Pkc

I’m 46 and I still use a 4 iron and 5 iron.  I recently dropped my 3 iron for a driving iron since I only use it off the tee.  

All lower lofts do, is allow golfers to state I hit a 9 iron instead of a 8 or 7 iron.  Lofts are still lofts whether the club states 7 iron or 9 iron it really shouldn’t matter.  It just fools some people into thinking everyone is hitting their irons further and now no one uses a 3 iron since it would be like hitting a 1 or 2 iron.  And now many golfers have an extra wedge instead.  Stupid marketing trick by club manufacturers. 

My opinion is courses are already at the lengths they are and golf is still interesting.  Not opposed to the USGA trying to freeze today’s distances.  Just think going backwards will not bring them any popularity and right now with new leagues already taking key tour players there’s no need to further alienate younger golfers.  Since let’s face it, newer golfer like my son and his HS golf team friends, look at LIV as the fun, cool tour and the PGA as the stuffy tour with too many rules.  LIV has music playing, pros in shorts and pros interacting with spectators.  PGA has golfer’s roped way back, only signing areas for little kids, no music and constant quiet signs.  The game is different for these younger adults and teens than it was for myself or my father.  And both of us are ok with that.  I  would personally just like to see the USGA and PGA as the important groups they were for upcoming adults of the future.  These kids and young adults worship the distance these pros hit and have no reason to look at the USGA like I do.  And recently I also have less faith in the USGA and their motives, save golf or save personal records?  Certainly not saving historical golf courses since none are 6,000 yards anymore like in 1901.  And if they’re claiming historical is their lifetime and not the USGA’s that’s personal then.  
I would love to see the USGA try to freeze distances to preserve what’s current, since land is now at a premium.  But stepping backwards will create a divide and based on tour surveys and general public the USGA will lose support.  And there’s a new league waiting with open arms and deep pockets. 

Course rating procedures were developed by who again?
Trained raters visit courses and evaluate them using specific guidelines provided by the USGA. Subjectively, it appears the guidelines are based largely on yardage instead of agronomy. They do not take into account todays agronomy, course conditions being what they are now on even the least kept up courses as opposed to general condition of courses back when.
Additionally, pro golfers are not scratch players. Apples and oranges.
The only way this comment works is if the trained raters went back and rated the courses as they played agronomically, not just yardage, in whatever year you want to compare. Have to believe that shot values back when would include fairway cuts and green speeds that would make the courses harder which would negate the distance difference and the strokes number. 
Since this isn't going to happen we are as you say, being subjective. However, logic has to intrude somewhere in this discussion. If you don't think it was difficult to play golf in the 70's or 80's, hitting to shaggy fairways and putting greens at 6-8 on the stimp meter, you aren't going to believe the course rating of today is pretty mystical in comparison. Clearly you won't believe that the runways pros hit into today are responsible for the additional 17 yards to correspond with the additional 300 yards of course length and your 1.3 stroke difference. Again logically, many of us believe the USGA has brought this on themselves by killing golf courses for the US Open to obtain hard and fast playing fields which exacerbates and skews the distance "problem".

All lower lofts do, is allow golfers to state I hit a 9 iron instead of a 8 or 7 iron.  Lofts are still lofts whether the club states 7 iron or 9 iron it really shouldn’t matter.  It just fools some people into thinking everyone is hitting their irons further and now no one uses a 3 iron since it would be like hitting a 1 or 2 iron.  And now many golfers have an extra wedge instead.  Stupid marketing trick by club manufacturers. 

