Rory’s Curse
The USGA has a bone to pick with Rory McIlroy. It seems he’s doing too much, pressing the Beast-mode button a little too excitedly and objectively hitting too far. Horror of horrors. And so, naturally, SOMETHING must be done about it. AS if the world of professional golf doesn’t have enough to worry about (re: ongoing philosophical and potential anti-trust concerns vis a vis LIV golf), cue the USGA to insert itself into the conversation (no one was contemplating) perfectly on-brand with a predictably humorous off-putting tee-shot landing firmly in the rough. The USGA (golf’s governing body) and R&A (Europe’s equivalent) last week stunned the staid world of golf in proposing a full-frontal assault on any golfer’s pride and joy: driving distance. Over the past two decades, average professional driving distance has increased a yard per year amounting to 297.2 yards in 2022. This “alarming” creep — and what it means for the decades ahead — is what the USGA’s new ball regulations are meant to ameliorate. For obvious reasons, the news was met with outrage in the sunlit gallery lining the verdant fairway. Whether the new golf balls fly artificially truncated trajectories remains to be seen. In the meantime, Rory waits — dismissively — shaking his head as he fires off a 320-yard heater aimed squarely at the USGA.
The natural progression of driving distances in golf stems from any of a host of factors. Technological material science breakthroughs in the composition of driver heads and shafts paired with an increased focus on upper body strengthening and athleticism are unsurprisingly propelling the game’s heady upwelling of off-tee results. Rory McIlroy is a prime benefactor of this confluence where he currently reigns as the tour’s distance leader at 327 yards off the tee at a speed of 122mph. Brandon Matthews, Mithun Perera and the twin Camerons aren’t far behind at well north of 300 yards apiece. As a result, Tournament hosts are scrambling to lengthen and make more difficult courses that just a decade ago posed as formidable challenges. The Masters, for instance, stretched its iconic par-5 13th hole 35 yards to total 545. You go long, they go longer.
And that’s where the USGA comes in attempting to short-circuit this never-ending chase. Finding it imprudent to ordain athleticism and impractical to regulate the cottage industry of golf equipment manufacturers, the association turned its sights to its iconic golf ball. Its stated goal is to shave hitting distances by 15 yards on average for the longest hitters with the highest clubhead velocities. Unclear is a concrete reason why other than ambiguous future-of-sport integrity. And so, the USGA says that new proposed golf balls can fly no farther than 317 yards; 320 yards including carry and roll. Balls will be laboratory-tested with a clubhead speed of 127 mph, 11 degree set-up calibration and 37 revolutions per second. Left up to Callaway, Titleist and TaylorMade and all the rest are all the crucial blanks to fill-in. It’s well-known that professional golfers are blessed with the right to opt for the game ball of their own choosing when participating in Tournaments for supposed competitive advantage. The USGA’s proposed fly-in-the-ointment looks to temper that edge.
Golf ball design has metamorphosized over the sport’s century plus history. From wound rubber thread Haskall balls to the traditional two-part ball recreational players see today, the evolution of golf balls continues unimpeded. Professional golf balls now boast of up to four inner cores, tightly wrapped in a urethane coating imprinted with up to 1000 aerodynamic-enhancing dimples. All in the name of distance. And — if the USGA has its way — all for naught. The proposal would not be implemented until 2026 at the earliest and would remain at the mercy of individual tour opt-in decisions. Golf ball manufactures were caught off-guard but are sure to engineer balls that perfectly meet the USGA’s maximum thresholds. But in its quest to harness hypothetical moon shots off any given tee, it’s perhaps best to take in the imprecision inherent with power-hitting from LIV-defectee Bubba Watson: “Just because you can hit it long doesn’t mean it goes straight.” #facts. Well put and…FOURRRR!
