Planned 2030 Golf Ball Rollback

[FrogginBullfish]

3 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

The number of people in the industry and on tour that support are a very few minority.

Callaway is one of not the only oem that supported bifurcation which makes no sense and just another reason outside of their equipment not being a good fit for me and a terrible interaction and nothing but lies from Sean Toulon, that  I will give no money to calllaway or any of their other entities.

the players in support happen to be the longer hitters on tour such as Rory who stayed in his own words he wants the rollback because it gives the longer hitters and advantage. He wants to maintain his advantage while at the same time putting his competitors at a bigger disadvantage c life selfishness for wanting the rollback.

then the courses that want it and are pressuring the ruling bodies represent less than 1% of all courses and are also exclusive clubs that can afford the choice to expand if that’s their desire.

please don’t make it seem like there’s an even split. It’s a big gap between those who want things left alone and those who want a rollback. Which again to date nobody has been able to state what problem is caused by more pros hitting be ball 300 yards in 5,10,15,20 years or what problem is caused by it today. Everything presented as the problem has studies showing the opposite such as courses aren’t getting longer so there’s no sustainability issue that gets tossed around.  It’s about not liking low scores by the best in the world, it’s those who are into course design that want course features preserved which most fans don’t care about. It’s wanting courses that used to be on tour in ten 80s and before to come back. Thats not going to happen because there’s no room for hospitality tents, parking, accommodations for the pros, the areas can’t handle the additional traffic. 

I'm not personally in favour of the rollback. I know the arguments for and against. I've seen the data. I've seen you spout it about 100 times in this thread already as well. I don't need to be convinced on this topic.

I am merely pointing out that saying "this person and this company don't support this" cuts both ways for people on this topic, because the people on the other side have people and companies they can point to as well. Appealing to experts isn't going to change anyone's mind.

Nor is the data at this stage either, because it depends on a number of factors for people. Some people are looking at more recent timeframes and some are looking at broader more historical timeframes. There are stats that can support both. Context is important when it comes to statistics.

This topic was exhausting a year ago. And somehow it's even more exhausting now. You are welcome to loathe whoever you wish in the industry for supporting/enforcing this rollback. I just happen to care a lot less. I don't support it but I'm not going to protest it. At the end of the day I just like golf. It'll suck to lose some yards but I'm still going to play nonetheless. If you want to do something about it, maybe voice your opinion towards the usga and the r&a instead of repeating the same lines over and over and over and over again on a forum(s). Maybe you can precipitate some actual change that way.

[DaveP043]

18 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

We definitely disagree on this one. 

Yeah, and I'm OK with that.  In truth, I've been expecting some kind of roll-back for so long that I'm not sure what my initial reaction was.  I believe that I thought freezing distance at about where we are now would be a good outcome.  If the roll-back works as suggested, the distance lost 4 years from now may take the top-level players back to where they were 3 or 4 years back, when the first Distance Insights Report was issued.  Maybe it will be a few yards short of that, we'll find out.  I guess in the long run I may have got what I thought would be appropriate.

Beyond that, all arguments about this being wrong are kind of a waste of effort.  This isn't a proposal for comment, this is a definitive plan.  Its much more interesting, to me at least, to speculate on what effect this will actually have, and on how people will react when it avctually goes into effect.

Edited January 18 by DaveP043

[pbclub]

20 hours ago, d.lama said:

Don't tempt me with easier to get tee-times.

Haha an angle I did not think of!!!!

[pbclub]

 

It will be interesting to watch the reaction of golf punching itself in the nuts. 

[Beakbryce]

This golf digest article is a hoot. Another way to use numbers.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/shocking-new-data-average-driving-distance-tee-boxes-pga-tour?utm_medium=email&utm_source=011824&utm_campaign=gdplus&utm_content=DM48449&uuid=c0134a3c-d4c8-4b40-8a0b-67b5b9b22151

For most of the yardages defined for each driving distance, my course doesn't even have tees that short. Fun Times!

