Is The USGA Golf Ball Rollback Worth It?

In case you forgot, the USGAA golf ball roll back is still happening. And I think we need to have a serious conversation as to whether it’s actually worth putting the entire sport through this headache of a change. So, if you’ve been living under a rock, the USGA introduced a new testing standard for golf balls that manufacturers have to meet. And if they fly too far under those new conditions, they won’t be conforming to the game and you can’t use them legally. So, basically, it means that golf ball manufacturers like Titalist or Tailor Made, they have to tweak their balls to make sure that they don’t exceed the new distance threshold. And basically, you’re limiting how far you can actually hit the golf ball. The real long hitters are expected to see a huge drop off about 15 yards, but the average elite male player about 9 to 11 and the average LPGA Tour player between five and seven. So, it’s basically designed to be the higher in swing speed you go, the more drop off you’re going to see. But, if you’re still on the slower end of the bell curve, you’re going to see your golf ball go much shorter. This isn’t happening immediately, thankfully. It’s going to start January 1st, 2028 for professional competition and everybody else on January 1st, 2030. Main reason the USJ has been doing this is because the driving distance on the PGA Tour has basically been increasing linearly for some time now. And a lot of the golf courses that they play have been trying to extend back those tea boxes to make a similar challenge. It’s just not sustainable in the long term. And that’s not to mention the age-old debate as to whether it’s entertaining to watch the best in the world absolutely dominate a course and shoot 30 under or see a real challenge and watch them shoot even par. A lot of golfers are still not on board with the golf ball roll back. They think that golf is already hard enough. So, why are we making it even harder on ourselves? And to an extent, I agree with that. The insane part to me is despite the incredible amount of blowback from the golf community on this change, the governing bodies just continue to double down on this. Basically, every time the USGA, Augusta National PGA is asked about whether they still support this change, they’re saying yes, we do, and stop asking about it. So, it’s happening. We just need to figure out how to deal with it as golfers. Whether you support it or not, you know for a fact it’s going to cause a ton of confusion among the golf community, especially during those transitional period. The big problem will be how to actually indicate whether the golf balls are conforming or not. Cuz there’s going to be a ton of people who are going to roll up to the first te with their golf balls from 2016 and they’re not going to be conforming to the new rules. There’s also going to be a ton of new people that are not into the game as much as you and I who are going to roll up to the first te with these old golf balls and have no idea a golf ball roll back even happened. Either way, it’s going to be a serious uphill battle to get this thing off the ground. But are you interested in a golf ball roll back? Let me know.