Tag: Distance Report

Chairman Fred Ridley doesn’t want an 8,000-yard Masters, says Augusta National will support USGA, R&A golf ball rollback

Ridley doesn’t want the Masters to play more than 8,000 yards, but fears that may be the case in the future.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — During his annual media appearance ahead of the 2024 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on Wednesday, chairman Fred Ridley said the club supports the golf ball rollback spearheaded by the USGA and R&A in an effort to curb the growing distance problem in golf.

In his opening statements, Ridley talked about how for years the tournament was played at less than 7,000 yards, but noted this year’s yardage had extended to 7,555 yards. He also said one day this week the course could measure more than 7,600 yards.

The most notable comment the chairman made was that he doesn’t want the Masters to play more than 8,000 yards, but fears that may be the case in the future if distance isn’t diminished.

“I’ve said in the past that I hope we will not play the Masters at 8,000 yards. But that is likely to happen in the not too distant future under current standards,” said Ridley. “Accordingly, we support the decisions that have been made by the R&A and the USGA as they have addressed the impact of distance at all levels of the game.”

Last December the USGA and R&A announced they were 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.

Nearly every golf ball being sold today 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.

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.

Ridley said he hopes the PGA Tour and other golf tours and leagues will adopt the regulations and join Augusta National in its support of the USGA and R&A’s initiative.

“I certainly hope they will be, were they not it would cause a great deal of stress in the game it doesn’t need right now,” Ridley explained.

He also noted how, even if the regulations are implemented, other aspects of technology within the rules and the physicality and technical ability of the players will allow them to catch up and make up the difference in distance. Ridley doesn’t envision new tees closer to greens and he plans on “holding that 8,000-yard line.”

“We have some more room,” he added, “but we don’t have a lot.”

Distance has been a highly debated issue in golf – both the PGA Tour and LPGA immediately spoke out against the new regulations – and Augusta National’s support of the USGA and R&A’s efforts marks a significant step in the process to curb distance and make the game more sustainable.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4 category=451191917]

Phil Mickelson uses ice cream analogy on Twitter to again bash USGA over potential new driver rule

“So, we misread the data and we continue to make the wrong adjustments in the game,” said Mickelson.

Phil Mickelson took to Twitter last Friday and told his 770,000 followers that he heard rumors the United States Golf Association and the R&A, the two governing bodies of golf, are thinking about reducing the maximum allowable length of a driver from 48 inches to 46 inches.

The six-time major winner and World Golf Hall of Famer was, not surprisingly, against that idea. After all, this is a 51-year-old who loves nothing more than, “hitting bombs and hellacious seeds.”

It has now been six days, but Mickelson is not done arguing his point.

On Thursday Mickelson posted a three-minute video on Twitter and to his 1.2 million followers on Instagram stating that he thinks the USGA is using the wrong data to make decisions with regard to distance and equipment rules.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTUzFhJBYVh/

The groove rule change that Mickelson refers to in the video went into place in 2010 and reduced the size and shape of grooves, making them smaller and their edges less sharp. His point is the groove rule was intended to make things more challenging for elite golfers, but in reality, recreational players who struggle to generate spin and hit greens in regulation wound up being punished more than elite players.

“So, we misread the data and we continue to make the wrong adjustments in the game,” he said.

Instead of shortening the maximum allowable length of drivers, Mickelson wants the USGA and R&A to look into modifying the ball.

“If you remember when the liquid center golf ball was the ball of choice 20 years ago, there was more weight in the center of the ball than there was on the perimeter,” he said before explaining the physics of how liquid-core balls behave.

“What if we just got rid of the perimeter weighting so the ball wasn’t as stable and we had more weight in the center of the golf ball? We’re going to get more sidespin. And who’s that going to affect? The guy that hits the ball 300 yards, as opposed to the guy who hits 200 yards. Yeah, they might get more offline, but (recreational golfers) hit it so short, it’s not gonna get in as much trouble as the guy that hits it farther.”

Titleist Pro V1, Pro V1x (2021)
The 2021 Titleist Pro V1, Pro V1x (Titleist)

Mickelson is certainly not the first person to propose changing the rules governing the ball to reduce distance or want to debate golf ball performance. However, while it’s nitpicking, Phil’s memory is a little off.

Twenty years ago, the Titleist Pro V1 revolution was starting on the PGA Tour. It debuted at the 2000 Invensys Classic in Las Vegas and nearly 50 pros put the ball in play, including the eventual winner, Billy Andrade. Mickelson, using a Pro V1, came in second that week and then won the Tour Championship two weeks later with the solid-core Pro V1.

