TaylorMade’s Performance Decision Kit could be a great golf ball fitting option, but you can’t buy it

This is exactly what many golfers need.

With its namesake mountain looming in the background, twilight descending, and the empty, emerald-green fairway laid out in front of me, the 18th hole at Superstition Mountain Golf Club in Golf Canyon, Arizona, was the perfect place to have a little fun.

No one else was around that evening, so I dropped five or six three-ball sleeves of the newest golf balls on the ground and started hitting approach shots, pitch shots and chip shots until darkness made it too hard to see. I made little notes on a pad about how each ball felt and flew, how much it appeared to spin (I didn’t have a launch monitor), checked-up on the green and which balls seemed to end up closest to the hole.

It was the first time I’d really tested golf balls, and it has become a yearly ritual that starts my season every year, although, sadly, Central Connecticut is not as pretty as the Arizona desert in late March.

I have encouraged Golfweek readers to buy three-ball packs of newly released balls at the start of every season and test them against the ball they currently play on several occasions, so when I recently received TaylorMade’s Performance Decision Kit, I thought a brand had finally made the job of ball testing a little easier. Inside the box were six two-ball packs of each urethane-covered ball in the 2024 TaylorMade stable: TP5, TP5 Pix, TP5x, TP5x Pix, Tour Response and Tour Response Stripe.

One box, three different balls in both white and in each ball’s visual-technology version.

TaylorMade Performance Decision Kit
The TaylorMade Performance Decision Kit includes six two-ball packs of TaylorMade balls. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

But when I reached out to TaylorMade to find out when the Performance Decision Kit was going on sale to the public, I got the bad news: This unique box will not go on sale to consumers. It was created for select members of the media and influencers to make them aware of TaylorMade’s new offerings for 2024.

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I recently went to TaylorMade’s golf ball manufacturing plant in Liberty, South Carolina. I have also visited Callaway’s facility in Chicopee, Massachusetts, along with Titleist’s golf ball plant in New Bedford, Massachusetts, several times. These state-of-the-art facilities turn out millions of dozen boxes of golf balls every year thanks to lots of proprietary systems, customized machines and other automated processes. The assembly lines are built to make thousands of the same ball at a time, paint them, number them, add them to sleeves and then get those sleeves into dozen-ball boxes.

I assume creating something like the TaylorMade Performance Decision Kit involves a level of small-batch work that would be difficult to do at scale. In fact, it would likely fall to the custom golf ball department that handles corporate orders and other small-batch projects. Still, that doesn’t mean I don’t want TaylorMade and other brands to make dozens of boxes like this available to everyone.

For the last 20 years, the percentage of golfers who buy their clubs after going through a custom fitting season has dramatically increased because while a good-quality custom fitting session can take time, the result is a club that is ideally suited for the player. Once players go through a fitting for a driver or irons, they never buy “off the rack” again. Custom fitting for putters and wedges still lag behind woods and irons, but those numbers are going to climb.

Golf ball fittings? Almost no recreational golfers get fit for the ball they use, which is why a multi-ball pack sold as a fitting tool is something we need. It would make the process easier if you could buy a dozen box and get a sleeve of:

Any time I talk with a brand about helping golfers find the right clubs, they all say custom fitting is the key. If you don’t get custom fit for your woods, irons, wedges or putter, you are almost certainly leaving some performance behind. The same thing holds true with golf balls.

Unfortunately, TaylorMade’s Performance Decision Kit may be an example of a great idea that is not ready to become a reality for most golfers.

Best golf equipment and apparel sales in March 2024

Check out the best golf sales in the month of March, including equipment, golf balls, apparel and more.

Warmer weather is right around the corner, which means golf courses and driving ranges around the country will soon be full of golfers hoping that 2024 will be their best year on the course yet.

To make sure you have all the gear your need to get through this season, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Worldwide Golf Shops to create a list of some of the best golf sales happening in March 2024.

Some of the brands included below are Titleist, Ping, Nike, Srixon, Adidas and more.

While you’re here, check out some of our other apparel, equipment and accessories lists: Best balls 2024 | Best pants 2024 | RSVLTS’ new Happy Gilmore collection

TaylorMade TP5 Pix, TP5x Pix (2024)

Updated designs on the cover help golfers clearly see how the ball is rolling on the greens.

Gear: TaylorMade TP5 Pix, TP5x Pix (2024)
Price: $54.99 per dozen
Specs: Five-piece construction with cast urethane cover

Who it’s For: Golfers who want visual cues about the quality of their putting strokes and roll on the greens without sacrificing elite performance.

