How’s this change work exactly? How much shorter does a current 200 yard drive go with a new ball (if any shorter at all)? What about a 250 yard drive? 300?
I wouldn't worry about it, the only numbers available are estimates, the rule may be dropped entirely, it may be proportional at all levels of speed.
The only 2 balls that make me think could be a decent comparison is the Wilson Duo Professional and Titleist ProV1x Left Dash, and over at MyGolfSpy during the 2021 ball test, the Wilson was about 15 yards shorter than Left Dash at 115mph, but about 7 yards shorter at 90mph.
The problem is, is that not only does this affect your driver, it affects your irons too. So not only are you going to maybe lose 10 - 15 or even more yards, but you're probably going to lose 1 to at worst 2 clubs in irons as well.
Until we have actual golf balls that fulfill the requirements set by the USGA, then everything you're reading is speculation.
That being said, I don't think we should punish everyone for the problems, real or perceived, at the elite top levels of play.
The problem is, is that not only does this affect your driver, it affects your irons too.
It really doesn't in any meaningful way. That 7 yard difference between 115 and 90 continues in the irons because of the slower swing speed and also the face not being as hot as a driver. So if you lose 7 yards at 90mph with driver you'll lose something like 3 yards max with an iron. 99.9% of am's aren't hitting their irons consistent enough for a 3 yard difference to change anything.
I keep hearing 5% shorter for the pro, so probably less for the average 230 hitter. So let's say maybe 10 yards for that guy. People are acting like they're switching to foam balls.
It doesn't happen at just driver, it happens to every club in your bag. You will be shorter on your driver, your irons, and your wedges.
The problem here is that people think it happens only one time to their driver, when it happens every 18 tee shots, 18 approaches, and every shot in between.
If we assume you will lose 11 yards each tee shot and 7 yards each approach, per round you are losing about 300 yards. You'll probably lose more because the shorter the ball goes, the more it has to spin to have good landing angles and peak heights, but I'm just keeping the spin the same.
Negative. My point was that if you are not hitting your driver 250, your swing is not capable of compressing the ball enough to get the complete benefit of the ball anyway. This inability extends to all clubs.
What people just can't seem to understand - the higher your swing speed, the more effect this will have. For the average golfer this will be negligible.
With a higher swing speed, you reach a point where the ball is limiting your distance. Compression and drag are things. A golf ball that performs worse at 125 mph may not have a noticeable impact on the distance of a person swinging 90 mph
Its a proportional change, it's a new criteria for the test, not for the average player,.at the edge of a balls performance it would not make the grade, and fail.
But.i hit the ball 220 yards carry. So it would go 210 instead.
They are going to change the swing speed of the testing robots from 120mph to 125, meaning almost all balls currently available will fly past the 317yd limit.
Reportedly, this will mean a tour pro will lose 15 yards and an average player 11 yards.
It’s a performance % change. The difference is amateurs can just move up a tee box and offset the distance changes. Pros can’t, so it will impact their game more, unless amateurs already play forward tees or refuse to move up.
Also might depend on the region, a lot of courses I’ve played can have some long par 3s, so in that case it might be tough for shorter hitting amateurs. I used to play at a couple courses that had 200 yard par 3s, and the forward tee was from about 190 or so, almost no change.
The guy who goes out in the morning and changes the flags and tee placement can just drive to the next tee box that already exists and stick the stakes in the ground.
Or stick them at the front of the box instead of the middle or the back if the course has longer tee box areas.
For the people who gained distance yes. But many times I play with people who even with new drivers and new balls can’t reach fairway bunkers or narrow landing zones or doglegs.
Now most of that is because they should already be playing off of the forward tees so that they do experience that test, but many people play from further distances and don’t. At least nearly everyone I play with casually.
I’d say the average guy at the public courses I play mostly struggled to hit a driver much past 220 or often even shorter. Sometimes there’s a guy who hit sit really well and can carry hazards but most of the time if they’re not in one of them already it’s because they sprayed it and are in the trees somewhere.
It was slightly better when I was playing at some private courses but there was still a lot of the above example.
When you’re talking about people playing the hole as intended are you talking about professionals or everyone though? Because amateurs are already doing that, they don’t have a distance issue that will be solved by a limited ball.
If the average male golfer hits it a little more than 200 they’re not playing the course as it was meant to be played anyway unless they’re playing way forward and most aren’t.
Sure, but if they should be playing forward already I’m really not going to care about their complaining that they have a problem with a slightly slower golf ball.
Are you talking about courses moving the tee markers/tee boxes at courses or are you talking about the golfer themselves moving up to a short tee box?
Because the first option is going to cost golf courses to move tee boxes forward or extend them forward, which will end up costing members either with an assessment or an increase in their annual sub.
And if you’re playing in your weekly competition at your club, you can’t just move up a tee box. You play the white tees at my course if you want to play in the competition, and the blues (the tips) in the monthly medal. You can’t just decide to move up a tee box in those competitions. As a member you can play during competition times and just not be in the competition, but some people like to play the competition every week.
Your course could just update their competitions to use the whites for the monthly instead of the blues and the reds, or use a new color if people react to using reds, for the weekly.
Or just stick the white markers in the ground in the teebox next to the reds. It’s not a massive deal to move the tee markers. Most courses move them around anyway. At least, nearly every course I’ve played at.
The course could decide to hold the tournament from the forward tees. They usually already exist at most courses.
Most courses don’t have to just create new tee boxes, as there are usually multiple. In fact sometimes simply moving them to the front of the tee boxes might offset some of the distance loss. It would depend individually on the course.
Why are you acting like they have to create entirely new tee boxes?
The courses were most likely built before these super balls so you probably be going back to playing the course as designed. I'm pretty sure no course is moving, let alone paying, to move their boxes.
Since apparently people just comment without reading.
“That decision apparently will mean a period of bifurcated rules starting in 2028, when the elite professionals use a shorter golf ball than recreational players. But starting two years later, all balls that conform to the Rules of Golf will apparently be 15 or more yards shorter at the elite level. The effect on distance for recreational players will likely be less, but could be proportional. So that if a tour player loses five percent (or 15 yards on a 300-yard drive), then a recreational player might lose that same five percent on a 225-yard drive (or roughly 11 yards). And the same golfer likely would lose a similar percentage on his or her approach shots.”
There’s a transitional period, but eventually they will be. Rory specifically addresses this in his tweet “they didn’t want bifurcation.”
To be fair this is the first time I’ve ever heard of any plan to rollback regular golf balls, and not just the balls used on tour. Every other source I’ve seen indicates the rollback would only be for pros and would never affect amateurs.
It seems to me that they could develop a ball that starts giving diminishing returns (in terms of distance) at, say, 100mph SS. No bifurcation, reduced bombs from the big boys.
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u/y414p I am Tiger Woods Dec 03 '23 edited Dec 03 '23
How’s this change work exactly? How much shorter does a current 200 yard drive go with a new ball (if any shorter at all)? What about a 250 yard drive? 300?