R&A, USGA propose roll back of the professional golf ball from 2026

A proposal to limit the distance the golf ball travels will not affect amateur and recreational golfers.

As hinted at yesterday, golf’s governing bodies have proposed an option for professional tournament organizers to mandate players use a golf ball that will limit driving distances.

While the proposed “Model Local Rule” won’t be introduced until 2026, the rule is still very much a proposal. Golf manufacturers and the golf community can provide feedback on the proposal up until August 2023,

It is important to note that the rule will only affect professional golf with amateur and recreational golfers not affected at all.

If you want the TL:DR, here goes…

Currently, golf balls aren’t allowed to travel further than 317 yards for a given set of conditions relating to swing speed, ball spin and launch angle. Under the proposal, this distance won’t change, but the testing conditions for golf balls that could be used in professional golf tournaments will; the swing speed will increase, the spin rate decreases and the launch angle goes from 10 to 11 degrees.

The effect will be that these golf balls won’t go as far. On average the golf ball may travel 10-15 yards less.

The long hitters will still be long hitters, and shorter hitters will still be shorter hitters. But at least now they won’t have to lengthen the golf courses to accommodate the golfers.

That’s it. The numbers are based on the increases in swing speeds and distances over the past few decades.

All the dirty details were put in a notice to golf ball manufacturers from the R&A and USGA.

Considering both the industry feedback and further research by the USGA and The R&A, we have altered our approach, and are now proposing to make available a Model Local Rule (MLR) intended for elite competitions. Specifically, for this proposed MLR, golf balls will be tested for conformance to the Overall Distance Standard (ODS) limit of 317 yards (plus 3 yards tolerance) at Actual Launch Conditions (ALC), namely a club head speed of 127 mph and ALC values of 11 degrees and 37 revolutions per second (2220 rpm).

The reason for all this? A fear that the increase in driving distances is rendering championship golf courses obsolete.

The findings of extensive research by the governing bodies into distance (along with the supporting research and data) were set out within the Distance Insights report into the Implications of Hitting Distance in February 2020 under two key themes: the pressure on courses to continue to lengthen and ensuring that distance did not become predominant in the balance of skills required in golf.

The report also found that the overall trend of golf courses becoming longer has adverse consequences, including by increasing the cost and time to play, limiting the advancement of sustainability efforts and reducing the challenge of courses – in some cases creating a risk of them becoming obsolete.

An often suggested proposal to limit distance would be to reduce the size of the driver volume which is set at 460cc. Interestingly, this was considered by the R&A and USGA but that solution was deemed too complex with 3-woods potentially travelling further than the smaller drivers.

“The best solution is a Model Local Rule around the golf ball,” Slumbers said. “And that would be structured in a way that would be for elite golf, which is far more than just professional golf.”

And if you need even more information, there was a great discussion on the Golf Channel this morning.