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By Lee Hyo-sik
The 123rd U.S. Open, overseen by the United States Golf Association (USGA), ended in a dramatic fashion Sunday (local time), with American golfer Wyndham Clark winning his first career major title. As always, this year's third major championship attracted a great deal of attention from Korean golf fans. Many of them stayed up all night to watch PGA tour players give their best with the best-available equipment to conquer Los Angeles Country Club.
But we may not be able to see the spectacular performances of these world's top-class golfers, such as over-300-yard tee shots, in 2026 as the USGA and The Royal & Ancient (R&A), which hosts The Open in the United Kingdom, are pushing to limit the performance of golf balls. The two bodies, which govern the rules of golf and advocate the interests of golf clubs in their respective countries, seem to view an increasing number of professional golfers that drive balls to over 300 yards as a threat to the sport.
As a way to rein in how far tour players can hit the balls, the two organizations proposed in March two different sets of rules concerning golf balls ― a bifurcation of the currently universal rules. In other words, there is one set of rules for professional and elite amateur competitions and another for recreational players.
Current golf ball testing, for both competitive and recreational play, has an overall distance standard (ODS) of 317 yards at 120 miles per hour club head speed. But the proposal will change the speed to 127 miles per hour while maintaining the ODS of 317 yards when the balls are used in competitions. This means golf balls have to be substantially limited in the distance they can travel.
This change appears to be driven by the fact that more and more professional golfers score under par on tough courses as they send balls farther. To make it more difficult to play, club owners would have to lengthen their courses or change the layouts, which requires significant investment. Instead of doing so, the USGA and the R&A decided to make golf balls a culprit for improving performance by PGA players and mandated equipment companies to produce "less-developed" balls for them.
But the move is not welcomed by players, fans and equipment makers because bifurcation will divide golf between pros and amateurs, and therefore will take the fun out of the sport. This will also force the makers to waste valuable resources to produce outdated balls when they should introduce state-of-the-art balls and clubs to make the sport more enjoyable. Technology should move forward, not backward.
Acushnet, the maker of Titleist, said in a recent statement that "Golf is an aspirational sport, and we believe, at its very best when equipment and playing regulations are unified. Unification is a powerfully positive force in the game, and equipment bifurcation would be detrimental to golf's long-term well-being."
TaylorMade also said, "We believe a large part of golf's appeal is this underlying sense of: 'I can do that, too.' Most of us will never know what it's like to play in Madison Square Garden, throw a touchdown in the Super Bowl or score the game-winning goal in a World Cup final, but we can go to St. Andrews, walk across the Swilcan Bridge and for a moment feel what it's like to be a professional. Walk in their shoes, play the same courses and use the same equipment. It's all part of why we love this sport."
These statements perfectly describe what golf is all about, which is, whether you are a pro or an amateur, we can all play on the same courses and use the same equipment under the same rules. We amateurs want to play like pros and want to use the balls and clubs they use. This is why recreational players are willing to pay more for Titleist balls and clubs because many top players use them.
But under the proposed bifurcation, pros will have to use subpar balls. What should amateur players do? Should they use the balls the pros use, despite their shorter distance? Should they use the most advanced balls that pros cannot use to hit longer? This will certainly take a great deal of appeal away from the sport.
The bifurcation will also make golf less fun because pros will not be able to drive the ball as far as they used to. This is certainly not good for the future of this sport. Long hitters tend to draw more galleries to tournament courses and increase TV viewership. They make amateurs want to visit tournaments and watch them play on TV.
The change could also disadvantage players who hit balls shorter. In other words, Korean and other Asian players could be adversely affected more because they tend to drive balls shorter, compared to their bigger and stronger U.S. and European rivals. Curbing the ball's distance will only benefit those who drive the shots longer.
This meritless regulation will harm the golf industry. Let professionals, just like amateurs, do their best with the best equipment available out there.
And more importantly, let's make golf more fun, not less!
The writer (leehs@koreatimes.co.kr) is business editor at The Korea Times.