My opinion is courses are already at the lengths they are and golf is still interesting.  Not opposed to the USGA trying to freeze today’s distances.  Just think going backwards will not bring them any popularity and right now with new leagues already taking key tour players there’s no need to further alienate younger golfers.  Since let’s face it, newer golfer like my son and his HS golf team friends, look at LIV as the fun, cool tour and the PGA as the stuffy tour with too many rules.  LIV has music playing, pros in shorts and pros interacting with spectators.  PGA has golfer’s roped way back, only signing areas for little kids, no music and constant quiet signs.  The game is different for these younger adults and teens than it was for myself or my father.  And both of us are ok with that.  I  would personally just like to see the USGA and PGA as the important groups they were for upcoming adults of the future.  These kids and young adults worship the distance these pros hit and have no reason to look at the USGA like I do.  And recently I also have less faith in the USGA and their motives, save golf or save personal records?  Certainly not saving historical golf courses since none are 6,000 yards anymore like in 1901.  And if they’re claiming historical is their lifetime and not the USGA’s that’s personal then.  
I would love to see the USGA try to freeze distances to preserve what’s current, since land is now at a premium.  But stepping backwards will create a divide and based on tour surveys and general public the USGA will lose support.  And there’s a new league waiting with open arms and deep pockets. 

My opinion is courses are already at the lengths they are and golf is still interesting.  Not opposed to the USGA trying to freeze today’s distances.  Just think going backwards will not bring them any popularity and right now with new leagues already taking key tour players there’s no need to further alienate younger golfers.  Since let’s face it, newer golfer like my son and his HS golf team friends, look at LIV as the fun, cool tour and the PGA as the stuffy tour with too many rules.  LIV has music playing, pros in shorts and pros interacting with spectators.  PGA has golfer’s roped way back, only signing areas for little kids, no music and constant quiet signs.  The game is different for these younger adults and teens than it was for myself or my father.  And both of us are ok with that.  I  would personally just like to see the USGA and PGA as the important groups they were for upcoming adults of the future.  These kids and young adults worship the distance these pros hit and have no reason to look at the USGA like I do.  And recently I also have less faith in the USGA and their motives, save golf or save personal records?  Certainly not saving historical golf courses since none are 6,000 yards anymore like in 1901.  And if they’re claiming historical is their lifetime and not the USGA’s that’s personal then.  
I would love to see the USGA try to freeze distances to preserve what’s current, since land is now at a premium.  But stepping backwards will create a divide and based on tour surveys and general public the USGA will lose support.  And there’s a new league waiting with open arms and deep pockets. 

Guess my biggest issue is why now, when Nicolas played everyone complained about how easy it was for them and how far they hit.  But instead of changes rules, the outgoing crowd was interested in seeing where technology takes the game.  The US Open in 1901 at Myopia Hunt Club was barely 6,000 yards, this year it was over 7,400 yards.  Courses didn’t gain 1,400 yards overnight, it slowly happened over decades.  My instructor in high school and college was Lighthouse Harry Cooper, he lived through many eras of golf and I stayed friends with him until he passed away in 2000.  He always joked about how much easier and better equipment was from when he was on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Instead of being upset about it, he loved how it was making golf more accessible and with graphite shafts he was excited to be able to swing a club again.  Thanks to its light weight and not bothering his arthritis or joints as much.  He looked forward to what was next in golf, instead of criticizing that golf courses are a 1,000 yards longer and John Daly now hits 300 yards.  He thought the change is what made golf special, it was a game that evolved with each new generation.  Harry would constantly point out differences in courses he played as a pro and how very different they were in the late 1980’s, 1990’s to when he played them on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Golf hasn’t changed overnight, it’s evolved over lots of decades, the USGA needs to stop pretending golf started when they started playing and that was the only important time in golf.  

Guess my biggest issue is why now, when Nicolas played everyone complained about how easy it was for them and how far they hit.  But instead of changes rules, the outgoing crowd was interested in seeing where technology takes the game.  The US Open in 1901 at Myopia Hunt Club was barely 6,000 yards, this year it was over 7,400 yards.  Courses didn’t gain 1,400 yards overnight, it slowly happened over decades.  My instructor in high school and college was Lighthouse Harry Cooper, he lived through many eras of golf and I stayed friends with him until he passed away in 2000.  He always joked about how much easier and better equipment was from when he was on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Instead of being upset about it, he loved how it was making golf more accessible and with graphite shafts he was excited to be able to swing a club again.  Thanks to its light weight and not bothering his arthritis or joints as much.  He looked forward to what was next in golf, instead of criticizing that golf courses are a 1,000 yards longer and John Daly now hits 300 yards.  He thought the change is what made golf special, it was a game that evolved with each new generation.  Harry would constantly point out differences in courses he played as a pro and how very different they were in the late 1980’s, 1990’s to when he played them on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Golf hasn’t changed overnight, it’s evolved over lots of decades, the USGA needs to stop pretending golf started when they started playing and that was the only important time in golf.  