[RickyBobby_PR]

16 hours ago, pbclubdude said:

 

It will be interesting to watch the reaction of golf punching itself in the nuts. 

Or when the rest come onboard to pushback because the ruling bodies keep taking more distance.

[Vertical]

Bad idea to make the game shorter and take the fun out of hitting the occasional 300+ yard drive when you really nut it. It appears that the vast majority of golfers are against it. Who’s for it and what’s their rationale?

[d.lama]

18 hours ago, Vertical said:

Bad idea to make the game shorter and take the fun out of hitting the occasional 300+ yard drive when you really nut it. It appears that the vast majority of golfers are against it. Who’s for it and what’s their rationale?

It was shorter before the advent of 460cc titanium and graphite heads and solid core ProV1 era balls, and golf was fine. 

What has happened is that golf (all sports really) is supposed to be weighted towards skill being the determining factor not technology, with the modern equipment less skill is needed for a better result. The ball change is one thing that is being done to slow the game down a bit.  

[Beakbryce]

On 2/7/2024 at 5:25 PM, d.lama said:

What has happened is that golf (all sports really) is supposed to be weighted towards skill being the determining factor not technology, with the modern equipment less skill is needed for a better result. The ball change is one thing that is being done to slow the game down a bit.  

Depends on if you look at it as a sport, or if you look at it as a game. Sport should be hard. The PGA Tour players consider it a sport and it should be hard for them.

A game, played for fun, should only be as hard as one wants to make it. Otherwise we would go back to featheries and hickory shafts. Most "sports" don't really have a massive ability to be affected by technology. Hard to change a soccer ball significantly. In baseball, limited change for the ball and bats. Cricket, football, track and field, even biking, etc, aren't significantly affected by technology. The human element, training and skill, largely determine the winner. Sometimes luck.

Unless it's NFL football when the referees determine the winner.

But in golf, changes to the ball, woods, irons, hybrids, wedges, putters, all affect how one plays the game. There isn't any other sport or game that allows 14 implements and a different ball depending on preference. There are thousands of permutations to fill out ones bag. You don't usually currently see thirty handicappers playing mid sized drivers, blades, 1-PW irons, one wedge, and a bullseye putter. You can, but why would you?

If the Tour and the ruling bodies really want change, they would have one ball, one set of standard clubs, and everybody would play with the same equipment. All players would mold their game through their own athleticism and it would truly be a sport.

The players and the golf industry as a whole aren't interested in that solution.

The road for golf as a game and an industry has been one of innovation so we all can enjoy it. Taking 4 yards off a drive is somewhat insignificant, if that ends up being the actual cost of this rule for average golfers. We won't know for some time the reality of this change.

My guess is golf as a sport will lose players over the next 6 years anyway. The Covid bloom will die out as many of the folks who converted to golf will, over the next 6 years, even with technology, realize it is too hard, too expensive, and takes too much time. They will also realize that the "ruling bodies" don't have their best interests at heart because they want to keep golf a "sport" when it reality for a lot of us it is a game.

We have to continually keep in mind the original rules for golf were only created because money was involved. Prior to that, it was just a fun way to while away time. Some or maybe many of us want to go back to that.

Or as the King would say, I want all you loafing golfers to take up archery.

[RickyBobby_PR]

On 2/7/2024 at 7:25 PM, d.lama said:

It was shorter before the advent of 460cc titanium and graphite heads and solid core ProV1 era balls, and golf was fine. 

What has happened is that golf (all sports really) is supposed to be weighted towards skill being the determining factor not technology, with the modern equipment less skill is needed for a better result. The ball change is one thing that is being done to slow the game down a bit.  

Less skill isn’t needed. If that was the case the fastest swing speed golfers on tour would be winning more. But when you look at the top 25 most haven’t won or have rarely won. Its guys like Scheffler, Mcilroy, hovland and those who are near the top in other strokes gained categories are winning.

And if you pay attention to golf on tv even with the technology in drivers the pros including the top ranked ones hit bad shots all the time and some so bad they end up deep in the woods or on another fairway.

there is still plenty of skill needed in the game and distance is one of them. If it was just technology then everyone would be hitting it 320. 

