One of many greatest modifications in golf got here earlier this week, when the USGA and R&A determined to implement a golf ball rollback, altering the best way the golf ball travels in any respect ranges of the game.
The rollback, to place it merely, goes to have an effect on how far the golf ball travels off the tee. As gamers are getting higher at hitting it additional on account of bodily energy and the development of expertise within the drivers and different golf equipment, the ball is touring tens of toes extra after they’re hit. Extending programs is expensive and will take a very long time to renovate, so the best and most cost-effective resolution is to vary the golf ball.
Nonetheless, one of many main draw-ins to the sport of golf is that just about every little thing is similar throughout the board. It might be your first day ever on a course, your twentieth yr enjoying golf along with your buddies, or on the PGA tour and all have the identical golf equipment or golf balls obtainable to make use of and may even play on the identical programs. A double-edged sword in some methods, as the professionals will use balls that can cease the golf ball 13-15 shorter, and 3-5 yards for the leisure participant to maintain that customary of equality. Golf will now, in idea, be tougher for folks new to the game, and alter the best way current folks play.
“Ball rollback just doesn’t make sense to me,” stated Canadian skilled golfer Mackenzie Hughes on X. “Golf is about the masses, not the 0.1% of golfers that can hit the ball far. We want to make it easier and more fun for amateurs, not the other way around. Hopefully this decision is not the final say on this.”
There are opposing views, like Rory McIlroy saying there already are variations in gear from professionals to the leisure participant.
41.1 million folks play golf in the US, up 32 million from 2016, which roughly interprets to 1 in seven folks. In keeping with R&A’s head Martin Slumbers, “There are only three options: We can bifurcate; you change the whole game; or you do nothing. And doing nothing is not an option,” he stated to The Athletic.