Twenty-five to 30 years ago, pros did use wound golf balls that had liquid-filled inner cores.

There are a lot of things the USGA and R&A could do to change the performance of today’s premium golf balls. For example, balls could be mandated to spin a minimum amount in driver tests or not exceed over a specific speed in driver tests.

Golfweek has spoken with numerous engineers who specialize in driver performance and been told, consistently, that making drivers shorter, driver faces thicker and less springy, or making driver heads small in volume would have a much bigger impact on weekend players than on pros.

But when it comes to driver length, Mickelson might be the one looking at the wrong data.

According to Club Champion, which has 85 locations throughout the United States, only five percent of the golfers it fits for drivers end up in a club that is 46 inches or longer. The vast majority, approximately 70 percent, use a driver that is 45 to 45.5 inches in length. Another 10 percent of golfers Club Champion fits end up in a driver that is 45 inches long or shorter; 10 percent buy drivers between 45.5 and 46 inches in length.

With only a handful of exceptions, manufacturers sell drivers that come standard between 45 and 45.75 inches in length.

So, if the USGA and R&A bring the maximum driver length down to 46 inches, only a tiny percentage of golfers would be affected. However, Mickelson could be one of them.

It is also worth considering that Mickelson, who has played a few Champions Tour events this season, may want to continue using a longer-than-standard driver when he starts playing the 50-and-over tour more frequently. A rule change announced in late-2021 or 2022 would not likely go into effect for two or three years after the announcement, which might coincide with the time when Mickelson, who has a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour, shifts to the Champions Tour.

The USGA and R&A are currently soliciting feedback and information from equipment manufacturers, as well as conducting studies related to distance. The comment period regarding its areas of interest is scheduled to end on November 2.

[vertical-gallery id=778059761]

Would the USGA’s proposal to limit equipment really hurt the average player?

Bigger and stronger players have always hit the golf ball farther than other players, no matter the specifications allowed by the USGA.

The United States Golf Association and the R&A, the two governing bodies of amateur golf and equipment in the world, took another step toward possibly reining in what many see as a major problem in the game these days, the distance that top players, particular pros, are hitting the golf ball.

But in doing so, they sparked a renewed debate over whether the 340-yard drives fans see from pros on a Sunday afternoon really matter that much to the overall game.

The Distance Insights Report, released by both organizations, uses plenty of charts and graphs and numbers to reinforce what we already know, that modern, athletic players with modern clubs and modern golf balls hit the ball a long, long way, much longer than 20 or 40 years ago.

The concern is that this distance is starting to take the skill out of the game and replacing it with brute strength. And that brute strength will, in turn, takes some of the game’s great venues and render them obsolete.

But is any of that true?

OK, yes, the golf ball flies farther today, and some of the biggest names in the game have been arguing that the USGA has let the horses out of the barn by not reining in distance years ago. Fabled courses like Merion and even Augusta National and St. Andrews seem to be losing the battle against equipment and muscular players.

But bigger and stronger players have always hit the golf ball farther than other players, no matter the specifications allowed by the USGA. Longer drives don’t always equate to winning a tournament, either.

The proposal for change – and there is no timetable for this – focuses on four areas: change current specifications for equipment (in other words roll equipment back a bit); change how equipment is tested; put new limits on clubs, especially the length of drivers to 46 inches; and allowing those who are putting on competitions to decide which equipment can and can’t be used in an effort to have players hit the ball shorter.

[listicle id=778086447]

Pros vs. recreational players

Here’s the problem with all of that. This weekend walk up to your usual foursome and ask your playing partners how many of them think they should hit the ball shorter than they do now. And be prepared to duck, because at least one of your partners is going to throw a golf ball at you.

The kind of distance that the USGA is talking about, the distance that can make a golf course obsolete, is reserved for players in major competitions. PGA Tour, LPGA, European Tour, college golf and, yes, even top high school golfers can hit the ball 300-yards plus on demand. But that has nothing to do with the recreational game you and your friends play. When architects talk about not wanting to expand courses, they aren’t talking about adding yards onto courses for you. It’s that PGA Tour or LPGA Tour event that comes to town once a year that can be an issue.

It is true that there is something strange about watching a pro hit the green on a 600-yard par-5 in two shots, or hitting a sand wedge into a 470-yard par-4. But if you played those same holes from those distances, you would likely struggle to hit the greens in regulation.

All of which leads to the idea that no one at the USGA or the R and A want to discuss much, bifurcation. That means a separate set of rules, one for pros, one for amateurs. The powers that be like that idea that you play by the same rules Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson play by. But how can the USGA limited equipment for pros and not hurt amateurs if there is one set of rules.