[pbclub]

On 2/7/2024 at 6:25 PM, d.lama said:

It was shorter before the advent of 460cc titanium and graphite heads and solid core ProV1 era balls, and golf was fine. 

That was then this is now. This is regressive. It is stopping innovation. Golf may have been fine then, but now is a whole different ball game. 

 

 

Edited February 9 by pbclub

[HikingMike]

On 2/7/2024 at 12:17 AM, Vertical said:

Bad idea to make the game shorter and take the fun out of hitting the occasional 300+ yard drive when you really nut it. 

300 yards is just a number, and basically arbitrary. It is a nice round number. But we could be using meters, and then what?  We could make up a new unit of length and hit it 1,000! Is that better? That's just to say that there is no reason it should be a certain number. Back 25+ years ago people still hit long drives. And they were still far enough it was hard to see where the ball stopped rolling from the tee. It wasn't less fun. 

[pbclub]

4 hours ago, HikingMike said:

300 yards is just a number, and basically arbitrary. It is a nice round number. But we could be using meters, and then what?  We could make up a new unit of length and hit it 1,000! Is that better? That's just to say that there is no reason it should be a certain number. Back 25+ years ago people still hit long drives. And they were still far enough it was hard to see where the ball stopped rolling from the tee. It wasn't less fun. 

Ok so are you playing the shorter ball now? If not why? It will not be less fun right? 

[d.lama]

On 2/9/2024 at 2:29 PM, pbclub said:

That was then this is now. This is regressive. It is stopping innovation. Golf may have been fine then, but now is a whole different ball game. 

And 2028 will be then and this is now, so what is the crux of the "that was the this is now" statement? How is it regressive; sports have rules and rules change all the time. It also seems like the same ball game to me, it's still called golf. Equipment is allowing faster swings and bigger mishits for better results, the ruling bodies are working to change that. 

1 hour ago, pbclub said:

Ok so are you playing the shorter ball now? If not why? It will not be less fun right? 

Rules have not changed yet, and when they do I'll play the ball that the rules tell me to. 

[d.lama]

On 2/9/2024 at 8:35 AM, RickyBobby_PR said:

Less skill isn’t needed. If that was the case the fastest swing speed golfers on tour would be winning more. But when you look at the top 25 most haven’t won or have rarely won. Its guys like Scheffler, Mcilroy, hovland and those who are near the top in other strokes gained categories are winning.

And if you pay attention to golf on tv even with the technology in drivers the pros including the top ranked ones hit bad shots all the time and some so bad they end up deep in the woods or on another fairway.

Less skill is needed - hit an old steel shafted persimmon head low on the toe or heel, then hit the exact same spot on the face with a driver from 2023. I'll tell you without any reservation that the modern driver will smash its mishit ball longer and straighter than the old club.

Hitting bad shots happens, however with the older drivers and balls they'd be much shorter and may be further into the weeds than they are with modern drivers. That's why they all swing out of their shoes right now, get the ball down range as far as possible and the driver and ball tech are allowing that mentality - better to be 280 off the tee in the weeds from a modern driver and ball mishit than 220 off the tee and in the weeds off an persimon driver and balata ball mishit. 

On 2/9/2024 at 8:35 AM, RickyBobby_PR said:

there is still plenty of skill needed in the game and distance is one of them. If it was just technology then everyone would be hitting it 320. 

Cool, see if you can get top pro who smashes the ball down the fairway in 2024 to play 1980 spec equipment for a major tournament against the other guys playing their modern equipment. Hint - they wont, because the modern equipment is the determining factor in the current distances and forgiveness. They would know that the instant they played old equipment they might as well not have played the tournament at all. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, d.lama said:

Less skill is needed - hit an old steel shafted persimmon head low on the toe or heel, then hit the exact same spot on the face with a driver from 2023. I'll tell you without any reservation that the modern driver will smash its mishit ball longer and straighter than the old club.