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The Skinny: The Pix golf balls perform identically to TaylorMade’s 2024 TP5 and TP5x balls, but updated designs added to the cover help golfers clearly see how the ball is rolling on the greens.

The Deep Dive: For decades, non-white golf balls were few and far between, with a handful of players opting to use high-visibility yellow or orange balls while playing partners snickered behind their backs. Tradition ruled, and golf doesn’t break from tradition easily.

Times have changed, and attitudes toward non-white golf balls have shifted dramatically. In 2024, TaylorMade anticipates selling more non-white golf balls than traditional all-white golf balls for the first time. While the MySymbol program allows for freedom of expression and personalization, the Pix balls are going to account for a significant percentage of TaylorMade’s non-white-ball increase.

The original TP5 and TP5x Pix balls were initially designed with the help of researchers at the University of Indiana in 2019. It was revealed at that time that we see a two-colored pattern more effectively and track it more easily than with a single color, so the X-shaped Pix markings were red and yellow. The Pix markings were updated in 2021 with the help of Rickie Fowler, who likes to draw a line on his golf ball. The new design allowed for that and created a clear path of white that made it easy to see if the roll a player created with his putting stroke was ideal.

SHOP: TaylorMade TP5 Pix & TP5X Pix golf balls

TaylorMade TP5 Pix
The TaylorMade TP5x Pix and TP5 Pix for 2024. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

For 2024, the TP5 Pix and TP5x Pix remain identical to their all-white (or all-yellow) counterparts, with each ball having a soft core that is encased in three mantle layers and a cast urethane cover for extra greenside spin. However, the triangular black and orange design has been replaced with a diamond shape that has the orange areas on the inside area and the black pieces on the outside. Now, when you make a high-quality putting stroke, a white path is created in the center, and black stripes are formed on the outside as the ball rolls. If you swing across the ball as you putt or make a non-solid strike, the orange and black diamonds will blur and immediately provide you with visual feedback.

TaylorMade also made the side stamp and the lines that extend off it longer, so if players want to use it as an alignment aid instead of drawing a line on the ball, it will be easier to use.

TaylorMade TP5x Pix, TP5 Pix
The TP5x Pix has orange numbers, while the TP5 Pix has black numbers. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

“Tommy Fleetwood is playing a Pix ball, not just because he likes the performance of the ball,” said Mike Fox, TaylorMade’s senior category director for golf balls. “He’s using it because it makes him a better putter.”

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop TM TP5 Pix golf balls” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/QyrGBz”]

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop TM TP5x Pix golf balls” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/rQ30VB”]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1364]

TaylorMade TP5, TP5x balls (2024)

According to TaylorMade, this core additive has never been used in golf balls.

Gear: TaylorMade TP5, TP5x balls (2024)
Price: $54.99 per dozen
Specs: Five-piece, urethane-covered golf balls available in white, yellow and Pix patterns.
Available: February 15

Who It’s For: Golfers who want an elite combination of distance off the tee and with long irons, plus greenside spin and a softer feel.

The Skinny: Adding a new material to the core of the 2024 TP5 and TP5x balls allowed TaylorMade to decouple the relationship between speed and feel, so its most-premium balls could each be made faster but feel softer.

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The Deep Dive: Historically, the two things that golfers want the most from a golf ball — more speed and better feel — have worked against each other. Manufacturers have worked with different materials and different manufacturing techniques to create better golf balls, but to get more speed, they have traditionally increased compression and produced firmer-feeling balls. Softer, better-feeling balls with lower compressions were more satisfying to hit, but that softer feel typically came at the expense of speed.

After taking three years instead of the typical two years to release an update to the 2021 TP5 and TP5x balls, TaylorMade feels that it has decoupled the old relationship between speed and feel and developed a way to give players more of both. 

Working with Dow Chemical, TaylorMade has added a material it calls Speed Wrap to the rubber in the core of the TP5 and TP5x. According to TaylorMade, this core additive has never been used in golf balls before but changes the way the ball sounds when you hit it, producing a softer, deeper sound. 

Golfweek had a chance to tour TaylorMade’s golf ball factory in Liberty, South Carolina, in late 2023, where TP5 and TP5x cores are turned into balls. When a TaylorMade representative dropped an old core and a new core on the ground and bounced them, the difference in sound was immediately apparent. The 2021 core produced a higher-pitched, clicking sound, while the 2024 core with the Speed Wrap additive sounded quieter and almost muffled.

