also hugely controversial. Many believe it goes against the foundation of the game by introducing different rules for different players.
It was opposed by the PGA Tour, while equipment manufacturers were also heavily against it – mostly because of fears for their bottom line. That in turn led many players who are sponsored by manufacturers to speak out against the plan.
Keegan Bradley is one of the most vocal critics among the professionals – but maybe that’s no surprise, given he already had to change his putting approach after the governing bodies banned belly putters.
He teed off on the potential rule change this weekend, saying: “Everything that they do is reactionary. They don’t think of a solution. They just think we’re going to affect a hundred per cent of the population that plays golf. For the amateur world to hit the ball shorter is monstrous. I can’t think of anything more stupid than that. I don’t think it’s very smart at all, especially when golf’s growing in popularity literally coming out of COVID.”
He added: “I think we constantly get penalised for mistakes they [USGA and R&A] make. Whether if they let the ball go too far, that’s not our problem. They [are doing this] to punish not only the professional golfers, but the world of golf for something that they screwed up on. I really think it’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of.”
Tiger Woods, who has been on the PGA Tour since 1996, said: “This has been I guess the talk ever since I’ve been out on Tour. And then to finally see it come to this point where I think both governing bodies who control the rules around the world are going to come to a collaborative understanding of how far — we just doesn’t have enough property anymore.
“So I think that understanding that yeah, we’ve been hammering the ball needs to slow down, but it has kept speeding up my entire time on career and here we are.
“I’ve always been for bifurcation. I’ve always said that.
“Just like wood bats and metal bats [in baseball].
“I haven’t talked to any other player yet. I’m curious to see what the feedback is. I know the PGA Tour had their stance on it, but the ruling bodies are, they’re the ruling bodies.”
Rickie Fowler said the governing bodies should have introduced restrictions two decades ago – roughly when non-wound, multi-layer balls became prevalent on tour – but now he thinks it’s too late.
He said: “I don’t think the golf ball is the right thing to do.”
“When you look at the state of golf, where it is today, I don’t think you can argue it’s ever been in a better place, so, why?” he questioned.
“I completely get it as far as for some protection and it can be better for the better ballstrikers but when you look at it across the board, everyone who plays golf, those weekend golfers aren’t going to be super excited to go hit it shorter.
“I think it’s terrible, I don’t think the golf ball is the one thing to go after and it’s not the USGA or the R&A who are paying for it.”
Fowler added that it could turn new players off the game.
“Thanks for joining us during COVID, now we’re going to make you hit it 20 yards shorter. Have fun!”
But world number two Rory McIlroy, who initially backed the bifurcated rule change, now believes a universal change would be beneficial.
McIlroy himself broke the PGA Tour driving record this year with an average of 326.3 yards off the tee.
“It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability,” wrote McIlroy on X.
That’s because while the looming restrictions will reduce the distance professionals hit off the tee by around 15 yards, most recreational players won’t notice much of a difference – if any – using the new balls.
Simply put, the vast majority of players hit with a significantly lower club-head speed than the likes of McIlroy and co.
Where they would notice a difference is if significant restrictions were placed on clubs, rather than balls.
The rapid development of oversized club faces on drivers – which offer a much greater sweet spot and therefore are less punishing of mistakes – has been one of the major factors in increased driver distance for pros and recreational players alike.
Limiting this technology at both the professional and grassroots levels would make a drastic difference – and increase the difficulty for recreational players tremendously.
That, combined with the financial impact it would have on manufacturers and therefore players, makes any attempt to implement serious change to driver restrictions a virtual non-starter.
So while changing balls is still controversial, it’s seen as a more palatable option – and the vast majority of players around the world won’t notice the difference anyway.
McIlroy added: “I don’t understand the anger about the golf ball roll back.
“The people who are upset about this decision shouldn’t be mad at the governing bodies, they should be mad at elite pros and club/ball manufacturers because they didn’t want bifurcation.
“Elite pros and ball manufacturers think bifurcation would negatively affect their bottom lines, when, in reality, the game is already bifurcated.
“You think we play the same stuff you do?
“They put pressure on the governing bodies to roll it back to a lesser degree for everyone. Bifurcation was the logical answer for everyone, but, yet again in this game, money talks.”
The new rule is expected to be announced before the end of the year, though likely won’t be enacted until 2026.
For some, the change comes far too late.
“The USGA has got to wake up sooner or later, the R&A,” 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus said in 2020 on Golf Channel. “They can’t keep burying their heads to this. They see it, they watch television, they see where these guys hit the golf ball. It isn’t about how far they hit it. You just can’t keep making golf courses longer. You just don’t have enough land. You don’t have enough money to do it.
“And the golf ball is a very, very simple thing to fix. And I’ve been preaching about it, good gracious, I’ve been preaching about it now — 43 years (ago) I first went to the USGA. I mean, that’s a long time to be saying, “Well, we’re studying it.’
“Guys, stop studying. Do something, will you please?”