So the debate will go on. In the report released this week, 82 percent of those surveyed said they don’t want to see golf courses expanded to 8,000 yards or more. Seventy-three percent said they don’t want to see the golf ball fly farther than it already does. That would seem to back the case for limiting equipment.

Phil Mickelson Masters Practice
Phil Mickelson catches a ball as he prepares for The 2020 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National GC. Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

But would limiting equipment make your round at your favorite course any more fun? Probably not. It might make you move up a set of tees, which is something a lot of golfers just don’t want to do.

Because there is no timetable for the proposed changes, no one knows if or when the golf ball and golf clubs might be reined in. But expect plenty of pros and manufacturers to bristle at the idea if it comes close to reality. Already Rory McIlroy has called the report a waste of time, arguing that limiting equipment is no way to grow the game of golf.

McIlroy may be right on letting more people have fun with equipment that makes the game easier. But expect more and more talk about bifurcation if the USGA and the R and A decide pros are just hitting the ball too far.

Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for the Palm Springs (California) Desert Sun. He can be reached at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @Larry_Bohannan. 

[jwplayer 7NBaZ2A0-9JtFt04J]

Lynch: Matt Fitzpatrick’s DeChambeau comments, while petty, call out statutes deficient in protecting golf

Matthew Fitzpatrick is not alone in believing the current statutes have proven woefully deficient in protecting the sport.

It may be the most impressive example yet of Bryson DeChambeau’s command of distance that he can dominate a golf tournament being contested more than 5,000 miles away from the event he’s actually competing in.

On Thursday, DeChambeau made his first start since winning the U.S. Open by six strokes, and promptly shot 62 to grab the first-round lead at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. By Friday, he was scarcely less a factor at the BMW PGA Championship, the flagship event on the flagging European Tour. That’s when the man leading at Wentworth—England’s Matt Fitzpatrick—remarked that the world No. 6 was making “a bit of a mockery of the game” with the prodigious distance he now commands.

“It’s not a skill to hit the ball a long way in my opinion,” Fitzpatrick said. “I could put on 40 pounds. I could go and see a bio-mechanist and I could gain 40 yards; that’s actually a fact. I could put another two inches on my driver. I could gain that, but the skill in my opinion is to hit the ball straight. That’s the skill, he’s just taking the skill out of it in my opinion. I’m sure lots will disagree. It’s just daft.”

Fitzpatrick, a man so slender of build that he might have to jog around the shower to get wet, is spotting 85 pounds to DeChambeau, whose bulk might soon demand he shower in a car wash. Fitzpatrick averages just shy of 295 yards off the tee, a respectable number but still typically a Walmart or so behind the hulk.

Eamon Lynch

Responding to those comments, DeChambeau exhibited more restraint than is his custom when addressing small white things.

“I would say it actually takes more skill to do what I’m doing,” he said. “I still believe I’m hitting it straighter than what I was last year with the distances that I was hitting back then. So I actually appreciate those comments.”

It’s easy to dismiss Fitzpatrick’s comments as sour grapes. Every generation sees players get left behind, condemned by their physique to keep faith with a style of golf that other elite competitors have moved beyond. He’s Corey Pavin with an accent. But even if that’s true, Fitzpatrick is correct in his assessment that professional golf is increasingly one-dimensional and lacking nuance, dominated by what my old high school woodworking teacher used to refer to as “BF and I” — brute force and ignorance.

Matthew Fitzpatrick shakes hands with Bryson DeChambeau during the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Blame for that doesn’t rest at DeChambeau’s door. He’s doing everything permitted within the parameters governing the sport to gain a competitive edge. It just happens that those parameters as constituted are diminishing the value of golf course architecture, reducing the concept of course management to a simple matter of player preference on the day rather than a considered response to what is being asked of them. Professional golf is becoming less a battle of strategy — player versus course — and more a tussle over governance, man against regulations. Fitzpatrick is not alone in believing the current statutes have proven woefully deficient in protecting the sport.

It was only last February — a lifetime ago in 2020 terms — that the USGA and R&A published their Distance Insights Report, which nudged the governing bodies from the dithering phase to the deliberating one. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed subsequent action until March 2021. In the meantime we are left in the midst of a tiresome tweeting standoff between those who think there is no problem and those who think there are no other problems.

