Tag: Distance Insights Project

USGA, R&A announce golf ball rollback for everyone, not just elite golfers

Faster-swinging players will be affected the most and recreational golfers will be affected the least with the change.

In an announcement nearly four years in the making, the United States Golf Association and the R&A, golf’s governing bodies, announced Wednesday that they are changing how golf balls will be tested for conformity to reduce the effects of distance in the sport. 

Starting in 2028, for a golf ball to be deemed conforming and be legal for play, it will be tested using a robot that swings a titanium club at 125 mph and hits the ball on an 11-degree launch angle with 2,200 rpm of spin. The shot can not exceed the Overall Distance Standard (ODS) of 317 yards of combined carry distance and roll (with a 3-yard tolerance).

Currently, balls are at 120 mph with a launch angle of 10 degrees and 2,520 rpm of backspin, so the change increases the robot’s clubhead by 5 mph, increases the launch angle by 1 degree and decreases the spin rate by about 300 rpm.

Current test conditions New test conditions Change
120 mph clubhead speed 125 mph clubhead speed 5 mph clubhead speed
10-degree launch angle 11-degree launch angle 1-degree launch angle
2,520 rpm of spin 2,200 rpm of spin 320 rpm of spin

Nearly every golf ball being sold today – including the Titleist Pro V1, Callaway Chrome Soft, TaylorMade TP5, Bridgestone Tour B and Srixon Z-Star – would go too far and fail the new test because manufacturers design their balls to go right to the current distance limits. Increasing the test speed by 5 mph and hitting shots at low spin rates and higher launch angles would make all of today’s balls go too far and become non-conforming.  

Balls that had previously been legal but failed the new test will be removed from the Conforming Ball list, making them illegal for official play starting Jan. 1, 2028.

USGA Golf Robot
The USGA’s golf robot swings a test club at exactly the speed technicians want. (USGA)

According to Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s chief governance officer, using golf balls that pass the new test will result in a loss of distance, with the fastest-swinging players being affected the most and recreational golfers being affected the least.

“The longest players, which means those generating ball speeds of 183 mph or higher, are going to lose 13 to 15 yards [with their driver],” Pagel said. “The average PGA Tour player and elite male, like a college player, would lose closer to 9 or 11 yards. LPGA players, given their clubhead speed, we’re looking at 5 to 7 yards. And recreational golfers, we’re talking about 5 yards or less.” 

Only 10 players ended last season’s PGA Tour with a measured ball speed average of over 183 mph. ShotLink reports the PGA Tour’s average ball speed for the season was 172.85 mph.

According to John Spitzer, the USGA’s director of equipment standards, the average male club player who swings his driver at 90 mph will lose 4 to 5 yards off the tee but will likely not lose any yardage when hitting hybrids, irons or wedges.

“The typical male amateur and female amateur in the recreational game hit the ball with a lot more spin than is optimal off the driver,” Spitzer said.

Balls that are submitted for testing by October 2027 will be tested under the current standard, while any balls submitted for testing after that will be tested at the new standard and added (assuming they pass the test) to the Conforming Ball list on Jan. 1, 2028.

“Golfers in the recreational game don’t have to worry about this until 2030,” Pagel said. “We will leave the last list for 2027 published and recreational golfers can continue to use those balls. So, if they have any balls left in their golf bag or at home and they want to use those balls and post their scores, they will be playing under the Rules of Golf and there won’t be any issues there.”

The USGA and R&A plan to work out the details that will allow recreational golfers to play pre-2028 balls but have professionals and elite amateurs use reduced-distance balls at a later date, likely with Clarification.

Nine months ago, the USGA and the R&A thought they had a solution to the distance problem and proposed a new Model Local Rule. It would allow tournament organizers and tours to require players to use golf balls tested under conditions very similar to those announced now. The goal was to enable tournaments for elite golfers to mandate the use of distance-reducing golf balls while not changing equipment rules that govern recreational players.

Golf balls
A look at several golf balls that have been cut in half to show their insides. (Photo: David Dusek/Golfweek)

This announcement, which will affect all golfers and not just the fastest-swinging elite players, resulted from feedback given to the USGA and the R&A during a Notice and Comment Period that began on March 14 and ended on August 13.

