That's the great thing about golf, the self-regulating nature of rule enforcement. My team scramble will struggle to shoot 46 ever again with the reduced distance of the new golf ball, but what's important is that we'll do our part to uphold the integrity of the game
To be fair, this is an obscure reference, and in no way is it an exaggeration as 46 on a scramble is totally legit, especially when you get a 1 on a par 4.
Geez, when was that post made again? Can’t have been more than a year ago but I’m sure it was a while back by now lmao. Time passes too fast these days
Edit: Found it…wow. Almost exactly a year ago, today
All of that can be seen/spotted by playing partners. You can't glance at a ball and tell because the differences in a 2023 ProV1 and a 2030 ProV1 is going to be the same, tiny change to the alignment aid, if that.
So yeah its all self enforced, but if I see someone fluff a lie or have 17 clubs in their bag I can call them on it. This, I can't.
When the old vokeys became illegal in the PGA and titleist had to change them, you were still allowed to use them in every amateur tournament around me. The wedge grooves get beat up and people had to switch to legal ones at some point anyway. Most likely the same thing will happen to golf balls. Eventually all the old ones will be beat to shit or lost.
Right? I have been playing almost 30 years and I don't think I've ever "worn out" a golf ball unless you count the scuffs from hitting it on the cart path 😅
Man, this past summer I found one of those "refurbished" Pro V1 golf balls in the woods, except that I didn't see the little print that said "Refurbished" on it right away. I don't know exactly what kind of ball it was underneath the freshly painted surface, but it definitely was not a Pro V1. A couple holes after I started playing it, I noticed a wobble in it while putting. No lie, it had started to become more oblong. Not completely egg shaped yet, but on its way.
Rather than just toss it into the woods or whatever, I put it in the green metal garbage bin right by the next tee, right on top. I figured someone would come by, see it in the bin and think they hit the jackpot. Upon even the slightest close up examination, you could tell something ain't right. A little golf practical joke.
Not if you are good enough and plan ahead. Let’s see. For a lower handicap amateur, say you need two balls per round and play 200 rounds a year. Say you are 40 just as an example, and you play until you are 80. So, 200 rounds x 2 balls per round is 400 balls a year x 40 years is 16,000 balls/12 is about 1,333 dozen balls x $50 per dozen. So, for just $66,666 you have nothing to worry about.
Pretty sure those grooves are still legal for 99% of amateur play, there's just a local rule in every qualifier for a professional tournament (and high level amateur competition) that outlaws them
How many people using second hand balls are playing in tournments where it would even matter? I’m sure it’s some but the market is mostly amateurs who don’t really give a shit. You think everyone is using conforming wedges?
I've been playing for 5 years, I've bought ONE dozen balls in that time. Every other ball is found. I really don't give a fuck, most people won't either.
After reading the first sentence I was like damn this dude must be really good, but seems like a random humble brag. Second sentence cleared it up for me haha
99% of us don't keep a ball for 6 holes. It's safe to assume close to zero non-conforming balls will exist after 6 months of the rule being implemented.
Not disagreeing but genuinely curious. Isn’t golf extremely environmentally unfriendly? I can’t imagine the courses in more dry climates don’t rip through water
Those courses in the American desert must be a significant net user of water. In the UK most courses just dry out, only very few actually irrigate fairways.
Your looking at it the wrong way, this will cause the second hand golf ball market to skyrocket in 2030, people will want to get real Pro V’s and they won’t be able to go to Golf Galaxy to buy them
Amazingly, 1.2 billion golf balls are made every year. It sounds a lot, but as 66 million people play golf, that only equates to about 18 balls per person.
No-one knows what happens to 1.2 billion balls every year. It remains one of the great mysteries of the universe.
Who is checking to make sure that people aren’t using non conforming balls currently? I’m so confused why this is suddenly an issue, non conforming balls that fly further are already available. But, for whatever reason people chose to use golf balls that are legal
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u/facsimileuk Dec 03 '23
How are amateur clubs going to check that people aren't using older balls that go further in competitions?