LALI STANDER: Rolling the ball back for bombers will restore long-iron spice

Golf’s governing bodies have signalled their intent to tackle the distance issue that has long plagued our wonderful sport.  

The problem: modern players are hitting the ball too far, making traditional courses look silly. The solution: they intend to roll back the distance of the golf ball for professional male golfers.  

Forgive my oversimplification of the issue, but this has been such a painfully obvious problem for so long now, that it almost seems like the powers that be have woken up far too late.  

Golfers, through a combination of better fitness and technology gains, have gradually been hitting the golf ball further.  

Gone are the days where players would be hitting long irons and fairway woods into greens — nowadays it’s short irons and wedges. There also appears to be little room in the modern game for strategy off the tee and shaping shots ... players just smash the ball as hard as they can, go find it, knowing that even if they are offline, they will probably only have a short iron into their target.   

To counter the bombers, golf courses have had two choices: add length or trick up the course with knee-high rough and lightning-fast greens. And these changes come at a cost. It means more land, which means more maintenance, and the downside is that thick roughs and slippery greens lead to very slow rounds of golf.

So, the idea of rolling the ball back for professionals just makes plain, simple sense. And it wouldn’t be the first sport to do something like this. 

Baseball outlawed metal bats in the major and minor leagues because they hit the ball too far. Similarly, professional tennis changed the type of ball being used to combat the high speeds that modern, lightweight racquets were producing. Both sports sought to preserve the integrity of the game by changing the tools used — and golf should too, before it is too late. 

Over the past 20 years, the average driving distance has increased by 15 yards. Players on the Champions Tour are hitting the ball further than they ever did while on the main tours.  

How long before we see The Old Course at St Andrews brought to its knees with scores of sub-60? On the current trajectory I give it maybe three years.  

The problem, other than the proposed rule changes being about 15 years too late, is the reaction of many of the professionals. Most touring pros are, predictably, against the idea, arguing that the golfing public like the idea of playing with the same equipment as the professionals.  

Well, I’ve got some news for them — most amateurs can’t swing extra stiff shafts or hit blades out of the middle every time. Most of us can’t even be bothered to get our clubs custom fitted, whereas the pros are measured and adjusted to every minute detail. And even if we did play the same equipment, we sure as hell aren’t playing from the same tees! 

Remove superpowers

It’s already a different game.  

Some professionals seem to think that reducing distance would remove their superpowers, but don’t they get it? Don’t fear bifurcation; embrace it. If the distance a ball carries is reduced for everyone by the same degree, they will still be the longest. They will still have shorter approach shots into the greens.  

It would just mean that we wouldn’t need 500m par fives. Imagine all the old courses that would be playable at tournament level again. More than playable — played as they were designed to be played, without bombers cutting corners and airmailing tee shots over fairway bunkers as if they didn’t exist.   

The R&A and USGA want stakeholders, course owners, and players to show equal commitment to the future of the game as they show to the current climate. They want to alleviate the perceived pressure on golf courses. One strategy that could take shape in 2026 is the way in which golf balls are tested to reduce the distance they travel. 

As with all changes, it’s impossible to please everyone, and the proposed rollback has again divided opinion. 

Predictably Acushnet, the company that owns multiple brands including the world’s foremost ball brand, Titleist, and other manufacturers heavily criticised the plan, questioning if the unification between professional and recreational games will be compromised. 

I also get the resistance from the pros. Wouldn’t you rather hit a wedge into a par four than a four-iron? But you can’t argue which shot takes more skill. I, for one, would much rather watch pros hit a mixture of clubs into greens than wedge after wedge after wedge. 

Let’s be honest — who enjoys the putting contests on the PGA Tour? I’d prefer to see the pros play the course in a similar way to how my male playing partners do and if the model local rule is introduced, it may well happen.  

If, as expected, professionals start hitting the ball 30m shorter, we may well all be able to play from similar tees. That brings us all closer together rather than further apart. Perhaps my views are just a tad too purist or archaic, but wouldn’t you love to see the pros return to using all 14 clubs in the bag?