TaylorMade TP5 (2024)
The five-layer TaylorMade TP5 for 2024. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The Speed Wrap additive makes the balls sound and feel softer, but it does not make the new TP5 and TP5x balls faster. However, TaylorMade golf ball designers were able to make the cores in the 2024 TP5 and TP5x balls firmer, which gives them more speed, while the Speed Wrap softens the sound and feel produced at impact. The result, for most golfers, is a faster ball that also feels and sounds better.

Beyond changing the composition of the core in the TP5 and TP5x balls, TaylorMade has also updated the three mantle layers that encase the core. Each of the mantles has a different level of firmness, with the firmness increasing as one layer is added over another. The change in the level of compression, referred to as the delta, in the TP5 is about 53. The compression delta of the TP5x is 71.

On full-swing shots like drivers and 3-woods off the tee, the blunt strike from the club sends energy into the ball, through the mantle layers and into the core, activating it to generate speed and reduce spin. Full-swing shots hit with your short irons and wedges, which have more loft, make the balls behave differently. In those cases, the soft urethane cover can easily be grabbed by the grooves. Along with the added loft, it helps to create more spin for added control. On delicate chips and pitch shots, the core may not be activated at all, but the softness of the urethane cover layer again helps players generate more spin and control.

While both the 2024 TP5 and TP5x have a softer feel than their predecessors, the TP5 should still feel softer than the TP5x because it has a lower overall compression. The TP5x should provide players with more speed with wood and long irons because it is firmer, and it will generate a higher launch angle, too. The TP5, however, is designed to create slightly more spin than the TP5x with wedges.

TaylorMade TP5x (2024)
The five-layer TaylorMade TP5x golf ball. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

TaylorMade’s tour staff has added the new balls to their bag quickly, with Rory McIlroy experimenting with the TP5 early in 2024 before opting to play the standard TP5x and winning his fourth Dubai Desert Classic on January 21. LPGA Tour star Brooke Henderson also added the 2024 TP5x to her bag earlier this season.

Bridgestone Tour B Mindset balls aim to improve your preparation and quiet your inner voice on the course

The system can help develop a routine to turn your brain off when overthinking can get in the way.

It’s incredible how many things you can think about in the time it takes between starting your downswing and making contact with the ball. In reality, it’s only a fraction of a second, but you can notice the stretching of a golf cart’s tires two holes away, see subtle movement of a shadow near your ball and suddenly remember a tip you overhead in the clubhouse about swinging up on drives to get more distance. Before you finish your follow-through and spot the ball, you know it’s gone, sliced into the woods like three other brain-dead shots you’ve hit off the tee that day.

With the release of the Mindset pattern on its new Tour B family of golf balls for 2024, Bridgestone is trying to help golfers — both recreational players and elite competitors — adopt a system that can help them develop a routine to turn their brain off when overthinking can get in the way of hitting good shots.

Developed with the help of Jason Day and his mental-game coach, Jason Goldsmith, the Mindset pattern is comprised of three circles and a series of three small arrows, with each part of the pattern representing a step in the pre-shot process.

The large red circle represents the time before the shot when you consider things like the hole location, hazards, the wind direction and where you want to hit your next shots. Inside that circle is a smaller yellow circle, which represents the time when you want to envision what that shot will look like. If you have ever seen Jason Day on television closing his eyes for a few seconds before hitting, this is what he’s doing, imagining what hitting his desired shot will feel like and how it will look.

Bridgestone Tour B Mindset
The Bridgestone Tour B Mindset ball is designed to help golfers improve their pre-shot process and quiet their thoughts as they play shots. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

After going through those steps, golfers should focus on the green dot in the pattern, the smallest circle, and stop thinking. The idea is you want to consider all of the analytical things that will go into an intelligent shot, allow your body and mind to think about what hitting that shot will be like, and then mentally get out of the way and let it happen.

“What Mindset is actually doing is trying to get the amateur prepared to hit the best possible shot they can hit,” Day said. “You’re setting up these steps for an amateur golfer to be able to perform from tee to green so much better.”

The arrows in the Mindset logo allow players to line up the ball on the greens before putts and use the logo as an alignment aid while also lining up the ball when they tee off.