DeChambeau added more kindling to the conflagration in his second round at TPC Summerlin by pummeling a 373-yard drive onto the green at the par-4 7th hole and making eagle (he drove the green on Thursday too). Impressive, to be sure, but the only thing PGA Tour players receive on Fridays is a ride back to their hotel. By Sunday morning, DeChambeau was in a tie for 31st, seven shots back. This week, like most weeks, he won’t win. He may be dominating headlines, but DeChambeau has a ways to go before he’s dominating the game.

PGA: U.S. Open - Final Round
Bryson DeChambeau during the final round of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club. (Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports)

This is not a week that ought to be entered in the book of evidence on the distance debate. On the day DeChambeau shot his effortless 62, four other men shot 63 and another five logged 64s. On Saturday, Matthew Wolff added a 61 to previous rounds of 68 and 66, and he’s still not leading! PGA Tour setups in Vegas are easier pickings than the rubes chasing a busted straight down on the Strip. But we should hope that what happened in Vegas does not stay in Vegas.

The next real evidentiary phase commences in 32 days with the Masters Tournament, at which DeChambeau is mulling using a 48-inch driver in the quest to put even more distance between himself and Fitzpatrick. Gimmicks and showmanship are a popular play in Las Vegas, but might get a markedly cooler reception at Augusta National.

Still, purists should cheer DeChambeau on in the hope that he pulverizes Alistair Mackenzie’s masterpiece, that he blasts tee shots over the Tiger-proofing trees planted two decades ago, that he reduces to a flip wedge the par 5s that once required career-defining long iron shots from legends. That might be the final indignity necessary to galvanize the powers-that-be from dithering to deliberation to, at last, decisive action.

[lawrence-related id=778069621,778069386,778069257,778067416]

Will shorter courses that qualify as national treasures ever see a U.S. Open again?

In an age of 330-plus yard drives, plenty of courses are left wanting of a few hundred more yards when it comes to U.S. Open consideration.

The Forecaddie loves a short walk, but even your intrepid Man Out Front knows some courses – regardless of pedigree or architectural chops – just can’t handle a modern U.S. Open.

The U.S. Golf Association needs room for parking, hospitality tents, grandstands. … the list goes on and on when you expect to handle a couple hundred thousand fans during the week. Not to mention the 7,000-plus yards needed to handle the best players in the world. Those 500-yard par 4s chew up a lot of space.

The USGA and R&A released in February their combined Distance Insights Report, which didn’t lay out specific plans on how the ruling bodies plan to curtail the distances golf balls fly, especially at the elite level. But the report certainly reads as a call to action. However, the next steps in the process are on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Golf courses have grown longer and longer over the past 125 years since the first U.S. Open in 1895, played across a wee 5,510 yards for two loops around the nine holes at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. The winner, Horace Rawlins, surely would be slack-jawed by modern distance, with Erin Hills measuring 7,845 for the first round in 2017.

And in an age of 330-plus yard drives, plenty of masterful designs are left wanting of a few hundred more yards when it comes to U.S. Open consideration.

Myopia Hunt Club near Boston, for instance, hosted four early U.S. Opens, with its last in 1908. Without even considering other mitigating factors, the current 6,539-yard layout by Herbert Leeds (with a renovation by Gil Hanse) is simply too short to host a modern Open, let alone many other premier USGA championships. Myopia may be a dream course for architecture geeks and ranks No. 34 in Golfweek’s Best ranking of classic courses, but don’t bet on seeing it on any potential lists for upcoming venues.

St. Louis Country Club, a C.B. Macdonald gem ranked No. 52 on Golfweek’s Best classic list, hosted the 1947 U.S. Open but is a definite “no” today based solely on its 6,625 yards.

Inverness (No. 47 Classic) challenged Walter Hagen in 1920 and 1931, Arnold Palmer in 1957 and Jack Nicklaus in 1979, but would be unable to contain Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and the like today. Cherry Hills (No. 89 Classic) hosted U.S. Opens in 1938, 1960 and 1978, with no player breaking 280, yet saw record scoring (266 by Billy Horschel) at the BMW Championship in 2014.

Without laying out any defined plan to curtail distance, the ruling bodies’ report did mention two possibilities: rolling back equipment standards across the board, or a local rule for gear that better contains elite players only – essentially bifurcation.

There’s no telling what’s to come, or if shorter courses that easily qualify as national treasures will ever see a U.S. Open.

The Man Out Front will keep his eye on the ball.