“The feedback we got during the Notice and Comment period was overwhelming, and it was extremely consistent across all stakeholders,” said Pagel. “Whether it was the tours, the tour membership, manufacturers, the PGA of America or, frankly, just recreational golfers themselves, we heard loud and clear the desire for unity. A unified game, played under a unified set of rules and standards is important.” 

Several of the biggest names in golf have said for years that they think modern golf balls fly too far and too straight, including Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. However, the process that led to this change took time to happen.

On Feb. 4, 2020, the USGA and R&A released their Distance Insights Report, a 102-page document with data and information from 56 projects. As part of that report, the determination that distance played an outsized role in the sport was formally made. 

After the COVID-19 pandemic put many tests and programs on hold, a Model Local Rule was created that allowed tournament officials to limit driver length to 46 inches to discourage elite golfers from gaining more speed and distance using extra-long equipment. Then, in March of 2022, the USGA and R&A sent a three-page Areas of Interest letter to manufacturers informing companies that the governing bodies were exploring changes to how balls are tested. 

The Model Local Rule proposed in March would have increased the speed to 125-127 mph in a range of launch angles between 7.5 and 15 degrees with backspin rates from 2,200 rpm to 3,000 rpm.

However, to many golfers, an essential feature of golf is everyone plays by the same rules.

Justin Thomas, a two-time major winner, said, “It’s so bad for the game of golf.” He added, “For an everyday amateur golfer, it’s very unique that we are able to play the exact same equipment. Yeah, I understand that I may have a different grind on a wedge, whatever you want to call it, but you can go to the pro shop and buy the same golf ball that I play, or Scottie Scheffler plays.”

The USGA and R&A have said for several years that they had three options regarding distance. The governing bodies could do nothing, which they considered a non-option. They could target fast-swinging golfers with a Model Local Rule, but that was unpopular. The third option has been chosen: change the rules for everyone while leaving some room for further reductions in the future.

“This is about the long-term management of distance, and this test has been updated in the past,” Pagel said. “We fully anticipate that golfers at the elite level will be back to the distance of today at some point in the future. Is that 15 years, 20 years … that’s to be determined. But we would expect to be back here and expect to make future changes.”

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Jack Nicklaus continues to campaign for the governing bodies to roll back the ball: ‘They say they put a line in the sand but that line in the sand keeps getting wider. They keep crossing it.’

If Jack Nicklaus has said it once, he’s said it a thousand times: the golf ball goes too far.

If Jack Nicklaus has said it once, he’s said it a thousand times: he believes the golf ball goes too far.

Golf’s distance dilemma has been debated for years. Nicklaus has been arguing for golf’s governing bodies to roll back the distance of the golf ball since the 1970s. “I said, guys, look at this now because this is going to be a problem,” Nicklaus said.

He turned out to be right. The subject reached a head when the U.S. Golf Association and R&A released its 2017 distance report and officially declared it is concerned about driving distance and announced in a joint statement that they have launched a project to analyze distance in golf and gather perspectives from the worldwide golf community.

“We believe that now is the time to examine this topic through a very wide and long lens, knowing it is critical to the future of the game,” said then USGA CEO Mike Davis.

The first phase of the combined Distance Insights Project in February of 2020 determined that distance is playing an excessive role in the game and causing the sport to go in an unsustainable direction. But then a pandemic hit and the governing bodies put things on the back burner.

“I really don’t know what they’re doing,” Nicklaus said.

The latest? In August, they announced that any further release of information in their study wouldn’t be released until March of 2021. (The comment period is scheduled to end in May.)

“They’re slow about reacting about this issue,” Nicklaus said to Gary Williams recently on his 5 Clubs podcast. “They say they put a line in the sand but that line in the sand keeps getting wider. They keep crossing it.”

As he nears his 82nd birthday on Friday, Nicklaus remains one of the most influential voices in golf but on the subject of golf equipment, he’s often gone unheard. “They didn’t pay much attention to a 30-year-old and they’re certainly not paying much attention to an 80-year-old,” he said.

“For all concerned, for the golf ball to come back to bring back a lot of things back into perspective is very important for the game of golf,” Nicklaus added. “I think something will get done, it’s just how long will it take for them to research the problem?”

Hopefully the wait won’t extend past March.

Wrapping up the discussion on if the golf ball goes too far with Nicklaus, Williams asked of Muirfield Village, home of The Memorial, “Is your golf course going to be 8,000 yards in 10 years?”

