Oakmont, PA. Clarity is a key element when communicating. And Mike Whan, the USGA’s CEO was crystal clear when addressing the topic of the planned golf ball roll back implemented jointly by the USGA and R&A.
Whan, alongside USGA president Fred Perpall and Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer appeared on the dais before assembled media Wednesday on the eve of the start of the 125th US Open at Oakmont.
The topic of the golf ball rollback has been a consistent hot potato for several years now.
The USGA announced a timeline for such a rollback in December 2023. The implementation would be split with January 1, 2028 the start date for pro golf tours and those playing in elite competitions. On January 1, 2030, the planned rollback would be put into motion for all levels of players.
The USGA and R&A both see the golf ball rollback as a long overdue reform given the increasing role distance is playing at the elite level and how host venues have been forced to extend yardages in order to stay relevant. Other related arguments for a golf ball rollback are the desire to enhance sustainability for golf with less costs in course preparation – mainly water usage.
There is also the desire to keep the game moving as longer and longer courses only means more time added to play a complete 18-hole round. More golfers are playing now — over 45 million but there’s a significant portion — estimated at 20 million – who are doing so via other golf playing options because time allotment is central to their personal enjoyment of the sport.
But a number of golf’s key stakeholders view the matter differently. With neither the same alarm nor time line that the USGA and R&A are advocating. The PGA of America and PGA Tour jointly have pushed back stating that the solutions being promoted are a reform that is in search of a clear problem. The position that’s shared by the PGA of America and the PGA Tour is that the action being advocated could potentially derail the progress made in golf in the post pandemic period.
Whan stated emphatically that what golf needs is action on a core issue that can no longer be denied or left unchecked.
“Listen, I get this isn’t easy and everybody has got their own constituents. I’ll just say what I said yesterday again, as as an industry we have to be able to make small adjustments that are in the best interest of the game long-term, that we all know would be better 40 years from now if we were smart enough to make them today.
“We’ll make those. Not everybody will like it. It’ll be high anxiety until we get there. But nobody is going to die. The game is going to be great. We’re going to prove that we can be better for future generations rather than to simply look the other way and know that in 40 or 50 years we’d be handing them something we could have made small adjustments on.”
The complications relating to the achievement in securing 100% compliance could prove to be a difficult balancing act. It appears likely that three of the four major championships will enact the golf ball rollback when they are scheduled for 2028. Will the PGA of America do so with its flagship event? Will the PGA Tour do likewise?
Will the top tier professional players work in concert with the USGA and R&A even if that means being opposed to various golf ball manufacturers who pay them money to endorse their products? That remains to be seen.
Jack Nicklaus, a long-time proponent of a rollback in golf ball distance has stated previously that going beyond what the USGA and R&A have outlined is needed.
At the recreational level will ordinary golfers do likewise when 2030 comes into play? For average players the concerns raised by the USGA and R&A are a concept that many can understand but when applied to their respective golf games will they accept hitting a golf ball a shorter distance — even if the amount is not significant?
For average players who do not hit the ball any great lengths now will the implementation of a golf ball rollback be embraced positively? Or will such players remain only interested in using existing golf balls?
From the various golf ball companies how will they approach the possibility that the market will fracture when the rollback dates come forward?
Nonetheless, Whan’s position is clear and determined and he said as much during the press briefing.
“Yeah, we’ve given manufacturers dates that we know they’re working on. They’re submitting prototypes and have R&D efforts. I guess would you say set in stone? Could we come across something that would make us feel like our decision needs to be altered? Could. We’re definitely going to stay open-minded to that. But we have yet to see anything that would suggest that.”
For the USGA and R&A there is a science issue dealing with the future of the golf ball but can they win the public relations sales effort? Can both rules-making organizations convince ordinary golfers on the importance in being on board for what lies ahead?
At this year’s PGA Championship, it was mentioned by the leadership that 27,000+ members of the PGA of America have constant interaction with golfers and securing local professionals as advocates will be a critical dimension.
The bottom-line reality is that various constituencies in golf have different objectives. The USGA and R&A both firmly believe that non-action is not a sound choice given the spike seen in recent advances in overall distances attained at the elite professional level and how distance has distorted a number of key concerns.
However, the health of the game is viewed is from different perspectives.
Often those who speak about the “general interest” do so only when first assessed through “self-interest.”
The USGA and R&A have spent considerable time to get where matters now stand. Remaining in place is not an option for either organization. Whan knows full well he cannot decree and secure compliance in that matter. Persuasion is his only recourse.
“The reality of it is governance is hard. I knew it when I got here, but it is hard. These other stakeholders are my friends and they’re passionate about the future of the game just like us, and I get that,” said Whan.
“Yeah, if you don’t think that’s hard, a little anxious, you’ve just got to come hang with us for a couple days. We know that’s hard. But the worst thing would be to bail and do nothing just because it’s hard.”
Can the USGA and R&A get other key stakeholders to join with them on this matter or is each key group locked into their own silos?
Small differences can become large gaps that prove difficult to bridge.
The task ahead will be anything but easy.
What is clear is that the clock is ticking towards 2028.
