Golf Weighs Big Shift to Reduced-Distance Golf Balls

USGA cites the distance boom and its ‘horrible’ impact on the sport

Dustin Johnson is one of the PGA Tour’s longest drivers, averaging 315 yards last season.

Dustin Johnson is one of the PGA Tour’s longest drivers, averaging 315 yards last season. PHOTO: JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES

By Brian Costa

Nov. 19, 2017 10:57 a.m. ET

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The governing bodies of golf are exploring a change that could have a dramatic effect on the future of the sport: different balls for different levels of the game.

The change would address the distance boom at the highest levels of the game, which is rendering many classic courses obsolete. One solution is developing so-called “reduced-distance” balls, with different specifications than the high-performing balls in use today. Offering them as an option for some tournaments and courses would address the distance problem without mandating a sport-wide rollback of the regular golf ball.

Mike Davis, executive director of the U.S. Golf Association, briefly floated the idea at a symposium in March. Now, his group, in tandem with the Britain-based R&A, is undertaking a major research effort on how reduced-distance balls would impact the sport.

Though players vary widely in how far they can hit them, balls have long been held to a universal set of specifications in order gain USGA approval. That could change in the years ahead, as the industry grapples with the ripple effects of advances in equipment technology and physical fitness.

“I don’t care how far Tiger Woods hits it,” Davis said. “The reality is this is affecting all golfers and affecting them in a bad way. All it’s doing is increasing the cost of the game.”

Proponents of tighter ball restrictions argue that longer distances have prompted many courses to expand their land footprint—or risk being viewed as ill-suited to challenge the modern player. That has increased construction and renovation costs, slowed the pace of play and hampered efforts to reduce water usage. Those costs trickle down to average golfers.

One of those proponents is Woods. When he debuted in 1996, not a single PGA Tour player drove the ball 300 or more yards on average. Last season, there were 43 such players. “We need to do something about the golf ball,” he said on a podcast earlier this month.

Regulating the ball has been strictly the responsibility of the governing bodies. The USGA tests each brand and model using a ball-hitting robot and a ball-tracking radar, among other tools.

The concept Davis is floating would leave it to other groups, from the PGA Tour all the way down to private clubs, to decide which category of balls is permitted on any given course. It could also create new options on the lower end of the sport.

“What if we said to get more little kids into the game, we’re going to come up with a conforming golf ball that’s the size of a tennis ball, to help them hit it up in the air?” Davis said. “We are really trying to think outside the box.”

Tiger Woods recently suggested doing ‘something about the golf ball.’

Tiger Woods recently suggested doing ‘something about the golf ball.’ PHOTO: CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES

One question to be answered is which groups would mandate the use of reduced-distance balls. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan declined to comment. Until someone requires golfers to use something other than the best-performing balls they can find, manufacturers will have little reason to bring reduced-distance balls to market.

America’s 24 million golfers are not clamoring to hit the ball a shorter distance. Angel Ilagan, chief executive of Bridgestone Golf, the ball-maker endorsed by Woods, said having categories of shorter-flying balls would be irrelevant to all but a tiny percentage of golfers.

“The question really comes down to, who should we be fulfilling the most?” Ilagan said. “Should we be leveling the playing field for competitive golfers? Or should we focus on being more inclusive and allowing as many people to enjoy the game as possible?”

What complicates that question is the impact that the top few percentiles of golfers have on the rest.

Tom Doak, a leading U.S. course architect, said most amateur golfers do not hit the ball so far that it would require any rethinking of a course’s design. But the very best golfers, who may feel insufficiently challenged on some courses, have pushed many private courses to expand.

“The people who have the loudest voices at a lot of clubs are the 2% of better players,” Doak said. “They’re the ones that serve on the greens committees and make these kinds of choices.”

The sight of tour pros hitting 300-yard and even 400-yard drives shouldn’t necessarily impact the thinking of courses with no aspirations to host professional events. But it has.

“Everyone in the golf business watches the PGA Tour every week and thinks, ‘Oh, the onslaught is coming, we have to keep up with it,’” Doak said.

The effect has been most noticeable at courses that host major championships, where the longest holes in recent years have approached 700 yards. When Shinnecock Hills hosted the second U.S. Open in 1896, it played at 4,423 yards. Next year, when it hosts the U.S. Open for the fifth time, it will play at 7,439 yards. The more land it takes to challenge the world’s best players, the harder it becomes to find suitable venues.

The courses held up as a model for the rest of the sport continue to stretch themselves. The average length of courses on Golf Digest’s biennial Top 100 list this year was 7,151 yards, a jump of more than 200 yards since 1997. With water costs projected to rise sharply in the years ahead, the shift threatens the long-term sustainability of the sport.

The balls of Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm of Spain sit touching in a bunker on the 18th hole during the second round of the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai.

The balls of Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm of Spain sit touching in a bunker on the 18th hole during the second round of the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai. PHOTO: ROSS KINNAIRD/GETTY IMAGES

“You can’t say you don’t care about distance, because guess what? These courses are expanding and are predicted to continue to expand,” Davis said. “The impact it has had has been horrible.”

Every party involved has some incentive not to force the issue. If the governing bodies tried to mandate a more restrictive ball for all golfers, they would face a massive fight from equipment companies. Those companies thrive by making a hard game easier, not harder. The PGA Tour relies on eye-popping distance numbers to highlight the skill and athleticism of its stars, which isn’t always apparent to the naked eye.

Brian Mahoney, head of the New York-based Metropolitan Golf Association, said elite amateur events like the ones his group organizes would be receptive to a reduced-distance ball. But for the idea to be more than an option presented by the governing bodies, some influential club would need to be the first to adopt it.

Mahoney could think of one. It hosts the Masters in April.

“It would take a group like Augusta National to have the vision to try this,” he said.

When asked at an amateur event last month if the club would consider rolling back the ball for the Masters, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said, “It’s not something we would want to do.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3803479&forum_id=2#34730446)

and no the club head size isnt the biggest issue. ball and hot faces on woods are. doods were reaching 650 yard par 5s with 3 woods off tee at US open this year

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3803479&forum_id=2#34730480)