“I hope not,” Nicklaus said. “I’d have to buy all the houses around me.”

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New USGA CEO Mike Whan talks distance, money and the possibility of a national developmental team

Former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan dishes on money, distance and what he wakes up thinking about as the new CEO of the USGA.

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The first time Mike Whan walked into USGA headquarters wearing shorts and a T-shirt, he could tell employees immediately began to text about the new CEO’s casual attire. It’s a new era in Liberty Corner, New Jersey, though the full culture-changing impact of Whan at the helm undoubtedly will be slowed with so many still working from home.

Whan, the longest-tenured LPGA commissioner who rebuilt the tour from near ashes when he took on the job in 2010 and passed the ultimate stress test by seeing the tour through a global pandemic, now takes on a new set of challenges as head of golf’s governing body. 

Longtime USGA CEO Mike Davis retired from the role in June. Golfweek caught up with Whan, who officially started July 1, when he was a mere seven days into the new gig to talk about where the game might be headed under his leadership.

USGA, R&A put distance debate on hold until March 2021

Golf’s distance debate will continue in March of 2021 as ruling bodies delay any announcements in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Will golf’s ruling bodies roll back the distance golf balls travel, or take other steps to contain yardage gains at the elite professional levels? As when watching Bryson DeChambeau hit tee shots, you’ll just have to wait a little longer for the next stage of distance studies to land.

The United States Golf Association and the R&A have delayed any further release of information in their study of the distance debate in golf until March of 2021, the governing bodies announced Monday.

The USGA and R&A released the initial phase of their combined Distance Insights Project in February of 2020 with a report that determined that distance is playing an excessive role in the game and causing the sport to go in an unsustainable direction. That Distance Insights Report signaled potential changes in the equipment rules could come in the next several years, with significant time for research and evaluation before any action.

But the global coronavirus pandemic put all those plans on hold as the industry works to stabilize.

The ruling bodies released this statement Monday:

“Given continued health concerns and the impact on golf worldwide, the R&A and the USGA are now targeting March 2021 for the release of equipment research topics. We will continue to monitor the recovery of the golf industry and may update this target date accordingly. In accordance with the Equipment Rulemaking Procedures, the time for golf equipment manufacturers and other interested parties to participate in this research will also be amended to account for the delay.

Until then, the R&A and the USGA will continue to monitor the effects of distance on the game.

The incredible distances that top male professionals hit the ball was on full display at the PGA Championship that concluded Sunday in San Francisco, with 320-plus-yard tee shots a fairly common occurrence. Much of the buzz in golf over the past several months has centered on DeChambeau’s transformation into a monster driver of the ball.

The ruling bodies have stated they want such focus on distance to end. Citing the Rules of Golf, the February report stated, “golf is a challenging game in which success should depend on the player’s judgment, skill and abilities.”

And beyond the PGA Tour, there are other considerations such as the use of more land to build longer courses and the consumption of natural resources such as water to maintain more acreage of grass.

On the flip side are some who believe distance attracts more fans to PGA Tour coverage. They also point out that recreational players have not gained the kinds of distance seen at the elite levels. Several golf equipment manufacturers also have expressed skepticism at rolling back yardage that was gained under current rules.

Where is it all headed? Check back in March.

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USGA, R&A delay next phase of Distance Insights Report ‘until a more suitable time’

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the USGA and R&A have delayed the release of the next phase of Distance Insights Report “until a more suitable time.”

Much like the rest of the world, the golf industry has been flipped upside down due to the widespread coronavirus outbreak.

Local courses and famous clubs like Augusta National are closing their doors. Professional tours are canceling and postponing tournaments and major championships left and right.

Before coronavirus dominated the news cycle, one of the biggest topics of discussion in the game was last month’s release of the USGA and R&A’s Distance Insights Report. Golf’s governing bodies determined distance is playing an excessive role in the game and causing the sport to go in an unsustainable direction.

If you’ve been waiting on answers and updates to the report, you’ll have to wait a little longer. The USGA and R&A released the following statement Wednesday morning:

On February 4, The R&A and the USGA committed to releasing research topics related to the next phase of our Distance Insights work within 45 days. At this time, the golf industry needs to focus on its response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, we have decided to delay this announcement until a more suitable time. This will obviously extend the deadline for the research. We will share more information in due course.