Great points. Maybe this kind of thing should've been done a long time ago. We would be using less materials, equipment, and labor on golf courses. Costs would be a lot lower. Maybe more people would be golfing. But there's definitely a fun factor in hitting longer. If everybody in the game and standards bodies would have been considering this thoughtfully and continuously throughout the years, everyone would have to figure out where they want the balance. 
Right now people have more concern about sustainability. Water shortages, droughts, restrictions happen a lot more often in western US states than before. People care about land usage more as humanity now uses way more land. The one good thing is that golf courses are "natural-ish" land. And inequality, at least in the US, is a lot higher than it was in the past - and this is where costs factor in. I know your question was probably rhetorical there, but I'm throwing out ideas.
You said courses are 1,000 yards longer. What is that in area? 1,000 yards by say 100 yards = 100,000 square yards = 20.7 acres. That's a lot! Thought experiment - imagine in urban areas, we could have a 20 acre park next to every golf course with the same area. Or a golf course that has a house development around it could have a ton more house lots on the same property, like 40 or something, which would mean serious $$$. Or a country club could potentially have a pool, tennis courts, all kinds of extra stuff in the same area it would with only a golf course at the longer course yardage. New golf courses could fit places that they can't currently. There are lots of ways to think about that. 

Guess my biggest issue is why now, when Nicolas played everyone complained about how easy it was for them and how far they hit.  But instead of changes rules, the outgoing crowd was interested in seeing where technology takes the game.  The US Open in 1901 at Myopia Hunt Club was barely 6,000 yards, this year it was over 7,400 yards.  Courses didn’t gain 1,400 yards overnight, it slowly happened over decades.  My instructor in high school and college was Lighthouse Harry Cooper, he lived through many eras of golf and I stayed friends with him until he passed away in 2000.  He always joked about how much easier and better equipment was from when he was on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Instead of being upset about it, he loved how it was making golf more accessible and with graphite shafts he was excited to be able to swing a club again.  Thanks to its light weight and not bothering his arthritis or joints as much.  He looked forward to what was next in golf, instead of criticizing that golf courses are a 1,000 yards longer and John Daly now hits 300 yards.  He thought the change is what made golf special, it was a game that evolved with each new generation.  Harry would constantly point out differences in courses he played as a pro and how very different they were in the late 1980’s, 1990’s to when he played them on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Golf hasn’t changed overnight, it’s evolved over lots of decades, the USGA needs to stop pretending golf started when they started playing and that was the only important time in golf.  

Guess my biggest issue is why now, when Nicolas played everyone complained about how easy it was for them and how far they hit.  But instead of changes rules, the outgoing crowd was interested in seeing where technology takes the game.  The US Open in 1901 at Myopia Hunt Club was barely 6,000 yards, this year it was over 7,400 yards.  Courses didn’t gain 1,400 yards overnight, it slowly happened over decades.  My instructor in high school and college was Lighthouse Harry Cooper, he lived through many eras of golf and I stayed friends with him until he passed away in 2000.  He always joked about how much easier and better equipment was from when he was on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Instead of being upset about it, he loved how it was making golf more accessible and with graphite shafts he was excited to be able to swing a club again.  Thanks to its light weight and not bothering his arthritis or joints as much.  He looked forward to what was next in golf, instead of criticizing that golf courses are a 1,000 yards longer and John Daly now hits 300 yards.  He thought the change is what made golf special, it was a game that evolved with each new generation.  Harry would constantly point out differences in courses he played as a pro and how very different they were in the late 1980’s, 1990’s to when he played them on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Golf hasn’t changed overnight, it’s evolved over lots of decades, the USGA needs to stop pretending golf started when they started playing and that was the only important time in golf.  

