In a Tuesday announcement regarding potential equipment changes under consideration, the USGA and the R&A have taken another step in the ongoing discussion/battle regarding the impact of increased distance on the game.
Whether the proposals put forward for discussion – one regarding the length of drivers, one focused on golf balls and another revising testing for clubs with 35 degrees of loft or less – will lead to monumental or minimal change remains to be seen.
But it’s apparent that definitive action to limit distance is on the horizon.
To be clear, the proposals are just that – ideas that could address the issue that has divided the game as driving distances, in particular, have continued to increase in recent years. It is another step in a process established by the game’s ruling bodies in conjunction with the golf industry as part of the 2020 Distance Insights project.
The organizations put forth three potential changes to equipment rules while also introducing Areas of Interest, inviting discussion from stakeholders regarding a potential local rule specifying the use of clubs designed to produce shorter hitting distances and reviewing the overall conformance specifications for clubs and balls as they impact directly and indirectly hitting distances.
This step in the process had been scheduled for last March until the pandemic intervened.
In making the announcement, the USGA and R&A said, “The topics are purely areas for research. No solutions or decisions are being proposed at this stage.”
“We wouldn’t choose the term rollback. This is about trying to fit the game of golf on golf courses instead of golf courses having to continually change to fit the game of golf.” – Mike Davis
The so-called areas of interest have been passed along to equipment companies for their perspective.
But it appears change is coming.
“We wouldn’t choose the term rollback,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said Tuesday. “This is about trying to fit the game of golf on golf courses instead of golf courses having to continually change to fit the game of golf.”
But the bottom line remains – an effort is underway to harness the continuing increases in distance, especially at the elite level.
This springs from ongoing studies of driving distance in various areas of the game. According to the latest USGA/R&A report, the average driving distance on the primary men’s and women’s tours around the world has increased 3.2 percent since 2003. On the Korn Ferry Tour, the average driving distance has increased 10.3 yards in the same time period.
The average driving distance on the major men’s tours and the Ladies European Tour were up in 2020. The LPGA, by contrast, saw a 5.5 percent decline in distance in the pandemic-interrupted 2020 season.
Regarding drivers, consideration is being given to the creation of a local rule that would specify the use of clubs and/or balls intended to create reduced hitting distances. Tournament committees would be given the latitude to legislate what equipment could or could not be used while allowing golfers outside the competition to play the equipment of their choosing.
The proposal would limit the length of a driver shaft to 46 inches. Bryson DeChambeau has experimented with a 48-inch shaft and other top players have expressed a similar interest to increase their driving distance.
Is that a form of bifurcation?
It sure sounds like it.
“As we look at shaft length in this proposal, really, it’s just another option, some flexibility for a committee. It’s not uncommon to have it within the equipment space,” said Thomas Pagel, senior managing director for governance at the USGA.
“Your list of conforming driver heads, list of conforming golf balls, grooves … all of those are currently handled by a local-rule model. This would be within that.
“We consider it all a single set of rules, it’s just flexibility and options for committees within those rules.”
As for the B-word?
“We already bifurcate the game right now,” Davis said. “What tees are you going to play from? Five thousand yards or 7,000 yards?”
As for golf balls, the proposal centers on new testing protocols.
There is also a proposal to revise testing as it relates to the coefficient of restitution – or the supposed spring-like effect – on clubs with 35 degrees of loft or less.
The releases address “areas of interest” including:
“A review of the overall conformance specifications for both clubs and balls, including specifications that both directly and indirectly affect hitting distances. This review would consider whether any existing specifications should be adjusted or any new specifications created to help mitigate continuing distance increases. It would not consider revising the overall specifications to produce substantial reductions in hitting distances at all levels of the game.”
Equipment companies have 30 days to respond to the driver-length proposal and six months to respond to the other proposals. There are sure to be challenges.
“I would certainly not expect all of them to be behind us because we’ve never experienced that in my 23 years with USGA and equipment standards,” said John Spitzer, the USGA’s managing director for equipment standards.
“I think you’re going to find there is going to be some general support in many of these areas. Some will have specific concerns but in general there is a feeling, even among manufacturers, that distance has grown significantly and it’s becoming a problem. I would not expect giant pushback like you’ve seen in some of our earlier proposals, years and years ago for instance with the spring-like effect.”
Part of the challenge facing the USGA and R&A in promoting change is battling the perception that the vast majority of golfers will be impacted because of how far some elite-level players can hit the ball.
Why should the average golfer be forced to give up yardage because of what the best players in the world are doing?
“The average golfer probably sits and says, ‘Do I want to hit the ball shorter?’ The average golfer is saying, ‘No, I don’t want to hit it shorter.’ I personally don’t want to hit it shorter myself,” Davis said.
“When you realize distance is relative and what we’ve said since last year is what we see ourselves doing for the game as a whole is nothing significant. But we do think something should happen. We’re just now at the very beginning stage where we’re looking at various areas that could impact distance.”
“… I think Tiger said it a while ago that they missed that opportunity probably 20 or so years ago.” – Justin Thomas
Justin Thomas weighed in on Tuesday, saying, “If you give us different stuff we’re still going to try to find a way to hit it as far as we possibly can. I don’t think there’s any reason or it’s not necessary at all to change the golf ball. I am fine with them maybe not going any farther with it, but I think Tiger said it a while ago that they missed that opportunity probably 20 or so years ago.
“Companies have put millions of dollars into the construction of golf balls and equipment, and to be perfectly honest, I think it would be extremely selfish of the USGA and the R&A to do that because of all the hard work that they’ve put in to make their equipment and golf balls as great as they possibly can and maybe just take a step back and realize that we’re doing some pretty awesome things with the golf ball and the golf clubs. Also, look at your everyday golfer and go up to him and tell him that you want him to hit it shorter because just the top .001 percent of all golfers are hitting it too far, if you will.”
The reality is whatever changes may be made won’t be the end.
“The problem didn’t happen overnight, we’re not going to solve it overnight,” Davis said.
“But if we do it in a way that can work for everybody then all of a sudden, years from now, when this needs to be done again – and trust me, it’s going to need to be done again, I don’t know when but it’s going to happen – this is going to be something where we almost prove to the world that the sky didn’t fall here.”