“I started hitting a driver longer than 46 when I was 15 and I’ve never looked back.”
Brooke Henderson will need to make changes to her driver in 2022.
The LPGA has confirmed to Golfweek that it will institute the Model Local Rule, which gives tours the option to limit the maximum length of a driver to 46 inches, beginning the week of March 21 for the JTBC Classic (formerly the Kia Classic). The new local rule was put forth in October by the U.S. Golf Association and R&A.
The 10-time LPGA winner has used a 48-inch driver for her entire career on tour. Known for her aggressive style, power and the way she chokes down on her clubs, Henderson finished ninth on tour in driving distance in 2021.
“I started hitting a driver longer than 46 when I was 15,” she told Golfweek at the Pelican Women’s Championship, “and I’ve never looked back.”
Brooke Henderson hits her tee shot on the 4th hole during the third round of the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. (Photo: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports)
Henderson had hoped the tour would refrain from implementing the new rule, saying that she believes it takes skill to be able to hit a longer club as well. Her father and instructor Dave noted that longer clubs (and distances off the tee) bring more excitement to the tour.
Henderson had already begun testing a 46-inch driver and “didn’t love it,” losing several yards.
The tour set up a club-testing area at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship to check driver lengths.
An LPGA spokesperson said that seven players, including Henderson, had clubs longer than 46 inches at CME and most were very close to the mark.
The decision to enforce the MLR came from the Executive Leadership Team, Rules Committee, and Player Directors. The same group will also make the call on altering what’s allowed in green-reading books.
Getting a small ball to disappear down a hole has been the bane of many a golfing life through the ages.
Have you ever had a read at some of the stuff cobbled together by the Global Odds Index?
It’s an organization that examines all sorts of probabilities in life, from winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning to the chances of you understanding what the Dickens I’m prattling on about in my column.
According to findings in the latest study by the Global whatstheirchops, the odds of a Brazilian male becoming a professional golfer are 1 in 7.7 million.
About the same, then, of a reader – yes, a reader like you with that increasingly glazed look – getting to the bottom of this ruddy page. So, let’s crack on. The odds are stacked against us. We’ll start with green-reading books.
Watching certain modern-day professionals examining the line of a putt with one of those highly detailed compendiums is broadly equivalent to peering at someone scrutinising a particularly intrepid diagram of techniques in the Kama Sutra.
They’ll study the myriad slopes, curves, and borrows of the putting surface while contorting themselves into various positions for a better view during an elaborate and tiresome process which often ends in the sighing, eye-rolling anti-climax of it being left woefully short. Now, there’s a colourful description of a tricky 15-footer that really should be read after the watershed.
Recently, golf’s governing bodies, the R&A and USGA, unveiled a Model Local Rule to further reduce the use of green-reading paraphernalia at the highest level of competitive golf.
The rule MLR G-11, which admittedly looks like a personalised number plate you’d see on a swanky car parked outside the R&A clubhouse, will, as of January 1 2022, enable a committee to establish an officially approved yardage book for a competition so that the diagrams of greens show only minimal detail.
In addition, the local rule limits the handwritten notes that players and caddies are allowed to add to the approved yardage book.
The purpose? “To ensure that players and caddies use only their eyes and feel to help them read the line of play on the putting green.”
Now there’s a novel idea.
Getting a small ball to disappear down a hole has been the bane of many a golfing life through the ages. The mighty Old Tom Morris, for instance, was so renowned for his putting woes, a letter sent back in the day simply addressed ‘The Misser of Short Putts, Prestwick’ was delivered straight to him by the postman.
And what was it Tony Lema once uttered about the putter? “Here is an instrument of torture, designed by Tantalus and forged in the devil’s own smithy.”
Putting has always been the ultimate test of nerve and skill. For those of us of a more old-fangled approach, watching golfers consulting some kind of Ordnance Survey map on the green while embroiled in an extravagant, time-consuming pre-putt routine that resembles the complex mating rituals of the Greater sage Grouse tends to grind the teeth.
In an age when craft, feel and instinct can be sacrificed on the altar of advancements in aids and accoutrements, players will always use something or other in an effort to gain an advantage if someone else is using the same something or other.
The more that’s available, the more they’ll add to the armoury. It’s in a golfer’s nature. On a slight detour from the topic, I remember nipping along one year to a World Hickory Open at Craigielaw and some of Scotland’s up-and-coming pros and amateurs who were competing revelled in the opportunity of playing with just five clubs and no assistance from strokesavers, course guides or any other visual aids. The senses were roused and they relied on sheer golf intuition.