Guess my biggest issue is why now, when Nicolas played everyone complained about how easy it was for them and how far they hit.  But instead of changes rules, the outgoing crowd was interested in seeing where technology takes the game.  The US Open in 1901 at Myopia Hunt Club was barely 6,000 yards, this year it was over 7,400 yards.  Courses didn’t gain 1,400 yards overnight, it slowly happened over decades.  My instructor in high school and college was Lighthouse Harry Cooper, he lived through many eras of golf and I stayed friends with him until he passed away in 2000.  He always joked about how much easier and better equipment was from when he was on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Instead of being upset about it, he loved how it was making golf more accessible and with graphite shafts he was excited to be able to swing a club again.  Thanks to its light weight and not bothering his arthritis or joints as much.  He looked forward to what was next in golf, instead of criticizing that golf courses are a 1,000 yards longer and John Daly now hits 300 yards.  He thought the change is what made golf special, it was a game that evolved with each new generation.  Harry would constantly point out differences in courses he played as a pro and how very different they were in the late 1980’s, 1990’s to when he played them on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Golf hasn’t changed overnight, it’s evolved over lots of decades, the USGA needs to stop pretending golf started when they started playing and that was the only important time in golf.  

Guess my biggest issue is why now, when Nicolas played everyone complained about how easy it was for them and how far they hit.  But instead of changes rules, the outgoing crowd was interested in seeing where technology takes the game.  The US Open in 1901 at Myopia Hunt Club was barely 6,000 yards, this year it was over 7,400 yards.  Courses didn’t gain 1,400 yards overnight, it slowly happened over decades.  My instructor in high school and college was Lighthouse Harry Cooper, he lived through many eras of golf and I stayed friends with him until he passed away in 2000.  He always joked about how much easier and better equipment was from when he was on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Instead of being upset about it, he loved how it was making golf more accessible and with graphite shafts he was excited to be able to swing a club again.  Thanks to its light weight and not bothering his arthritis or joints as much.  He looked forward to what was next in golf, instead of criticizing that golf courses are a 1,000 yards longer and John Daly now hits 300 yards.  He thought the change is what made golf special, it was a game that evolved with each new generation.  Harry would constantly point out differences in courses he played as a pro and how very different they were in the late 1980’s, 1990’s to when he played them on tour in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Golf hasn’t changed overnight, it’s evolved over lots of decades, the USGA needs to stop pretending golf started when they started playing and that was the only important time in golf.  

Where did you find this info?  I played in the late 1990’s into the early 2000’s on the Nike/Buy.com tour.  My driving average at that time was with a Titleist Professional at 291 yards and Tiger at that time was around 301.  Player on tour have become more physically fit, stronger, plus technology with perfect fitting has drastically changed.  Driving distance average on tour at that time from today isn’t drastically different, today it’s 296, then 285.  Players like Bubba and Hank changed the game when larger driver came out around the year 2000 with having 320 yard driving averages.  Over twenty years later and the longest hitter on tour still have a similar driving average.  Drivers have changed, players physically have changed and this has made the difference between the shortest hitter on tour verse the longest grow further apart.  And rolling back the golf ball will not help that.  I think golf has become a more physically fit game today over back in the day when out of shape golfers were able to win.  Golf has become like other sports all about training yourself physically.  I played the tour balata as well as the professional, the tour balata in warm weather would be longer for myself.  The tour balata cover was just too soft for myself with a full wedge or short iron.  Players did not focus on distance until larger driver heads and graphite shafts were put into play.  Otherwise you could have just played a harder covered golf ball, hell precept or Wilson golf balls back then went much further for myself, just preferred the distance consistency of a Titleist at the time.
       Big distance change came from the use of titanium in drivers, larger head, larger sweat spot, you can swing harder, miss a little and still drive further.  And this is what started players training to become stronger since swinging harder no longer had as severe of a penalty.  Golf swings used to be about timing and hitting the sweet spot on a club, now the sweet spot is the size of a softball instead of a golf ball.  Which encouraged players to swing harder, the golf ball didn’t encourage this.