Hitting bad shots happens, however with the older drivers and balls they'd be much shorter and may be further into the weeds than they are with modern drivers. That's why they all swing out of their shoes right now, get the ball down range as far as possible and the driver and ball tech are allowing that mentality - better to be 280 off the tee in the weeds from a modern driver and ball mishit than 220 off the tee and in the weeds off an persimon driver and balata ball mishit. 

Distance is a skill. That’s why some are longer than others and those who don’t have have it work to get it like Matthew Fitzpatrick.

There is still a skill needs to hit all the clubs in the bag, it’s why Scottie scheffler and others in the top of the various strokes gained categories are the ones winning and not the guys leading in ball speed and swing speed.

The guys like Jack didn’t hold back. The equipment manufacturing process for wood clubs wasn’t great and consistent. The manufacturing process today is far superior and less variation between clubs, the access to the better made clubs wasn’t the same as it is today. The 150th guy on tour has the same access to equipment ast the top guy. Back in the day the tops guys would get 12 drives and wild keep best one or two. The guys further down the ranking didn’t have that access.

1 hour ago, d.lama said:

Cool, see if you can get top pro who smashes the ball down the fairway in 2024 to play 1980 spec equipment for a major tournament against the other guys playing their modern equipment. Hint - they wont, because the modern equipment is the determining factor in the current distances and forgiveness. They would know that the instant they played old equipment they might as well not have played the tournament at all. 

The modern equipment has been in use for 2 decades. The distance increase jumped up in 2002-2003 and then has remained stagnant. The distance increase that has happened between 2003 and today as noted by the USGA equipment guy is due to the golfer, not the equipment.

 

[d.lama]

3 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Distance is a skill. That’s why some are longer than others and those who don’t have have it work to get it like Matthew Fitzpatrick.

And it was a skill with old equipment and some were longer than others and those who didn't have it worked harder to get it. That's not new. What is new is that the equipment is faster and the ball goes farther. There are plenty of video's out there showing the longest hitting pro hitting a ball with an old club and a new club and carrying the ball 60+ yards shorter...Did his skill suddenly change in the 20 seconds between swings?

3 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

The guys like Jack didn’t hold back.

Jack did hold back most of the time, but he had the skill to let one fly if he needed to, and the risk was higher if he didn't get it right. A lot of players did the same it was risk reward. With modern equipment it's less risk and more reward. The guys can swing all out all the time, almost miss the face and still end up in the fairway only slightly shorter than a solid hit. Manufacturers are even touting it now "Fargivenes" and "10k"

3 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

The equipment manufacturing process for wood clubs wasn’t great and consistent. The manufacturing process today is far superior and less variation between clubs, the access to the better made clubs wasn’t the same as it is today. The 150th guy on tour has the same access to equipment ast the top guy. Back in the day the tops guys would get 12 drives and wild keep best one or two. The guys further down the ranking didn’t have that access.

What does consistency and access to equipment have to do with the documented increased distance the new equipment sent the modern ball between 1994 and 2003?

3 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

The modern equipment has been in use for 2 decades. The distance increase jumped up in 2002-2003 and then has remained stagnant. The distance increase that has happened between 2003 and today as noted by the USGA equipment guy is due to the golfer, not the equipment.

Which is why the study went back to 1980. It shows the jump that was directly caused by equipment advances between 1994 and 2003. The correlated data shows it and you can't sidestep the argument by picking data to only look post 2003... then say 'see they're athletes, that's why'
 

[cnosil]

6 hours ago, d.lama said:

And it was a skill with old equipment and some were longer than others and those who didn't have it worked harder to get it. That's not new. What is new is that the equipment is faster and the ball goes farther. There are plenty of video's out there showing the longest hitting pro hitting a ball with an old club and a new club and carrying the ball 60+ yards shorter...Did his skill suddenly change in the 20 seconds between swings?

the videos of players hitting new drivers and then hitting an old club is kind of a joke.   The players current driver has been fit to match their swing needs.  The older clubs are in no way optimized for their swings.   Put a modern shaft and optimize the clubhead and you would see closer performance.   "Equipment" isn't faster,  players swing faster.  Balls go farther because players swing faster;  balls have been distance regulated for a long time so it isn't like balls continue to go farther because of new tech.

