Would It Bother You to Lose Distance if They Rolled Back the Ball?

[Phil Benedict]

I can't help but feel secretly hypocritical on the subject of technology.  At the highest levels, the ball and the driver have transformed the game.  A long par 4 is 500 yards plus; a long course is 7500 yards plus.  Guys hit wedge approaches all the time.  Courses have to be tricked up big time to defend themselves.

But as far as my own game is concerned, I enjoy what technology has done, and would mourn the yardage loss if they rolled back the ball.  At 55, I pretty much play the game the same way as I did at 25 as far as distance is concerned.  I probably hit the driver longer.  Last week I played a course at 7000 yards and was not overwhelmed at all by this distance, even though I played for crap, which I attribute to the slowness of play and a playing partner with the most annoying pre-shot routine in golf.  

I am against duel standards because I want to preserve the fantasy that I'm playing the same game as Tiger Woods.  But I hope I'm playing the senior tees by the time they get around to rolling back the ball, which I know is selfish and bad for architecture.

[Tom_Doak]

Not for a minute, but 75% of golfers would be bothered, which is why nothing's happened.  (Some will argue for 99%, but I would guess that a lot of casual golfers who play 5 rounds a year wouldn't ever notice the change.)

[BCrosby]

Not a bit. To the contrary, I would welcome it.

Bob

[Mike Nuzzo]

I play with a persimmon driver... and no 60 deg wedge.
Have since Bandon over a year ago and was even more fun in Scotland.

I wish Tom D. ran the USGA, his idea for spinning off the divisions and leaving the rules division broke is a great one.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

It would not bother me a bit. heck I have gotten used to hitting it shorter already. lol

[Brad Tufts]

I like the distance I hit the ball now with modern tools (275 if I hit it good, 235-250 if bad), but if you told me I'd never gain any more distance, I'd be ok with that.

Also, if the governing bodies decreed a reverting back to the implements used in say 1965, I wouldn't be against, as long as everyone was doing it.  I guess I don't mind losing distance if all equipment changed, but it seems that there would be no point using the titanium, etc. on a ball that suddenly doesn't go as far.

The technological advances in terms of forgiveness would still apply with modern metals, but I'm personally less concerned with that.

[JR Potts]

I guess it depends on how far you roll it back.  If they rolled it back to mid-90s length, I would have no problem with it.  The Tour Balata and Tour Professional should probably be the benchmark for the modern golf ball as far as I'm concerned.  If I were forced to play a Spalding circa 1970...I'd have an issue with it.

[Powell Arms]

This is really a much more difficult question than it appears on the surface.  The majority of golfers can use help, but distance has clearly ruined the PGA events.  Hence, the competion ball appears to be a solution, but then it bifurcates the rules and we all are not playing the same equipment as the pros.  Troubling if you're an equipment maker, but should it really trouble us as golfers?  I guess there really are two ways to "play like the pros."  The first would be that we play the same equipment. The second would be that we play the same game, and I can envision that being more satisfying than item #1.  Here's the scenario, pros playing a ball that let's them drive it 260-280.  I get to play a ProV1 and (sometimes) can drive it 260.  Now I'm playing the course with the same clubs as the pros from the same tees and landing areas.  I can see that being more satisfying than playing from different tees with the same ball as the pros.

[tlavin]

Sure it would bother me, because most of the course I play have been adjusted to accommodate the technology.  Then there's the not-so-gentle-ego issue.  As I age and wrinkle, stoop and frequently tinkle, lose strength and a little wand length, it is the fact that I can still hit the ball 265 yards that keeps my fragile psyche patched together!

Seriously, I do think this is an issue for the tour, not for the everyday player.  That's why I think the solution is the tour ball.  Who knows, if they make a tour ball and keep improving the "regular" balls, maybe Ryan Potts will start out-driving Tiger.  Boy would he be difficult to tolerate if that ever happened!

[JR Potts]

Sure it would bother me, because most of the course I play have been adjusted to accommodate the technology.  Then there's the not-so-gentle-ego issue.  As I age and wrinkle, stoop and frequently tinkle, lose strength and a little wand length, it is the fact that I can still hit the ball 265 yards that keeps my fragile psyche patched together!

Seriously, I do think this is an issue for the tour, not for the everyday player.  That's why I think the solution is the tour ball.  Who knows, if they make a tour ball and keep improving the "regular" balls, maybe Ryan Potts will start out-driving Tiger.  Boy would he be difficult to tolerate if that ever happened!

Not true, egomaniacs like ourselves would do everything in our power to get our hands on a tour ball.....and you know that.

[TEPaul]

"Re:Would It Bother You to Lose Distance if They Rolled Back the Ball?"

Phil:

Don't worry about it. If they end up doing it with the ball it will happen in such a way that the golfing public probably won't even be that aware that it's happened. This would be the ideal set of circumstances for both the R&A/USGA and particulalry for the manufacturers.

