The big bombs Australian star Min Woo Lee was smashing off the tee on his highly-entertaining home sojourn over the last two weeks could be eradicated after the formal adoption of a new rule to limit how far the golf ball can fly.
Lee’s regular 300m-plus drives put him among the biggest hitter in the game with even veteran Adam Scott, at 42, averaging in the top-20 for driving distance on the US PGA tour this year at 286m.
Amid varying degrees of feedback from professionals about the change, with Rory McIlroy, the biggest-hitter on the PGA Tour this year in favour, Lee, who won the Australian PGA two weeks ago, apologised for being “part of the problem”.
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Golf’s ruling bodies, the R&A and USGA opted against bifurcation, which would have created one set of rules for professionals and another for amateurs, which was the preference of Tiger Woods, as well as any changes to drivers, to confirm the introduction of equipment testing to make sure the golf ball goes shorter for every player.
It came after a more than five years of intensive study on distance that led them to believe consistent gains off the tee by professionals over the past 25 years was detrimental to the game.
The change is not effective until 2028 for tour and elite golf, and 2030 for recreational golfers.
“There’s virtually no denying that the game at the highest end is longer by a long shot today than it was 20 years ago,” Mike Whan, the CEO of the USGA said.
“From the very beginning, we’ve been driven to do what is right for the game, without bias. As we’ve said, doing nothing is not an option – and we would be failing in our responsibility to protect the game’s future if we didn’t take appropriate action now.”
Martin Slumbers, CEO of The R&A, said it was a decision designed to achieve a “sustainable future for golf” with an eye to limiting the need to build bigger and longer courses and to meet the game’s “environmental responsibilities”.
McIlroy, who could be most impacted given his status, at least statistically, as the biggest hitter in golf, was adamant the change would being “certain skills” back to the game and would have no impact on local golfers.
“It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability,” McIlroy said.
“It will also help bring back certain skills in the pro game that have been eradicated over the past 2 decades.”
Golf officials declared they had to act now before distance got out of control as technology improved.
“Some people will argue, ‘We don’t think distance is going farther. The speed these top guys are hitting it is the fastest we’re going to see,‘” Whan said.
“There’s no logical reason to believe that speeds, and therefore distances, are coming down.”
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