Amid the general clutter of thoughts and processes than can make this such a mind-mangling game, sometimes less is more.
As for these green books? “I use a green book, but I’d like to get rid of them,” admitted Rory McIlroy earlier in the season. “For the greater good of the game, I’d like to see them outlawed and for them not to be used anymore.”
McIlroy, and others, may get their wish.
The local rule even limits the handwritten notes players and caddies are allowed to add to approved yardage books.
PGA Tour players received a memo last month that explained how new rules governing the use of yardage books could be going into effect soon. The proposed Model Local Rule (MLR) aimed to reduce players’ dependency on green-reading books that often look like highly-detailed topographic maps and emphasize the skill of judging slopes, ridges, and breaks with your eyes and experience.
On Wednesday, the R&A and USGA jointly announced the creation of MLR G-11, a new mechanism that lets tournament committees require golfers and caddies to use only tournament-approved yardage books. The new MLR also severely limits what players and caddies can write or add to those books.
The R&A and USGA stated MLR G-11, which can be used starting on Jan. 1, 2022, is meant to be used at the highest levels of golf like the PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA and Korn Ferry Tour. This is not intended to be used at recreational events or local golf tournaments. In other words, you will still be able to use old yardage books at next year’s member-guest and club championship, but Bryson DeChambeau will not be able to work with as much data in his yardage book at the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open or U.S. Open.
Specifically, MLR G-11 will require that all players and caddies use a yardage book that is not larger than 7 inches by 4.25 inches in size, and the scale of the greens can not exceed 3/8 of an inch for every 5 yards. Unlike many modern yardage books that show every the most gentle contour and slopes, the books approved when MLR G-11 is in effect can only show significant tiers, slopes and false edges.
After players and caddies get their approved yardage book, they will be limited with regard to what they can add to it before and during rounds. Club distances are fine, and they can make notes about putts they see either in person or on television. However, a player or caddie can not use a level or slope-measuring device during a practice round and then add information to the book. They also can not add any information gathered by other people.
The R&A and USGA leave players and caddies no wiggle room. In the statement, they wrote, “Handwritten notes must be based on the player’s or caddie’s experiences or observations of a ball rolling on a green, or through the player’s or caddie’s feel or general observations of the green.”
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The details included in modern yardage books have been criticized for not only removing skill from a player’s performance on the greens but also for adding to the slow-play problems at elite events.
Among the critics is Rory McIlroy, who has said they should be banned. Before the start of the 2021 U.S. open, he said, “I use a green book and I’d like to get rid of them.” He then added, “Most guys on tour are in the same boat that if it is available and if it’s going to help us, people are going to use it. But I think, for the greater good of the game, I’d like to see them be outlawed and not to be used anymore.”
A critical date in the distance debate just quietly passed. What can we expect next from the USGA and R&A regarding distance?
While many Americans headed to the polls and voted in state and local elections on Tuesday Nov. 2, that day also marked an important point in golf’s distance debate.
Golfers around the world have been waiting for some clarity on what the U.S. Golf Association and the R&A plan to do about distance. Tuesday marked the close of the organizations’ comment period, a time when golf equipment makers, superintendent groups and other industry organizations could submit their ideas and research regarding distance to the USGA and R&A for consideration.
As you might recall, back in February, the game’s governing bodies put out a request for data, opinions and insights to help get a more complete, 360-degree view of distance and how it affects golf. The USGA and R&A announced at that time that they felt the ongoing distance trend, with players hitting the ball farther and golf courses getting long over the past decades, was unsustainable. The folks in Far Hills, New Jersey, and St. Andrews, Scotland, made it clear they intend to stop the trend, but they stopped short of saying precisely what they wanted to do.
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On Oct. 12, golf’s governing bodies announced the creation of a new Model Local Rule that will allow tournaments and event organizers to reduce the maximum length of clubs (aside from putters) down from 48 inches to 46 inches starting in 2022. The PGA Tour and LPGA are taking up the Model Local Rule, and the USGA confirmed that beginning in 2022, it will adopt it as well in all its championships.
Inside the golf world, that announcement was expected, but what comes next is still unknown. Theoretically, the passing of Nov. 2 and the closing of the comment period means the USGA and the R&A have all the data and feedback they will receive from outside sources on distance. Now, they need to start sifting through it, with the goal being to develop a better understanding of precisely what might happen if specific changes are made to equipment, course setups and other aspects of golf.
For golfers around the world, there is nothing to do now but wait. If history is a guide, we will hear something from the USGA and R&A regarding distance in early to mid-February. They have made distance announcements in that period in the past, and there is an unwritten rule among golf’s ruling families that says, “Thou shalt not make news during another group’s time to shine.” In other words, the PGA of America is not going to make announcements around Masters time, and the USGA will avoid dropping important news during the Players Championship.
