Golf umbrella organizations St. Andrews Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) and United States Golf Association (USGA) have decidedthat the structure of golf balls will be changed so that future balls will not fly as far as the current ones.
The reason behind the rule change is the ability of the sport’s top names to hit the ball further and further, especially with opening shots.
According to golf organizations, flying the ball onto the green has become too easy. CEO of the USGA Mike Whan says that the future of the game must be protected and therefore appropriate action had to be taken now.
With the rule change, the new balls will be used in professional tournaments in 2028 and for amateurs in 2030.
This surprised the long-time golf coach Timo Karvinenbut at the same time he believes that the upcoming reform is the right decision.
– This is how the sport develops. In the past, for example, the center of gravity of the javelin javelin was changed, and then fluoride creams were introduced in skiing, and that’s how golf has developed as well.
– I see this decision more as the fact that this matter is, at least in the long run, the right change. It’s time to change the sport until in 10-15 years we are in the same situation again.
According to golf organizations, the new balls will shorten stroke lengths by about 15 meters. However, Karvinen says that the new rule change will not change the sport significantly.
– However, this change will not bring such a dramatic change to the sport. Long hitters (players) suffer the most here, about 12-13 meters drop in stroke length, average professionals about 10 meters and women about 5 meters. The approach is hit from a little further and temporarily played with a slightly different game tactic. The one who gets to the hole with the fewest strokes is still the best.
Skills are highlighted
Karvinen emphasizes that the change will be an advantage especially for skill players whose strength is not long shots.
– The change would in a way even out the height difference between long hitters and average professionals. Hitting long would thus not be able to dominate as a feature. Skill features come to the fore more and then different types of players can be more successful.
– In the last 20 years, the length has increased by about 13 yards (approx. 12 meters) and we still shoot the field just as accurately. In a way, it has caused the advantage to be only half a stroke per round, but in a four-round race when it is multiplied by four, it is already two and a half strokes.
The number of players capable of long shots has grown considerably over the years.
– Golf has gone to the point where long hitters can do well.
In my career, among other things Sami Välimäkä Karvinen, who coached, says that another option would be to make the fields more difficult and then we would reach the same result. However, Karvinen, who has been a professional coach for almost 30 years, emphasizes that changing the balls is most probably the simplest and easiest option.
– If the courts were made more difficult, the benefits of players capable of particularly long shots would be preserved.
The sport has evolved
Year after year, the golf courses have become too small for the top players, and when building new courses, the distances have had to be constantly extended. In this year’s Masters tournament in Augusta, the tournament organizer had to extend the 13th hole of the course from 466 meters to 498 meters.
The golf organizations have come to the conclusion that the continuous lengthening of courses is not sustainable from an environmental point of view.
Among the hardest hitters of the PGA, the world’s most prestigious and high-level golf tour played in the United States Rory Mcllroy the average length of the opening strokes was According to the BBC over 320 yards or over 292.6 meters. Of the professional players on the PGA tour, about 100 players hit the ball from the tee an average of 299.9 yards, or about 274.2 meters.
Sami Välimäki, the number one Finnish golfer, hit the ball 350 yards or about 320 meters with his driver in the Qatar Masters competition at the end of October. The 25-year-old Finn later secured a place on the PGA tour in Dubai as the first Finn.
Impact on enthusiasts
When the change comes into effect, it will cut the flight length of golf balls not only for professionals but also for recreational players.
– It is a good thing for top players that it is possible to organize competitions even on traditional courts, but of course this change will also affect recreational players, whose stroke lengths decrease. That is another matter, Karvinen points out.
By 2030, the balls in all competitions and golf courses will be replaced with new ones. According to some sources, a total of 1.5-2 billion golf balls are played annually.
– Of course, this gives equipment manufacturers a little more time to develop balls for a larger number of enthusiasts.
– It’s crazy that so many balls will be changed in a certain period of time. When my wife read the news, she immediately sent a message that “hey, you have ten packages of new balls”, so I replied that they will be recycled quite quickly when the rule comes into force. This hustle is not limited to ten packages, Karvinen says with a laugh.
According to the R&A and the USGA, the new balls will be changed by, among other things, modifying the surface texture.