[d.lama]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

the videos of players hitting new drivers and then hitting an old club is kind of a joke.   The players current driver has been fit to match their swing needs.  The older clubs are in no way optimized for their swings.   Put a modern shaft and optimize the clubhead and you would see closer performance.   "Equipment" isn't faster,  players swing faster.  Balls go farther because players swing faster; 

You are labeling it "kind of a joke" because you are bias towards the goal of saying that it's not the equipment. Could you work with a player to optimize a 1980 spec shaft, clubweight, swingweight, kickpoint, launch and spin - all that and that pro would still be shorter using that older club.

You are also missing that players swing faster because the equipment is lighter and allows for it. Modern graphite shafts at 48" can be made extremely light (Fujikura has one that can withstand 140mph speeds at only 56g) Make a steel shaft at 48" and the thing couldn't handle 120mph speeds and make it stiff enough if were engineered lighter than 130g. Club faces are also much springier than the old woods, modern COR is around .83 and old woods are about .78. 

Paul Casey was able to get one carrying 291y with some low spin by hitting up on it 6.6°. Cool, but he (or any other pro) would never play a season or tournament with the older clubs, why - because the new equipment is faster, longer, straighter than the old equipment. It would be too risky for a player to do that when everyone else is playing modern super equipment.

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

balls have been distance regulated for a long time so it isn't like balls continue to go farther because of new tech.

A long time meaning the last 20years? Again, that's why the study went back to 1980 showing that between 1993 and 2003 distance gained was ~25yards. That's a massive jump in 10 years, especially since the previous 13 years only had ~3.6 yards gained. The USGA isn't making a ball change to account for the last 20years, they are making the change to help account for the last 30 years. 

[cnosil]

48 minutes ago, d.lama said:

You are labeling it "kind of a joke" because you are bias towards the goal of saying that it's not the equipment. Could you work with a player to optimize a 1980 spec shaft, clubweight, swingweight, kickpoint, launch and spin - all that and that pro would still be shorter using that older club.

You are also missing that players swing faster because the equipment is lighter and allows for it. Modern graphite shafts at 48" can be made extremely light (Fujikura has one that can withstand 140mph speeds at only 56g) Make a steel shaft at 48" and the thing couldn't handle 120mph speeds and make it stiff enough if were engineered lighter than 130g. Club faces are also much springier than the old woods, modern COR is around .83 and old woods are about .78. 

Paul Casey was able to get one carrying 291y with some low spin by hitting up on it 6.6°. Cool, but he (or any other pro) would never play a season or tournament with the older clubs, why - because the new equipment is faster, longer, straighter than the old equipment. It would be too risky for a player to do that when everyone else is playing modern super equipment.

 

A long time meaning the last 20years? Again, that's why the study went back to 1980 showing that between 1993 and 2003 distance gained was ~25yards. That's a massive jump in 10 years, especially since the previous 13 years only had ~3.6 yards gained. The USGA isn't making a ball change to account for the last 20years, they are making the change to help account for the last 30 years. 

You are providing generalizations that lighter = faster.  This is true for some players but not for others.    I didn't say say that equipment hasn't played a part in distance gains but comparing todays player with an optimized driver against them swinging an unfit persimmon is a ridiculous comparison.  I would also say that players themselves and launch monitor studies have also increased distance.  Each year more players on tour are swinging faster and that is not only because of equipment.  I still believe that with the rollback that players/OEMs will still optimize clubs and swings to regain the lost distance.  Optimize a persimmon driver with current shafts and manufacturing techniques I believe that the elite professional won't lose much from a performance perspective to todays drivers.

 

Yes, the last 20+ years, balls have been measured since the 70s.    The massive jump you are referring to was the ProV1.  As you can see in the chart below,  the gain in 2000-04 was switching from balata to multilayer balls.