I played on the Nike tour/Buy.com tour back twenty something years ago.  And today as a reinstated amateur who hits the ball less distance than then and has played and watched the sport over the years.  I personally think rolling back the golf ball isn’t the right move.  Yes they can roll back a few yards for the tour pros, they are good enough players where they can adapt to clubs that are an inch longer and still within regulation.  They can train themselves like Bryson did to swing a little harder to make up the difference.  What they can’t do is magically become more accurate while gaining distance.  
        I think golf courses unfortunately need to adjust to today’s stronger faster swinging tour players.  This doesn’t mean adding distance to the courses.  Since they’ve already added some 400-600 yards to courses over the last 30-40 years.  The courses need to give the players more risk at over 300 yards off the tee to level the playing field.  Whether the fairway become extremely narrow with bunkers, waste traps, longer rough, tree placement, bushes, brush, etc, something to make the players play with more strategy over just hitting long.  Until that happens there are too many work around for the golf ball to magically solve the USGA’s perceived issue.  Personally I find the long hitters on tour fascinating and it’s a reason myself and son are willing to watch tour players in person.  Not sure if tour players were forced too far back the game may become too mundane to bother watching in person for younger golfers.  Young golfers all seem obsessed with how far tour players hit the ball. And with up and coming tours like LIV who I doubt will bother enforcing this rule might make historic tours obsolete.  USGA really needs to listen to its audience and youth and not worry about what they personally don’t like seeing because it’s different then what they grew up with.  I understand a bunch of old legends would like to protect their records.  Unfortunately for them now a days younger adults like to be entertained, showmanship over just watching a golfer play well.  It’s very easy to see by who has the biggest crowds following and who has more social media followers.  
      This will affect golf business as well, what if Titleist as they’ve already become vocal about the roll back, decides to pulls their funding from USGA and even the PGA if the PGA decides to accept this rule and gives their funding to LIV?  That’s just one major funding for these groups what if others follow suit?  And I wouldn’t blame Titleist since this will definitely hurt their sales, why buy Titleist over another brand if every ball needs to be essentially the same in the general public’s eyes?  Will this hurt the golf ball industry, yes, whether in sales or whether in additional production costs of a new rolled back golf ball and keeping their old ball.  Will this mean less testing and research to develop better future golf balls?  Will golf ball manufacturers now focus on more accuracy over distance?  Will club manufacturers now focus on gaining distance through shafts since they’re less regulated?  Will they come up with a better driver material to make drives longer while still adhering to cor rules?  
     Unfortunately the USGA can’t stop progress and rolling it back isn’t the answer.  Maybe slowing it down to allow the courses to catch up is but rolling back I think is a bad move.  This leaves too many doors open for change when the PGA tour is already losing great players to LIV and who knows maybe sponsors in the future as well.  
 

Where did you find this info?  I played in the late 1990’s into the early 2000’s on the Nike/Buy.com tour.  My driving average at that time was with a Titleist Professional at 291 yards and Tiger at that time was around 301.  Player on tour have become more physically fit, stronger, plus technology with perfect fitting has drastically changed.  Driving distance average on tour at that time from today isn’t drastically different, today it’s 296, then 285.  Players like Bubba and Hank changed the game when larger driver came out around the year 2000 with having 320 yard driving averages.  Over twenty years later and the longest hitter on tour still have a similar driving average.  Drivers have changed, players physically have changed and this has made the difference between the shortest hitter on tour verse the longest grow further apart.  And rolling back the golf ball will not help that.  I think golf has become a more physically fit game today over back in the day when out of shape golfers were able to win.  Golf has become like other sports all about training yourself physically.  I played the tour balata as well as the professional, the tour balata in warm weather would be longer for myself.  The tour balata cover was just too soft for myself with a full wedge or short iron.  Players did not focus on distance until larger driver heads and graphite shafts were put into play.  Otherwise you could have just played a harder covered golf ball, hell precept or Wilson golf balls back then went much further for myself, just preferred the distance consistency of a Titleist at the time.
       Big distance change came from the use of titanium in drivers, larger head, larger sweat spot, you can swing harder, miss a little and still drive further.  And this is what started players training to become stronger since swinging harder no longer had as severe of a penalty.  Golf swings used to be about timing and hitting the sweet spot on a club, now the sweet spot is the size of a softball instead of a golf ball.  Which encouraged players to swing harder, the golf ball didn’t encourage this.