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Golfweek Rewind: Event postponed due to coronavirus, Haley Moore impresses

In the latest episode of Golfweek Rewind, we recap professional golf tournaments as well as the week’s top golf news.

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A major amateur event in Thailand is postponed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the USGA and R&A’s controversial Distance Insights Project is released and fan favorite Haley Moore shines in her first first round as an LPGA rookie.

Let’s look back at the week’s top stories on this episode of Golfweek Rewind,

In professional golf, Nick Taylor won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by four strokes. The win was Taylor’s first on Tour in over five years. In the celebrity competition, the duo of Larry Fitzgerald and Kevin Streelman won for the second time in three years. Next stop on Tour is the Genesis Invitational in Pacific Palisades, California.

Hee Young Park claimed her first LPGA title in over six years at the ISPS Handa Vic Open in Victoria, Australia. On the men’s side of the event, which is sanctioned by the European Tour, Min Woo Lee claimed the title. The Vic Open is a unique setup which features two tournaments on the same course for equal prize money. Next stops for the LPGA and Euro Tour can be found on this week’s episode of Golfweek Rewind.

In other golf news, the R&A’s announced it will postpone the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship, initially scheduled for this week in Thailand, due to concerns of the coronavirus. The R&A hopes to reschedule the event later this year.

For more on the USGA and R&A’s Distance Insights Project, SMU men’s golf coach Jason Enloe’s decision to resign and LPGA rookie Haley Moore’s impressive first LPGA round, watch this week’s episode of Golfweek Rewind above.

Forward Press Podcast: Discussing the distance report with the USGA

Episode 32 of Forward Press: Golfweek‘s David Dusek talks with Thomas Pagel, Rand Jerris from the USGA about the Distance Insights Project.

In episode 32 of Forward Press, Golfweek‘s David Dusek talks with Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior managing director of governance, and Rand Jerris, the USGA’s senior managing director of public service.

This discussion took place on Tuesday, the day that the USGA and R&A, the game’s governing bodies, released their Distance Insights Project Report, a 102-page document with data and information from 56 different projects examining distance in the game of golf.

Forward Press is a weekly Golfweek podcast. In each episode, you’ll get insight and commentary on all that is golf from David Dusek, Steve DiMeglio, Beth Ann Nichols, Eamon Lynch and Adam Schupak, as well as special guests throughout the industry.

You can download and listen on all of your favorite platforms, including: iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Castbox, Radio Public.

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Brandel Chamblee’s solutions to fix golf’s problems? Grow the rough, play 12 holes

After the release of the USGA and R&A’s Distance Insights report, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee had a few solutions to fix golf’s problem.

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On Tuesday morning the United States Golf Association and the R&A released their highly anticipated report which determined distance is playing an excessive role in the game and causing the sport to go in an unsustainable direction.

The 102-page Distance Insights report features data and information from 56 different projects, but doesn’t offer a solution to the distance problem. Instead it paves the way for change, after a period of research and evaluation.

Brandel Chamblee has a few ideas on possible solutions, and he shared them during Golf Channel’s two-hour special edition of Golf Central Tuesday evening.

“As I read (the report), I found myself agreeing with some of the issues from a sustainability standpoint as the game continues to grow,” said Chamblee. “But I found myself differing in a lot of aspects of the report. Namely, I feel like the game is out of whack at the professional level in one way, and I think we do agree about this, the inability to play the game with great accuracy, what I would define as being outside the top 100 in driving accuracy and to be rewarded is out of whack.”

Chamblee, as he’s known to do, gave a strong opinion and brought some stats to help support his argument. Six players who finished 2019 in the top 10 in scoring average were outside the top 100 in driving accuracy. Patrick Cantlay was 160th in driving accuracy, and second in scoring average.

Chamblee, winner of the 1998 Greater Vancouver Open, compared that to the first year the Tour started to keep that kind of data in 1980. For players in the top 10 in scoring average, the worst driver of the golf ball finished 80th in driving accuracy. The leader in scoring average? Lee Trevino, who finished 12th in driving accuracy.  Jim Herman was 12th in driving accuracy last year on Tour and finished 167th in scoring average.

“I can find those correlations diminishing and I think impoverishing the game,” said Chamblee, “but I think the solution is more organically found than the more difficult solutions that are proposed or hinted at.”

His first solution? Grow the rough.

“The golf ball can easily be constricted by raising the fairway heights, growing the rough and firming up the greens,” he explained.

