By ED TRAVIS
The day before the start of the U.S. Open last week the USGA, The R&A, PGA Tour and DP World Tour sent out a joint statement they are going to move the implementation of the ball rollback to 2030 and reassess their criteria for the decision.
A couple of questions arise from this statement with the first being “why?” The rules arbiters USGA and R&A have spent the last several years telling us how they queried all the “stakeholders” but remember USGA CEO Michael Whan has made it clear since he took over that the ball goes too far and his was going to fix that.
It would seem then the ballyhooed process of gathering opinions of manufacturers, professional players, recreational players and others in the industry such as tournament sponsors was not going to change what the USGA had already decided. Included in all the noise was data on ball testing, that older courses were too short, that ball makers wouldn’t mind reinvesting in plants or marketing plus that recreational players would only be marginally affected by a shorter ball.
What is more likely is the USGA finally figured out the PGA Tour would not adopt a rule the shorter ball had to be used and Whan said as much in the news conference announcing the joint statement. The answer therefore was to stop the whole process and like in Washington when they don’t know what to do, send it to committee.
If you want a real shocker, several news sources have reported Tour star Cameron Young has been using a Titleist Pro V1 prototype that would comply with the new shorter ball rules. It has lower spin and lower flight than the current production ball and Young said he can’t tell any difference.
The other part of this that is not yet clear is why the PGA of America, which represents 30,000 club professionals, was not part of the joint statement. They are the ones that run our industry at the day-to-day grassroots level and certainly have a vested interest.
They have made no secret of their position against a ball rollback, being of the opinion it will hurt their customers, you and me, everyday golfers. Plus with the numbers playing our game on a steady upward path it makes no sense to change the rules and potentially slow that growth.
Referring to further restricting ball performance golf instructor Hank Haney said several years ago, “People don’t go to a ball game to watch them hit bunt singles.” His point is fans don’t go to PGA Tour events to marvel at clever chip shots, holed three-footers or perfect 150-yard nine-irons. They go to watch the big guys smash the ball distances we can only dream about.
Otherwise, you might as well go bowling.
So, without making too much of it, the USGA just blinked knowing that if the PGA Tour, PGA of America and others are not in favor they had better not do it.
Perhaps there are institutional memories of the lawsuit over square grooves and the controversies concerning clubhead size, club length and graphite shafts. History tells us back in the early years of the last century the doomsayers all but wrote off golf when the Haskell “rubbery” ball replaced the gutta percha ball. The Haskell was 25 yards longer and was nearly instantaneously adopted by players but wasn’t the end of the world so rest assured golf will somehow muddle through.