 

 

In March 1976 the USGA implemented and overall distance standard for the golf ball.   It was updated in 2004 to the current measurements; which will be updated again in 2030 to the new standard.   For the last 20 years golf balls have had the same ODS limitation.   You can read the standards in the link below.

https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/pdf/Equipment/History of Equipment Rules.pdf

[Vertical]

23 hours ago, d.lama said:

And 2028 will be then and this is now, so what is the crux of the "that was the this is now" statement? How is it regressive; sports have rules and rules change all the time. It also seems like the same ball game to me, it's still called golf. Equipment is allowing faster swings and bigger mishits for better results, the ruling bodies are working to change that. 

Rules have not changed yet, and when they do I'll play the ball that the rules tell me to. 

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower - Steve Jobs

[pbclub]

I may have missed it, but I did not see where they actually tuned back the ball like they are trying to do now. I read it as capping current {for the day} specs, not regressively tuning back. Is that correct?

https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/pdf/Equipment/History of Equipment Rules.pdf

Edited February 18 by pbclub

[HikingMike]

On 2/16/2024 at 7:19 PM, pbclub said:

Ok so are you playing the shorter ball now? If not why? It will not be less fun right? 

This kind of argument doesn't make sense. I've also heard this one before - "If you want higher taxes for X, why aren't you just paying more taxes yourself now?" That's not how it works. It's a faulty premise, not some kind of gotcha. 

I don't think there are any "new" balls out there. If they did exist and I was playing a round by myself, I'd give it a try. I suppose there are golf balls out there now that do already have +- 5 yards or whatever distance with driver. I have played the shorter ball before (Wilson 50 Elite, Callaway Supersoft).  

In league or a tournament, I wouldn't put myself at disadvantage to everyone else. I also don't play the tips in league when the requirement is to play the blue tees - same reason. Even if I thought the league should be changed so everyone played the tips, I wouldn't be out there playing the tips as the only person in league to do so.

But if we are all switching to the new ball, I'll play it and have the same amount of fun!

If you think the new ball is less fun, then it follows that you think people that played golf before the ball changes in the early 2000s also had less fun. It also follows that people that play baseball with aluminum bats have more fun than the unfortunate baseball players using wood bats. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

On 2/17/2024 at 3:26 AM, d.lama said:

And it was a skill with old equipment and some were longer than others and those who didn't have it worked harder to get it. That's not new. What is new is that the equipment is faster and the ball goes farther. There are plenty of video's out there showing the longest hitting pro hitting a ball with an old club and a new club and carrying the ball 60+ yards shorter...Did his skill suddenly change in the 20 seconds between swings?

Clubs that are old, ill fitted for the golfer and yet there are videos of dj hitting jacks old driver 300 yards. The pros are good and will adjust and as mentioned the manufacturing process and constancy of old equipment was terrible. The Bette Rogers had an advantage over the lesser knowns. Today everyone has the same equipment with the same quality. 
 

On 2/17/2024 at 3:26 AM, d.lama said:

Jack did hold back most of the time, but he had the skill to let one fly if he needed to, and the risk was higher if he didn't get it right. A lot of players did the same it was risk reward. With modern equipment it's less risk and more reward. The guys can swing all out all the time, almost miss the face and still end up in the fairway only slightly shorter than a solid hit. Manufacturers are even touting it now "Fargivenes" and "10k"

On 2/16/2024 at 11:07 PM, RickyBobby_PR said:

And golfers today aren’t swinging all out despite this perception. Tony Finau is holding way back, Cameron champ is starting to hold back more as are many of the longer guys. The risk of going faster outweighs the benefits of not. finau stated that himself for why he doesnt swing faster. bryson talks about it as well. he complained about losing control around tbr face when he swings driver on the course which wasnt as fast as he would or could swing on the range. 180 balls speed is the sweet spot on tour.