[David Stamm]

Sure it would bother me, because most of the course I play have been adjusted to accommodate the technology.  Then there's the not-so-gentle-ego issue.  As I age and wrinkle, stoop and frequently tinkle, lose strength and a little wand length,  

Terry, you make getting older look so appealing!  

[john_stiles]

No.    And at my clubhead speed of 95 mph,  I don't think a rollback will matter that much.

If proven wrong on that point,  see NO above.

A roll back will be better for the courses and golf.

[tlavin]

Sure it would bother me, because most of the course I play have been adjusted to accommodate the technology.  Then there's the not-so-gentle-ego issue.  As I age and wrinkle, stoop and frequently tinkle, lose strength and a little wand length,  

Terry, you make getting older look so appealing!  

I can't help it; I'm a victim of incessant prostatitis commercials.  There are only two things growing on my body: my abdomen and my prostate.  Please don't shrink my golf balls!

[wsmorrison]

Not at all.  I have a relatively high typical swing speed of 116mph and I get too much distance.  I don't always know where its going, but when I'm on, it is plain wrong to have that much distance.  I think rolling the ball back 10% would be fine.  I guess it wouldn't be uniform for all golfers, but so what?  Let the ball spin more and allow better ball striking to be more important.

In firm and fast conditions, I would adjust my ball flight to get extra yardage but I'd have to control the shape as well to hold fairways and position the ball.  The loss of shaping shots as well as too much distance hurts the game and especially the courses.

ROLL IT BACK.

By the way, I think Tom Doak is right on when he mentions the casual golfer, playing a couple of times a year and likely on a different course most of the time, won't even realize it.  

[Phil Benedict]

 I have a relatively high typical swing speed of 116mph
 

You're an animal!

[TEPaul]

"I think rolling the ball back 10% would be fine."

Wayne:

I don't know how technically accurate this might be but let's just say they actually do propose a distance rollback in line with the prototype ball performance they have asked for----eg 25 yards less far (assuming that means 25 yards less far than the present ODS results---eg about 305 yards at 120mph) that would translate into a percentage distance reduction off ODS of about 8%.  

[John Kavanaugh]

I can see no reason at all to watch any professional golf if they start to play different clubs and balls than us.  I don't care what they do as long as I don't have to buy new clubs to be legal and everyone plays under the same rules.  

[Phil Benedict]

One of the contradictions in my own view is that I oppose duel equipment standards - one for the Tour and one for regular people - but have no problem playing a different set of tees than the pros play.  In a million years I would never play from 7500 yards.  So I am already playing a different game, albeit with the same equipment.

I guess the point is I want to be able to compare my best shots (rare indeed) with Tiger's best shots.  Or something like that.

[Brent Hutto]

I can see no reason at all to watch any professional golf if they start to play different clubs and balls than us.  I don't care what they do as long as I don't have to buy new clubs to be legal and everyone plays under the same rules.

I agree completely on both counts.

Bifurcation of the Rules of Golf would destroy the game as it has always existed...far greater harm than the supposed impact of longer balls or shorter balls or different grooves or any other piddling around with the equipment.

[wsmorrison]

Phil,

And a wild one at that, especially off the tee.  

Tom,

That kind of reduction sounds fine, maybe even a bit more.

John,

I don't think there should be one set of rules for touring pros and another for us.  The ball should be rolled back for everyone.

[John Kavanaugh]

Bifurcation reminds me of the guy who dunks on an eight foot goal at the YMCA and then looks around to see who is impressed.

[TEPaul]

"Phil,
And a wild one at that, especially off the tee."

Actually, if you're playing with Wayne and he's never seen the course before and there happens to be another course next door, you pretty much have to tell him which golf course to aim for and even then he may not get it right.    

[cary lichtenstein]

I like it just the way it is...they should probably roll it back for the pros, but not for us amateurs

[A.G._Crockett]

As always, I find much of this thread hilarious.  

The concept of a bunch of guys glumly trudging after their ProV's that they were forced to hit with their 460 cc driver with a 65 gram, 1.5 torque shaft that they were forced to swing is a sad picture indeed.

If you want 260 yd. carries, then hit a club off that tee that carries that far.  If you want to hit 4 irons into par 4's, then lay up or choke down, or something.

If you find pro golf on TV boring, watch CSI or Law and Order; they are ALWAYS on some channel, and they are fiction so that you won't have to deal with reality.

But this constant pining for the good ole days of the mid 90's and the distances of the Professional, or the mid 80's and the Tour Balatas is silly.  The reality is that there were longer balls than those around then, and that most of the people who play golf were using the longer balls then, and they still are.  Penalize those guys, and see what THAT does for the growth of the game you love!

If you want to easy solutions to complex problems, don't be surprised when you are disappointed.  Now head off to your Flat Earth Society and Man Will Never Fly League meetings and hush about the golf ball!