I played on the Nike tour/Buy.com tour back twenty something years ago.  And today as a reinstated amateur who hits the ball less distance than then and has played and watched the sport over the years.  I personally think rolling back the golf ball isn’t the right move.  Yes they can roll back a few yards for the tour pros, they are good enough players where they can adapt to clubs that are an inch longer and still within regulation.  They can train themselves like Bryson did to swing a little harder to make up the difference.  What they can’t do is magically become more accurate while gaining distance.  
        I think golf courses unfortunately need to adjust to today’s stronger faster swinging tour players.  This doesn’t mean adding distance to the courses.  Since they’ve already added some 400-600 yards to courses over the last 30-40 years.  The courses need to give the players more risk at over 300 yards off the tee to level the playing field.  Whether the fairway become extremely narrow with bunkers, waste traps, longer rough, tree placement, bushes, brush, etc, something to make the players play with more strategy over just hitting long.  Until that happens there are too many work around for the golf ball to magically solve the USGA’s perceived issue.  Personally I find the long hitters on tour fascinating and it’s a reason myself and son are willing to watch tour players in person.  Not sure if tour players were forced too far back the game may become too mundane to bother watching in person for younger golfers.  Young golfers all seem obsessed with how far tour players hit the ball. And with up and coming tours like LIV who I doubt will bother enforcing this rule might make historic tours obsolete.  USGA really needs to listen to its audience and youth and not worry about what they personally don’t like seeing because it’s different then what they grew up with.  I understand a bunch of old legends would like to protect their records.  Unfortunately for them now a days younger adults like to be entertained, showmanship over just watching a golfer play well.  It’s very easy to see by who has the biggest crowds following and who has more social media followers.  
      This will affect golf business as well, what if Titleist as they’ve already become vocal about the roll back, decides to pulls their funding from USGA and even the PGA if the PGA decides to accept this rule and gives their funding to LIV?  That’s just one major funding for these groups what if others follow suit?  And I wouldn’t blame Titleist since this will definitely hurt their sales, why buy Titleist over another brand if every ball needs to be essentially the same in the general public’s eyes?  Will this hurt the golf ball industry, yes, whether in sales or whether in additional production costs of a new rolled back golf ball and keeping their old ball.  Will this mean less testing and research to develop better future golf balls?  Will golf ball manufacturers now focus on more accuracy over distance?  Will club manufacturers now focus on gaining distance through shafts since they’re less regulated?  Will they come up with a better driver material to make drives longer while still adhering to cor rules?  
     Unfortunately the USGA can’t stop progress and rolling it back isn’t the answer.  Maybe slowing it down to allow the courses to catch up is but rolling back I think is a bad move.  This leaves too many doors open for change when the PGA tour is already losing great players to LIV and who knows maybe sponsors in the future as well.  
 

Where did you find this info?  I played in the late 1990’s into the early 2000’s on the Nike/Buy.com tour.  My driving average at that time was with a Titleist Professional at 291 yards and Tiger at that time was around 301.  Player on tour have become more physically fit, stronger, plus technology with perfect fitting has drastically changed.  Driving distance average on tour at that time from today isn’t drastically different, today it’s 296, then 285.  Players like Bubba and Hank changed the game when larger driver came out around the year 2000 with having 320 yard driving averages.  Over twenty years later and the longest hitter on tour still have a similar driving average.  Drivers have changed, players physically have changed and this has made the difference between the shortest hitter on tour verse the longest grow further apart.  And rolling back the golf ball will not help that.  I think golf has become a more physically fit game today over back in the day when out of shape golfers were able to win.  Golf has become like other sports all about training yourself physically.  I played the tour balata as well as the professional, the tour balata in warm weather would be longer for myself.  The tour balata cover was just too soft for myself with a full wedge or short iron.  Players did not focus on distance until larger driver heads and graphite shafts were put into play.  Otherwise you could have just played a harder covered golf ball, hell precept or Wilson golf balls back then went much further for myself, just preferred the distance consistency of a Titleist at the time.
       Big distance change came from the use of titanium in drivers, larger head, larger sweat spot, you can swing harder, miss a little and still drive further.  And this is what started players training to become stronger since swinging harder no longer had as severe of a penalty.  Golf swings used to be about timing and hitting the sweet spot on a club, now the sweet spot is the size of a softball instead of a golf ball.  Which encouraged players to swing harder, the golf ball didn’t encourage this.