On 2/17/2024 at 3:26 AM, d.lama said:

Which is why the study went back to 1980. It shows the jump that was directly caused by equipment advances between 1994 and 2003. The correlated data shows it and you can't sidestep the argument by picking data to only look post 2003... then say 'see they're athletes, that's

This ks the ruling bodies cherry picking data to convince people there is a problem. What they really showed was that average distance in the 80s increased at a similar rate as the current equipment, samething happened during the 90s. Yes there was a large jump between the 90s and 2003 but between 2003 and 2023 the average distance increased with the current equipment just like it did in 1980s with the equipment during that time. 
 

So yes when you say look the ball in 1980s went 254 and in the 90s it went 274 and now it’s going 300 people are going to agree there’s a problem. It when you dive into the data which has been posted here and in other forums there is no actual problem.

 

[chisag]

13 hours ago, HikingMike said:

If you think the new ball is less fun, then it follows that you think people that played golf before the ball changes in the early 2000s also had less fun. It also follows that people that play baseball with aluminum bats have more fun than the unfortunate baseball players using wood bats. 

 

... I find most of life's issues can be addressed in lyrics of great music. The Boxer opines "A man sees what he wants to see, And disregards the rest." 

... Of course the modern ball goes too far. Of course modern equipment has made the game much, much easier. Whether or not those are a problem rests with Simon's quote. I played Persimmon drivers with a Dynamic Gold steel shaft. I played Balata balls that spun like a Nascar tachometer pegged in the red. The fact that Rory can carry a modern driver 330 because he can quite literally swing almost out of his shoes with an uber forgiving 460cc driver is fine by me because he has earned it. He has worked out like any great athlete and fine tuned his skills through dedication and hard work. I don't wanna see a rollback for equipment but I am in favor of a role back for the PGA Tour ball. I don't care what they do in college or any other tournament golf. I don't wanna see a roll back on the LPGA. I certainly don't wanna see a roll back for Am's golf balls. 

... But these are just my personal opinions and we all have different ideas. There may be someone reading a post and thinks "hmmmm, that makes sense and I hadn't thought of it that way" but they would be the very rare exception and practically nobody is changing their minds with their opinion on the Ball Rollback. Especially those that takes things like this personally. "Why are the doing roadwork and shutting down lanes on the way to the golf course and making me late" Yup, some guy in the City purposefully busted a water main underground just to make them late and they are rolling back the ball to ruin their golf game.   You can't make everyone happy because ... well ... A man sees what he wants to see, And disregards the rest.

... Here are a few cliche's that certainly apply to the potential rollback. I try to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you get. If and when the golf ball rollback happens for Am's, I will accept it and be happy I am physically able to walk and play golf, can afford equipment and greens fee's and have friends I can enjoy doing it with. 

Edited February 18 by chisag

[pbclub]

Duplicate post.

Edited February 19 by pbclub

[pbclub]

12 hours ago, HikingMike said:

 

I don't think there are any "new" balls out there. If they did exist and I was playing a round by myself, I'd give it a try. I suppose there are golf balls out there now that do already have +- 5 yards or whatever distance with driver. I have played the shorter ball before (Wilson 50 Elite, Callaway Supersoft).  

 

They are certainly out there now. Lead the way. Shouldn't be an issue. It is for the good of the game after all. lol

[pbclub]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

... Here are a few cliche's that certainly apply to the potential rollback. I try to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you get. If and when the golf ball rollback happens for Am's, I will accept it and be happy I am physically able to walk and play golf, can afford equipment and greens fee's and have friends I can enjoy doing it with. 

True stuff. This however can be stopped. We can as a group put stop to this regressive change. The minority of overthinkers and fixers of the unbroken can be overruled. Ultimately, I do not think this will happen and those clutching their pearls because Rory is hitting the ball farther than they like can go on playing the regressive ball and leave the majority alone. 

[cnosil]

2 hours ago, pbclub said:

They are certainly out there now. Lead the way. Shouldn't be an issue. It is for the good of the game after all. lol

Please provide a list of balls that show that the ball has been tested against the new  ODS and meets the ODS.   I have only seen speculation/opinion on whether a ball will or won't pass; please show official results/conforming list.    

[GolfSpy_APH]

It still kinda shocks me that this is so far away and that without question this will be a hot topic for a long time to come.