It is worth remembering that even if we get a major announcement in February, it will not affect you, the recreational golf, for years to come. Remember when the USGA and R&A changed the rules governing grooves? The announcement came in August 2008, and elite golfers had to start using the new-groove wedges beginning in 2010. Manufacturers agreed to stop selling wedges and irons with the older, sharper grooves in 2011, but recreational golfers were still free to play those clubs. In fact, if you still have a pre-2010 groove wedge, you can legally play it until 2024!
So, if you are among the golfers who recently bought new gear and are waiting to get it, the USGA and R&A are not about to outlaw your new driver. The golf balls you buy today, and in the months and years to come, will remain legal.
Some live golf is coming to a different channel in 2022.
Public service announcement to golf fans: if you don’t know what channel to find USA Network on, now would be a good time to learn.
On Tuesday morning, NBC Sports announced that the USA Network would be broadening its slate of programming to include more sports, including USGA and R&A championships. More content will also be bound for CNBC, Peacock and other NBCUniversal platforms.
Early-round and weekend lead-in coverage of the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, British Open and AIG Women’s Open will all be on USA Network in 2022 while all PGA Tour events will remain exclusively on NBC or Golf Channel.
“We are excited to transition the cable coverage of many of our premium sports events to USA Network, Peacock, and other widely-distributed NBCUniversal platforms, which will give us a significant boost in television homes and will put us in an even stronger position as we grow our business,” said Pete Bevacqua, Chairman, NBC Sports, via a release.
If for some reason you don’t already follow Phil Mickelson on social media, especially Twitter, now would be a good time to start.
After the USGA and R&A announced a new driver length rule on Tuesday, the reigning PGA Championship winner took to Twitter with a “stupid is as stupid does” reaction. But he wasn’t done. On Wednesday, Mickelson continued to share his pleasure on Twitter with the new Model Local Rule that, starting Jan. 1, 2022, reduces the length of non-putters from 48 inches to 46 inches.
“It is extremely disappointing to find out that the PGA Tour adopted the new USGA rule through the media. I don’t know of any player who had any say or any kind of representation in this matter,” wrote Mickelson. “I do know many are wondering if there’s a better way.”
It is extremely disappointing to find out that the PGA Tour adopted the new USGA rule through the media. I don’t know of any player who had any say or any kind of representation in this matter. 🤔 I do know many are wondering if there’s a better way.
In a statement given to Golfweek on Tuesday afternoon, the PGA Tour announced that it would implement the local rule on Jan. 1:
“The PGA Tour collaborates with the USGA and R&A regularly on equipment matters, as well as with other industry stakeholders. We have been aware of research in regard to limiting club length since 2014, and more recently the Local Rule proposed early in 2021 and announced today. After understanding the feedback received from the golf manufacturing community, we also undertook a survey of usage of clubs in use across the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour and found that a very small number of players either have used or are currently using clubs greater than 46 inches,” the statement read. “The PGA Tour Player Advisory Council recently reviewed the subject and we have concluded that the PGA Tour will implement the Local Rule on January 1, 2022. The adoption of this Local Rule on Tour is consistent with other equipment rules changes we have supported since 2003.”
The USGA and R&A have created a new Model Local Rule, possibly paving the way to bifurcation by another name.
Tuesday’s announcement came as no surprise to the golf industry. We knew this was coming. The USGA and R&A have created a Model Local Rule to give tournament organizers the ability to limit the length of all non-putter golf clubs from 48 inches down to 46 inches starting Jan. 1.
That was the easy one. Now comes the hard part.
The USGA and R&A want to reign in distance because they see a trend of golfers hitting the ball farther and courses having been made longer over the past several decades. The game’s governing bodies see that as unsustainable and destructive for the game. However, they also want to maintain a single set of rules for everyone and remain steadfastly against the concept of bifurcation. The same rules should apply to Justin Thomas, Nelly Korda, you and every other recreational golfer.
So how do you change the rules and equipment standards to limit what Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Tony Finau do without making things tougher for the weekend players who buy gear, book tee times and, in the end, finance the sport? How do you keep Korn Ferry Tour players from cutting the corner on long dogleg par 5s and going driver-wedge into the green without making the game less fun for everyone else?
Perhaps the USGA and R&A tipped their hand with Tuesday’s announcement and gave us a clue. The answer could be semantics. You simply don’t call it bifurcation and instead create tools to produce different playing environments for varying levels of players.
Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior managing director of governance, confirmed to Golfweek that the new Model Local Rule governing club length would be in place in June at the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open. It will be in place at all of the USGA’s championship events, and the folks in Far Hills, New Jersey, and St. Andrews, Scotland, must love that the PGA Tour and LPGA will adopt it, too. Pagel said the USGA will go to events to educate players about the Model Local Rule and answer questions well before the USGA hosts its national championships.
However, the USGA and R&A stated that the Model Local Rule is intended to be used only at elite events. You will still be allowed to use a 47-inch driver at your local member-guest or club championship next summer. It’s bifurcation by another name.
Yes, very few players use a 47-inch or 48-inch driver, so this Model Local Rule will not affect many people, but you can see how Model Local Rules could be handy for curtailing distance. If they so choose, the governing bodies could introduce more Model Local Rules that, if implemented, mandate the pros and elite amateurs use golf balls that don’t fly as far as those available at retail or driver faces that are not quite so springy as those the rest of us might buy.
Phil Mickelson has expressed his irritation over the Model Local Rule that limits club length in elite competitions. (Jamie Squire/Allsport)
Except for one sticky problem: Equipment companies will hate making clubs or balls to conform to a series of Model Local Rules. They will want to fight it.
Creating clubs and balls to fit new, less-efficient specifications would be expensive and take time away from designers and engineers paid to make gear that companies can sell. Weekend players will not want to buy a driver that Xander Schauffele has to use in PGA Tour events that has been slowed down to conform to a Model Local Rule. No one will want to buy a less aerodynamic Titleist Pro V1 that Jordan Spieth is forced to use. And if Titleist has to make such a ball to conform to a Model Local Rule on the PGA Tour, it will need to make thousands of those balls for staff players.
Plus, as anyone who recently has tried to buy a new set of irons or have their clubs re-gripped can tell you, golf equipment makers are facing supply chain issues. Product is scarce and delayed, and that unfortunate circumstance may continue for months or years. Model Local Rules that mandate distance-reducing gear for elite golfers would create another logistical headache for manufacturers who already are scrambling.
Mike Whan, the new CEO of the USGA, worked in the golf equipment industry before taking the helm at the LPGA Tour as its commissioner, his previous post. He knows all the problems. Still, in a July interview with Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols, he did not sound afraid of a tussle with equipment makers.
“Everybody evolves not only to make the game better, but to make sure it’s great for the next 100 years,” Whan said. “It’s important. I won’t lie to you and say it’s going to be popular, but it’s important and I think it would be irresponsible for us not to relook at something that the last significant look was 1976.”
Mike Whan took over as CEO of the USGA in 2021. (Copyright USGA/Robert Beck)
He added, “I feel like if you want to critique the USGA, the fair critique is why not before now? I think that’s a fair critique. But why now? I think you’re stretching if you don’t think at some point we need to make sure we establish some new parameters.”
Using more Model Local Rules to reduce distance at the pro and elite amateur levels could be messy, but it might work. The LPGA Tour, which does not have a distance problem, could ignore them and carry on using the same gear as recreational golfers while PGA Tour, Korn Ferry and other elite men’s tours force the guys to play with distance-reducing clubs or balls.
See bifurcation in reality, just not in name.
In February the USGA and R&A announced they wanted to research things such as the limitation of ball efficiency, golf ball sizes and weights, reducing driver size and volume, and reducing the spring-like effect in faces and moment of inertia in clubheads. The comment period for those research reports ends Nov. 2, to be followed by a lot of number crunching and meetings.
If history is a guide, we might learn more about what the USGA and R&A intend regarding distance in January or February. Tuesday’s announcement of a Model Local Rule to reduce maximum club length is not a part of the central drama. We have plenty of time to get some popcorn and find a comfy seat before the real show begins.
The two governing bodies announced a new Model Local Rule that, starting Jan. 1, 2022, reduces the length of non-putters from 48 inches to 46 inches. The reduction in the maximum allowable length of golf clubs has been in the works for several years now, dating back to October 2016.
Mickelson took to Twitter with his displeasure, and he didn’t hold back. Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Jason Kokrak also had something to say on the matter from the CJ Cup in Las Vegas.
The PGA Tour said in a statement that it planned to implement the Local Rule at the beginning of next year. A survey across the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour found that a very small number of players have used or are currently using clubs longer than 46 inches. The new rule does not apply to putters.
How will it impact the women’s game?
The LPGA told Golfweek that it also plans to implement the Model Local Rule sometime after the 2021 season, noting that officials have already talked to the small number of players affected by the change.