His second solution, this time to solve the sustainability problem, is much more fun: Play 12 holes.

“On the sustainability issue, real quick if I can, I’ll use a rowing analogy. You row forward by looking back. This game was 12 holes when it began, at the highest level it was 12 holes. For a dozen years it was 12 holes. The record was 149 and he won by 12, Old Tom Morris in 1870. Why is it 18? You want a smaller footprint, you want a faster round, why don’t we go back to the beginning of the game and play 12 hole golf courses?

Why not play 12? Historical records, thousands of courses are built for 9 or 18 holes already, just to name a couple. Chamblee’s retort?

“There was a historical record when they went from 12 holes to 18,” said Chamblee. “I’m talking about sustainability issues. I’m talking about times issues. Why do I worry about those records? We’ll have new records for 48 holes or 60 holes or whatever you want it to be. But if you really want a smaller footprint, and you want to play faster, the easiest solution is 12 holes, not 18.”

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Distance report findings have PGA Tour players split on key issues for game’s future

PGA Tour players at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am had mixed feelings about the findings of the USGA/R&A Distance Insights Project report.

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – As a rule, PGA Tour pros can’t agree on what day of the week it is. On Tuesday, they proved the point yet again when discussing the importance of distance in the game and what the USGA/R&A Distance Insights Project report means to the game’s future.

“I think it would be ignorant not to look at people that play well and say distance isn’t a big issue or a big component of all the good players’ games,” Patrick Cantlay said. “To ignore that or to say it’s not that big of a deal, I think would be a mistake because guys are hitting it farther and the golf courses are suited for that.”

Ever since Padraig Harrington turned pro in 1995, he has witnessed first-hand how the balance of golf’s blend of distance and direction, short and long game, finesse and strength has shifted to become more of a power game.

“When I started out, 280 was a big number, then 290. Today, 300 is just average, 320, you’re a big boy now,” Harrington said. “The best players were always comfortable with their driving. What you see now is a greater depth of players that are long. Davis Love stood out in his day. If he didn’t play well that week, he didn’t win and everyone assumed that you didn’t have to be long to win. Now you have 20 to 30 more Davis Loves. So, you have increased the number of long hitters who could win. Length always gave you an advantage. It’s the same advantage, if not less, because there’s more of them. It’s more of a disadvantage to be a short hitter because of the fact that the courses have to be set up to deal with the long hitters.”

As an example of how length has changed the game, Harrington noted, “You’re never hitting a 4-iron into a par 4 anymore. When I was starting out, you used to hit woods.”

Harrington supports a rollback

Harrington is an ambassador of the R&A and says he shared his views with its executive director Martin Slumbers.

“I’ve told him I 100-percent support a rollback for the golf courses. It’s purely because of the cost to the golf course – the size, the maintenance, the water, all the costs. There are great golf courses that can’t be used. Roll it back and start again,” he said. “My personal opinion is I would set new specifications and the let the manufacturers have another race to the top. If the ball was rolled back 10 percent, we’d all start again and off we’d go.

“I’m with Titleist, which I think has the best ball now, and they’re a big enough company that if they had to start from scratch, they’d be the best ball again. It would be a shock to the system, to the manufacturers, sure. There’s a risk when you have a company like Titleist that has the largest market share. They would like the status quo but I think they are in the best place to produce the next best ball under the new parameters.  Let them compete again. I think Titleist would actually gain from it.”

Jack Nicklaus, who has long maintained the golf ball goes too far, took to Twitter to respond to the report.

“Now that they have clear findings obtained from century of collecting data and its impact on all levels – from golf played at highest level to recreational golf – I look forward to supporting industry’s collaborative effort to find solutions that are in best interest of game’s future,” he wrote.

But not everyone is convinced the ball goes too far.

“Hell no, distance isn’t a problem on our level,” Harold Varner III said. “It’s way firmer out here on Tour. When I go back home, I’m never hitting it over 300. Out here I am.”

Would he be in favor of playing in a tournament that had distance-control measures?

“No,” Varner said. “If you have a God-given talent and worked to be as good as you can be, and in this case, being able to hit the ball far, you should be able to use it. LeBron James is 6-9 and can run over everyone. Is he not allowed to play with them? That’s weak. If I didn’t hit it far enough, I’d get up for the challenge.”