I played on the Nike tour/Buy.com tour back twenty something years ago.  And today as a reinstated amateur who hits the ball less distance than then and has played and watched the sport over the years.  I personally think rolling back the golf ball isn’t the right move.  Yes they can roll back a few yards for the tour pros, they are good enough players where they can adapt to clubs that are an inch longer and still within regulation.  They can train themselves like Bryson did to swing a little harder to make up the difference.  What they can’t do is magically become more accurate while gaining distance.  
        I think golf courses unfortunately need to adjust to today’s stronger faster swinging tour players.  This doesn’t mean adding distance to the courses.  Since they’ve already added some 400-600 yards to courses over the last 30-40 years.  The courses need to give the players more risk at over 300 yards off the tee to level the playing field.  Whether the fairway become extremely narrow with bunkers, waste traps, longer rough, tree placement, bushes, brush, etc, something to make the players play with more strategy over just hitting long.  Until that happens there are too many work around for the golf ball to magically solve the USGA’s perceived issue.  Personally I find the long hitters on tour fascinating and it’s a reason myself and son are willing to watch tour players in person.  Not sure if tour players were forced too far back the game may become too mundane to bother watching in person for younger golfers.  Young golfers all seem obsessed with how far tour players hit the ball. And with up and coming tours like LIV who I doubt will bother enforcing this rule might make historic tours obsolete.  USGA really needs to listen to its audience and youth and not worry about what they personally don’t like seeing because it’s different then what they grew up with.  I understand a bunch of old legends would like to protect their records.  Unfortunately for them now a days younger adults like to be entertained, showmanship over just watching a golfer play well.  It’s very easy to see by who has the biggest crowds following and who has more social media followers.  
      This will affect golf business as well, what if Titleist as they’ve already become vocal about the roll back, decides to pulls their funding from USGA and even the PGA if the PGA decides to accept this rule and gives their funding to LIV?  That’s just one major funding for these groups what if others follow suit?  And I wouldn’t blame Titleist since this will definitely hurt their sales, why buy Titleist over another brand if every ball needs to be essentially the same in the general public’s eyes?  Will this hurt the golf ball industry, yes, whether in sales or whether in additional production costs of a new rolled back golf ball and keeping their old ball.  Will this mean less testing and research to develop better future golf balls?  Will golf ball manufacturers now focus on more accuracy over distance?  Will club manufacturers now focus on gaining distance through shafts since they’re less regulated?  Will they come up with a better driver material to make drives longer while still adhering to cor rules?  
     Unfortunately the USGA can’t stop progress and rolling it back isn’t the answer.  Maybe slowing it down to allow the courses to catch up is but rolling back I think is a bad move.  This leaves too many doors open for change when the PGA tour is already losing great players to LIV and who knows maybe sponsors in the future as well.  
 

Where did you find this info?  I played in the late 1990’s into the early 2000’s on the Nike/Buy.com tour.  My driving average at that time was with a Titleist Professional at 291 yards and Tiger at that time was around 301.  Player on tour have become more physically fit, stronger, plus technology with perfect fitting has drastically changed.  Driving distance average on tour at that time from today isn’t drastically different, today it’s 296, then 285.  Players like Bubba and Hank changed the game when larger driver came out around the year 2000 with having 320 yard driving averages.  Over twenty years later and the longest hitter on tour still have a similar driving average.  Drivers have changed, players physically have changed and this has made the difference between the shortest hitter on tour verse the longest grow further apart.  And rolling back the golf ball will not help that.  I think golf has become a more physically fit game today over back in the day when out of shape golfers were able to win.  Golf has become like other sports all about training yourself physically.  I played the tour balata as well as the professional, the tour balata in warm weather would be longer for myself.  The tour balata cover was just too soft for myself with a full wedge or short iron.  Players did not focus on distance until larger driver heads and graphite shafts were put into play.  Otherwise you could have just played a harder covered golf ball, hell precept or Wilson golf balls back then went much further for myself, just preferred the distance consistency of a Titleist at the time.
       Big distance change came from the use of titanium in drivers, larger head, larger sweat spot, you can swing harder, miss a little and still drive further.  And this is what started players training to become stronger since swinging harder no longer had as severe of a penalty.  Golf swings used to be about timing and hitting the sweet spot on a club, now the sweet spot is the size of a softball instead of a golf ball.  Which encouraged players to swing harder, the golf ball didn’t encourage this.