Aside from the mindset side stamp, the Mindset golf balls are identical to the other just-released Bridgestone Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX and Tour B RXS balls, and if all of this feels a little too Kumbaya-inner-peace-zen for your taste, consider this: In testing with accomplished golfers, Bridgestone reports that golfers who were told about the Mindset process and used Mindset balls in a study averaged over 4 mph more ball speed and 12 yards more carry distance than when they used all-white golf balls. On the greens, golfers made five percent more putts using a Mindset ball than a black, all-white ball from 10 feet. The improved performance is attributed to golfers trusting the preparation process and then being more relaxed and free when they swing.

Bridgestone Tour B Mindset golf balls should be in stores starting February 16 for $49.99 per dozen.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=451204192]

Bridgestone Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX and Tour B RXS golf balls

The 2024 Bridgestone Tou B balls provide distance off tee, spin around the green and come in four versions.

Gear: Bridgestone Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX and Tour B RXS golf balls
Price: $49.99 per dozen
Specs: Three-piece, urethane-covered golf balls in white and yellow
Available: February 16 (White and Tour B X TW), March 15 (Yellow X and RX

Who It’s For: Golfers who want more distance off the tee and tour-level greenside spin.

The Skinny: Bridgestone has modified the casing layer of the Tour B balls to help them generate more speed while complementing the unique urethane cover that provides more spin around the greens.

The Deep Dive: For golfers who may not be aware, Bridgestone has been making solid-core, urethane-covered golf balls as long as any brand in the industry, and the Nike golf ball that Tiger Woods used to win four consecutive majors (the Tiger Slam) was manufactured by Bridgestone. Nick Price won the British Open and PGA Championships using a Bridgestone ball, Nick Faldo won at Augusta National with a Bridgestone, and, more recently, Tiger won the 2019 Masters, and Bryson DeChambeau won at Winged Foot in 2020 using a Bridgestone ball.

Since 2020, the Japanese brand has focused on contact science, studying how different combinations of materials can enhance speed and distance off the tee while also providing more greenside spin and control for different types of players. The addition of impact modifiers to create the Reactiv cover of the 2020 Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX and Tour B RXS four years ago was the first fruit of that labor, followed by the ReactivIQ covers that were uniquely created for each ball in the 2022 Toru B lineup. Now, for 2024, Bridgestone is claiming it has taken another step toward creating the Holy Grail of golf balls by developing the new ReactivX system.

The ReactivX system is comprised of two parts: an Xclrnt mid-layer (pronounced accelerant) and a ReactivIQ urethane cover.

Instead of using multiple cores inside each of the four Tour B balls, Bridgestone has designed a gradational core that is very soft in the center and gradually gets firmer toward the perimeter. A firm mid-layer (mantle) is then applied over the core, but in the 2024 Tour B balls, that casing layer does a better job of transferring energy into ball speed.

The new Xclrnt mid-layer is also more dense, so golfers like Tiger and Jason Day, who started testing and using the ball in 2023, reported it has a lower, deeper sound at impact.

A ReactivIQ urethane cover encases the Xclrnt mid-layer, with the exact cover-material blend for each ball being slightly different. By using different combinations of impact modifiers, Bridgestone designers can make the urethane behave differently under different conditions. The cover behaves and feels firmer when hit with your longer, faster-swinging clubs like your driver and long irons but feels softer when you hit it with wedges.

Here is a breakdown of the four Tour B balls for 2024 and who each has been made for:

Wilson Staff Model, Staff Model X balls (2024)

Check out the new Wilson Staff Model and Staff Model X golf balls.

Gear: Wilson Staff Model, Staff Model X balls
Price: $54.99 per dozen
Specs: Four-piece, urethane-covered balls, available in white and yellow.
Available: January 12

Who It’s For: Golfers who want to maximize greenside spin around the green and get elite distance off the tee.

The Skinny: Wilson reformulated the cores of the Staff Model and Staff Model X balls to improve distance off the tee and spin around the green. 

The Deep Dive: Wilson makes all the footballs used in the NFL and all the tennis balls used in the U.S. Open tennis championship, so you can trust that the brand knows a thing or two about making high-quality golf balls too.

Wilson offers the Staff Duo for recreational golfers who want a soft, low-spinning ball to help straighten a slice and hit more fairways. For golfers who are looking to enhance their game with improved greenside spin, it offers the perimeter-weighted Triad. For elite players who want distance off the tee and maximum control around the greens, it has provided the Staff Model balls, and for 2024, the standard Staff Model and the Staff Model X have been updated.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Wilson golf balls” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/VmKn2a”]

The Staff Model and the Staff Model X are both four-piece balls designed with a large rubber core that is encased in two mantle layers. To help golfers generate more ball speed and distance, Wilson has modified the core composition and added material that magnifies energy on full-swing shots. 