RELATED: Five takeaways from USGA, R&A distance report

No course is too short

“Perfect example is Riv,” Varner said of Riviera Country Club, host of next week’s Genesis Invitational near Los Angeles. “It plays so much longer and it’s right around 7,000 yards. And 10 under or around that wins every year. As far as new courses, all they want to do is make them longer. They don’t want to make the greens smaller, the fairways tighter. The stuff that isn’t very exciting. So, let’s make it 8,000 yards.”

Is distance taking strategic elements out of the game because the ball goes too far?

“Depends on the course,” said Paul Casey, who emphasized he hadn’t read the report yet. “Look, the 10th at Riviera is a brilliant golf hole. Now, it’s just a brilliant golf hole with a different golf club in your hand. It’s still a great golf hole. Distance, in a way, exposes golf architecture. The great architecture is still great, the bad architecture is still bad.

“This is what always frustrates me. It’s the chicken-and-the-egg scenario. You hear the golf professionals hit the ball too far. The golf professionals are hitting it 320 yards instead of 300 yards. Why is it all about us? Obviously, there has been an increase in distance, partly because of the golf ball, partly because of the golfer, partly because we’re maximizing perfect launch conditions, other technology. That didn’t come about because the golfers decided to hit the golf ball farther, or golf manufactures decided to make the golf ball go farther. The golf courses got longer.

“There’s an argument for this. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong. But the golf courses became longer because the golf developers said if we can make the golf courses longer, we can get four more houses on that hole and two more on that hole, etc. That’s more money. And that’s when the manufactures and the players – including the amateurs – rose to the challenge. They had to start hitting the ball longer. I don’t like us players and the manufactures getting the blame. We’re not the only ones to blame.”

What about the amateurs?

Cantlay says distance isn’t a problem for the amateur player.

“I think all the equipment and all the stuff is great for the amateur golfer,” Cantlay said. “The ball can’t go too far for a 10 handicap.”

Scott Hamilton, a golf instructor for several Tour pros and elite amateur players alike, has seen his students swing with ever-increasing velocity.

“I’ve been at this for a long time and I used to get one college guy who could swing 118 mph. Now they all do. And it is the same with women. I’ve got six girls who can swing it over 100 mph. It’s not all the ball. The average chopper isn’t hitting it farther. Elite players are training better and they’re better athletes.

“Rolling the golf ball back isn’t going to help the grow game at the amateur level. I ran a golf shop for 18 years and never had one golfer ask me, ‘Give me the shortest ball you’ve got.’ ”

Stewart Cink opposes bifurcation

Cink, the 2009 British Open champ, doesn’t see the harm in amateurs hitting the ball longer, but he doesn’t support the potential of a local rule that would allow for different equipment at the elite level in competition.

“That sounds like bifurcation of the rules,” Cink said. “We (the PGA Tour) shouldn’t be in the rule-making business. I think playing by the same set of rules helps our fan base identify with us. They realize when they play the same equipment we do that golf is hard. I’m not saying nothing should be done, but I’m not sure if this reactive way of rolling things back is a real great idea.

“My caddie and I were just discussing this and what would bring it all back is a golf ball that didn’t go as straight, that curved more. Then you’re going to think twice about hitting driver. Hitting the ball straight should be a skill. You can’t deny that power is important, but that’s what makes a sport a sport. Tell me a sport where power isn’t important. Now, is it disproportionately important? That’s the question the ruling bodies have to answer.”

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LPGA says distance not a hindrance to its tour but does impact recreational players

The LPGA responded to Tuesday’s release by the USGA and R&A of the Distance Insights Project report.

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The LPGA responded to Tuesday’s release by the USGA and R&A of the Distance Insights Project report.

The LPGA stated that it does not see “distance as a hindrance towards the growth of the LPGA Tour or to the courses on which we can compete.”

But the statement went on to say that “the data shows there are some aspects of increased distance which are making the game more expensive and more difficult for recreational players. … we see opportunity in exploring ways to remove some of the longtime barriers of the game such as cost, limited teeing ground options, length of courses, time to play, etc.”

The process of making any changes at the pro level as well as locally as a result of the report are long-term. The LPGA says it is “interested to see what comes out of the next phase of research and feedback.”

The USGA and R&A have monitored increases in modern hitting distance since their 2002 Joint Statement of Principles without action, but Tuesday’s release of their Distance Insights Project seems to pave the way for changes.

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