For pros: narrow and stop rolling/double cutting fairways. Grow rough thicker. Make accuracy a premium. As a single digit hdcp 51 y/o  playing the proper tees and still averaging  260 driving  thru gym work & speed training losing 10 yds sucks. Bad job USGA/R&A.
Been playing for 40 years so too hooked to quit the game but for newer players, especially if changes are coming to drivers as well (less hot face, smaller head size) the powers that be may severely damage efforts to grow the game.

I would prefer a freeze to the current standard. Much of the difference now, especially at the "tour ball" level is spin rate. Everyone is talking PGA, but this is a USGA rule that affects the amateur. Also, what if LIV doesn't conform? Will there be two sets of pro equipment? Another option on the tour is to reduce the par on certain courses from 72 to 70 making par 5s into long 4s; make fairways tighter, grow rough higher for tournaments. 

Where did you find this info?  I played in the late 1990’s into the early 2000’s on the Nike/Buy.com tour.  My driving average at that time was with a Titleist Professional at 291 yards and Tiger at that time was around 301.  Player on tour have become more physically fit, stronger, plus technology with perfect fitting has drastically changed.  Driving distance average on tour at that time from today isn’t drastically different, today it’s 296, then 285.  Players like Bubba and Hank changed the game when larger driver came out around the year 2000 with having 320 yard driving averages.  Over twenty years later and the longest hitter on tour still have a similar driving average.  Drivers have changed, players physically have changed and this has made the difference between the shortest hitter on tour verse the longest grow further apart.  And rolling back the golf ball will not help that.  I think golf has become a more physically fit game today over back in the day when out of shape golfers were able to win.  Golf has become like other sports all about training yourself physically.  I played the tour balata as well as the professional, the tour balata in warm weather would be longer for myself.  The tour balata cover was just too soft for myself with a full wedge or short iron.  Players did not focus on distance until larger driver heads and graphite shafts were put into play.  Otherwise you could have just played a harder covered golf ball, hell precept or Wilson golf balls back then went much further for myself, just preferred the distance consistency of a Titleist at the time.
       Big distance change came from the use of titanium in drivers, larger head, larger sweat spot, you can swing harder, miss a little and still drive further.  And this is what started players training to become stronger since swinging harder no longer had as severe of a penalty.  Golf swings used to be about timing and hitting the sweet spot on a club, now the sweet spot is the size of a softball instead of a golf ball.  Which encouraged players to swing harder, the golf ball didn’t encourage this.

This is a bunch of B.S.!  They are not taking a big enough change to make the old master courses, pro viable again.   They could freeze the ball distance like they did with driver C.O.R..  Ball companies would shift to making balls softer to be straighter off the tee, longer with irons and give better feel.  They could limit compression i.e. softer is shorter.  The last few years the U.S.G.A. and R&A have lost track of who they serve.  They are not the professional golf association they need to let the tours control their events and let the rest of us enjoy our fun.  The new rules to speed up golf were great and should have gone further.  Most golfers play divots as g.u.r. and play o.b. and all hazards as a lateral hazard & cart path only days are lift clean and replace.  Give us back our square grooves and let us anchor our putters if we want to.  Golf is meant to be fun for everyone.   We don't expect to become pros we just want to have fun.  They could make the pros play smaller drivers 425c.c. should take the 5% off and leave us alone.