U.S. Open distances over the years

Year Course Yardage
1895 Newport* 5,510
1903 Baltusrol 6,003
1915 Baltusrol 6,212
1920 Inverness 6,569
1935 Oakmont 6,981
1948 Riviera 7,020
1954 Baltusrol 7,027
1964 Congressional 7,053
1974 Winged Foot 6,961
1986 Shinnecock 6,912
1997 Congressional 7,213
2007 Oakmont 7,355
2011 Congressional 7,574
2020** Winged Foot 7,477

* Two loops around the nine-hole course
** The 2020 U.S. Open is scheduled for June but that is subject to change.

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.

[lawrence-related id=778031997,778031917,778031964,778031959]

Acushnet CEO weighs in on the distance debate

David Maher, president and CEO of Acushnet, weighed in after the USGA and R&A jointly released their Distance Insights Report.

[jwplayer 5Vf9mTup-9JtFt04J]

David Maher, the president and CEO of Acushnet, has weighed in on golf’s distance debate fifteen days after the USGA and R&A jointly released their long-awaited Distance Insights Report that made it clear they do not want the gradual increase in distance and course length to continue.

“We believe the conclusions drawn in this Report undervalue the skill and athleticism of the game’s very best players and focus far too much on the top of the men’s professional game and project this on golf and golfers as a whole,” Maher wrote in a letter posted Wednesday on Titleist’s website. “Furthermore, we believe that existing equipment regulations effectively govern the prospects of any significant increases in hitting distance by the game’s longest hitters.”

Without giving specifics, the ruling bodies mentioned two possible solutions in their report released Feb. 14: rolling back equipment as a whole with a new set of distance standards, or creating a local rule that requires a different set of equipment standards for elite competitions. No time frame for any action was set.

The ruling bodies’ report notes that over the last 100 years, golfers have been hitting the ball farther and farther, and golf courses have been getting longer and longer to maintain the challenges of the game and test a variety of skills. Data collected by the game’s governing bodies shows longer courses require more water, fertilizer and dollars to maintain. The USGA and R&A said that as costs increase, many courses will not be able to keep up with possible distance increases if nothing is done, and that could bad for the long-term future of the game.

Maher, in charge of the company that makes the most popular golf balls at both the professional and recreational levels, sees things differently.

“The Report indicates the next step in the Distance Insights Project will focus on evaluating potential changes to the equipment rules to curb innovation and limit any additional hitting distance,” he writes. “Golf equipment (clubs and balls) has historically been highly regulated, and these regulations have been effective in setting upper limits on equipment performance and ensuring that the best golfers separate themselves with their talent, skill, and training while using equipment best suited to their games.”

He goes on to note that the PGA Tour driving distance average has decreased in six of the past 13 seasons including last year, when it dipped to 293.9 yards from 296.1 yards in 2018.

“We believe this helps to affirm the effectiveness of regulatory efforts, particularly those adopted since the early 2000s, which continue to achieve their desired intent of setting boundaries around future distance increases while also rewarding skill and encouraging innovation.”

Maher also makes it clear Titleist is not interested in advancing the idea of a local rule that would mandate golfers at specific events use distance-reducing equipment.

“We believe that playing by a unified set of rules coalesces our game, is an essential part of its global understanding and appeal, and eliminates the inconsistency and instability that would come from multiple sets of equipment standards,” he writes.

In other words, Acushnet and Titleist are not in favor of bifurcation.

[opinary poll=”do-you-think-distance-is-a-problem-in-go” customer=”golfweek”]

Eamon’s Corner: USGA, R&A taking heat but don’t call them amateurs

The only thing that seems to unite the two sides of the distance debate is the belief that the USGA and R&A have gotten things wrong.

Too often it doesn’t matter what the USGA or R&A say. When they say it. How they say it. Or even who says it.

The distance discussion is no different. Like much of what we see in daily life, most minds are already made up.

The only thing that seems to unite both sides on this fractious topic is the belief that the USGA and R&A have gotten things wrong, which is fair enough. That’s the cost of being in a position of authority.

But the most asinine dismissal we frequently hear is that they’re amateurs, ill-qualified to sit in judgment on the professional game.

Check out this week’s edition of Eamon’s Corner.

[jwplayer 9yl4KIMY-9JtFt04J]

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.

[protected-iframe id=”f1fb0c64e8358c83feba892be2f7fa94-120918734-151533047″ info=”https://omny.fm/shows/the-forward-press-podcast-from-golfweek-com/usga-r-a-distance-report/embed” width=”100%” height=”450″ frameborder=”0″]

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.

[jwplayer 5Vf9mTup-9JtFt04J]

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.”

[opinary poll=”do-you-think-distance-is-a-problem-in-go” customer=”golfweek”]

[lawrence-related id=778024465,778024460,778024372,778024483]