Wilson Staff Model golf balls 2024
The cores of the Staff Model (left) and Staff Model X balls have been updated to provide more distance. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The core of each ball is encased in a soft inner mantle that is, in turn, covered by a firmer second mantle layer and then a thin urethane cover. The advantage of the two-mantle design is the softer inner mantle helps to reduce spin off the tee, while the firmer mantle layer helps the grooves in wedges and short irons grab the soft urethane cover more easily, so golfers should be able to create more spin on approach shots, chips and pitches.

The standard Staff Model has a slightly lower overall compression, so it will feel softer at impact, spin slightly less off the tee, and produce a lower ball flight with a golfer’s driver and long clubs. 

The Staff Model X will feel firmer, produce a higher flight off the tee and generate slightly more spin around the green. The Staff Model X also produces marginally more spin off the tee, so golfers who like to work the ball from right to left or left to right with their woods and irons may be able to do that more easily with the X ball.

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Nick Price sounds off on golf ball rollback: ‘Equipment is making all of our great courses redundant’

“The sweet spot on the driver is the size of a peach now. When I was playing it was the size of a pea.”

Nick Price is regarded as one of golf’s great gentleman but bring up the subject of golf equipment and what advances in technology have done to the game and the former world No. 1, three-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Famer doesn’t hold back.

“Equipment is making all of our great courses redundant,” Price told Golfweek last week at the PNC Championship in Orlando, where he teamed with son Greg. “You ask any of the old guys – but they’ll say you old guys always complain and this is a new generation and they work a lot harder than you, well, I can name five guys that are fatter than I am and still hit it 340 yards. So, don’t give me that yarn just because everyone is working out. A lot of guys are working out, which is great, and they work on the right things and whatever, but the sweet spot on the driver is the size of a peach now. When I was playing it was the size of a pea. I’m not saying we need to go back to (persimmon woods) but these poor golf courses, you’ve got 620-yard par 5s and they’re reaching them in driver-4-iron. Something needs to be done.”

Nick Price with the trophy after winning the 1994 British Open at the Turnberry in Scotland. (Photo: Phil Sheldon/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

A native of Zimbabwe, Price won 18 times on the PGA Tour, earned two PGA Tour Player of the Year Awards (1993, 1994), and spent 43 weeks as the No. 1 player in the world.

The 66-year-old isn’t just another “old guy” voicing his opinion. He’s been intimately involved in the process as a member of the U.S. Golf Association Executive Committee for the past five years and served on the Championship and Equipment Standards committees.

“I was quite vocal about it, it was the ball, it was the driver, it was the grooves,” he said.

Earlier this month, the USGA and R&A announced that the rules governing how golf balls are tested will change starting on Jan. 1, 2028. It’s how the governing bodies intend to stop the trends of golfers hitting the ball farther and golf courses getting longer.

The announcement came after years of debate, study and communications between the USGA and R&A with stakeholders like golf equipment manufacturers, the PGA Tour, the PGA of America and other prominent groups in the golf world.

Of the governing bodies electing to roll back the ball in 2028 for pros and 2030 for recreaional golfers, Price was tepid on the move.

“It’s a step,” he said. “A lot of people don’t want to do anything about it.”

Initially, the USGA and R&A proposed the creation of a Model Local Rule that would have resulted in only elite men being required to use distance-reducing balls. But under the new rules, everyone is going to transition into the balls tested in a new, distance-reducing way.

Asked for his stance on bifurcation, Price said, “I thought there could be that. It was an option. We talked about if you played in a USGA championship you’d have to use a specific ball and clubs. But that ain’t going to happen.”

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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Best affordable golf balls for 2023

Golf balls that will help your improve your game, without costing as much as your entire round.

For many amateur golfers, it’s tough to justify spending $40, $50, $60 on a box of golf balls. Odds are you’re losing one of the first tee if you had no time to warm up anyway.

It’s important to buy a golf ball that performs well and isn’t going to break the bank.

That’s why we’ve put together a list of some of the best affordable golf balls on the market from brands like Titleist, TaylorMade, Srixon, Callaway and more.

The best balls on the market — Titleist ProV1, TaylorMade TP5, etc. — go for $50-plus a box. So, every deal we found for you is $35 and under.

Plus, check out some of our other recently released lists for those wanting to improve their score without breaking the bank: Best affordable putters for 2023, best affordable wedges for 2023 and best affordable drivers for 2023.