Brooke Henderson has used a longer driver for her entire professional career. The 10-time winner might be the only player on tour who uses a 48-inch driver, though Chief Tour Operations Officer Heather Daly-Donofrio said there may be one or two other players.
Canada’s Henderson has gripped down on her clubs, including her driver, since she started playing the game at 3 or 4 years old. Earlier this year, Henderson said she tried to “grip like a normal person” a couple of years ago and it didn’t go well.
She currently ranks ninth on the tour in driving distance at 273.8 yards.
The new rule likely will be enforced only at elite competitions and won’t reduce driver length for recreational amateur golfers.
The U.S. Golf Association and the R&A jointly announced Tuesday morning that a new Model Local Rule will be made available starting Jan. 1, 2022, that reduces the length of non-putters from 48 inches to 46 inches.
The rule is likely to be put into play only at some elite competitions and is unlikely to ever be enforced for regular amateur play. Consider it an option for the U.S. Open and not a driver-length cap for your member-guest tournament or weekend game.
Yes, this is what Phil Mickelson tweeted about twice in August, but a reduction in the maximum allowable length of golf clubs has been in the works for several years. In October 2016, the USGA and R&A sent notices to equipment makers stating that the game’s governing bodies were researching and considering a reduction. In February, the USGA and R&A asked club makers again for feedback concerning a reduction in the maximum club length. That comment period, which includes comments on other possible local rules intended to curb distance including rollbacks on balls and clubheads, ends Nov. 2.
Phil Mickelson tees off to begin his final round of the 2021 Constellation Furyk & Friends at the Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. Photo by Garry Smits/Florida Times-Union
“We have been looking at this specific rule regarding club length for a while,” said Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior managing director of governance, in an exclusive interview with Golfweek. “Ultimately, we put it on pause as we undertook the Distance Insights project. But as we and the industry continue to work through Distance Insights and look at potential distance reductions going forward, it is just the right time to be proactive.”
Creating a Model Local Rule allows golf tournament organizers to put special rules in place for their events. In this case, event organizers can choose whether to allow clubs longer than 46 inches to be used or not. The USGA and R&A stressed that this Model Local Rule is intended to be used only at elite events, not at the local level to govern recreational and club golfers.
For example, the PGA Tour might implement the rule and not allow players to use a 47-inch or 48-inch driver – either of which is currently allowed – at the Players Championship, Honda Classic or Farmers Insurance Open, while the Augusta National Golf Club might not to chose to implement the Model Local Rule, allowing participants in the Masters to use such a longer-than-stock driver.
A handful of touring professionals use drivers that are longer than 46 inches, including Mickelson, who tweeted that he uses a driver that is 47.5 inches long. Other pros have switched to shorter drivers, sometimes as short as 43.5 inches, to maximize control.
Decades ago, most stock drivers at retail were shorter than 44 inches. The advent of lighter graphite shafts and larger titanium and carbon-fiber clubheads allowed manufactures to make longer drivers that were still relatively controllable and more forgiving than old-school wooden and early metal clubheads. A longer club can produce more speed and more distance, so long as the player can find the center of the clubface or some impact point near it.
Pagel would not speak on behalf of the R&A, but he made it clear the USGA – which runs the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur and several other top events for elite golfers – knows what it is doing next season.
“It’s something that we believe in, so our plan would be to implement this in all our championships in 2022,” Pagel said. “Now, that does not include qualifying, but certainly at the championship proper this local rule will be in effect.”
So, if you have aspirations for qualifying for the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club or the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, you can use a driver that is over 46 inches in length during qualifying rounds. But if you make it into the championship event, you will need to use a driver of 46 inches or less. In the near future, Pagel said, golfers attempting to qualify for national championships and USGA events will need to use clubs that conform to the Model Local Rule.
The vast majority of recreational golfers and tour professionals use a driver that is less than 46 inches in length, so this Model Local Rule will not affect them. Club Champion, which has 85 club-fitting locations across the United States, recently told Golfweek that only about 5 percent of all the drivers it sells are longer than 46 inches.
This announcement of this Model Local Rule will not surprise people within the industry, and it definitely is not something that is going to close the debate regarding distance. The ruling bodies reported in 2020 that modern distance plays too great a role in golf and that current rates of distance gains were unsustainable.
“When this topic was discussed several weeks ago, I think there was some perception that, ‘This (cap on overall club length) was a part of the Distance Insights project and that the governing bodies had invested a lot of time and energy into Distance Insights, (and) this is what you came up with?,'” Pagel said. “This is not the solution to Distance Insights. This is not even a solution. This is just an area where we want to be proactive as the industry continues to explore and have these discussions and dialogs around distance, the role distance plays in the game and what it means for the game going forward.”
