Lee Westwood reckons “something had to be done” about golf ball distances – but says he’s disappointed it’s taken the game’s rulers so long to get their act together.
Speaking to The NCG Golf Podcast, the European golf legend believes proposed changes to golf ball rules probably won’t make too much difference to his game – “I’ll be 57 years of age, and it won’t matter whether I hit it 300 or 280 yards at that stage” – but stressed “golf courses can’t keep getting longer and longer”.
Westwood, the Attached Tour Professional at Close House, in Newcastle – which has marked the 15th anniversary of the opening of its Colt Course – admitted he hadn’t taken too much of an interest in the proposed ball limits.
The R&A and USGA are planning to update the testing conditions that are used for golf ball conformance under what’s called the Overall Distance Standard. The maximum distance a golf ball is allowed to travel when struck is currently 317 yards with a three-yard tolerance.
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That’s done using a clubhead speed in testing of 120mph, but a rollback would change that to 125mph. It’s estimated tee shots for the average tour professional would be reduced by 11 yards and up to 15 yards for the very biggest hitters.
The R&A and USGA estimate the impact of a reduced distance golf ball for club players will be “five yards or less” for most.
The ball rollback plan as it stands sees the professionals, and some elite amateurs, playing the new ball in top events from the start of 2028, with club players changing in 2030.
But the R&A and USGA have been looking at that timeline and asked for opinions on bringing everyone under the new rules at the same time at the start of 2030.
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Lee Westwood: ‘Something has to be done’
Talking about distance as a whole, Westwood said: “I think golf courses can’t keep getting longer and longer, right? It’s unsustainable. So something had to be done.
“I’m just a little bit disappointed that it’s taken all these different organisations so long to do it. It’s a bit like shutting the door after the horse’s bolted, right? Surely they saw it coming 25 years ago?”
Asked whether he believed the rollback would make any difference to the amateur club game, Westwood said: “People will make adjustments, won’t they? The last thing anybody wants to do is make the game harder for amateurs, because it might drive people away.
“But at the same time, if the golf ball does start to go shorter, then that’ll bring shorter golf courses back into play that we’ve not been able to go to and play at.”
He added: “I can think of quite a few where you’d be like, ‘it’ll be nice to go back there’, but you could never go back there because four or five of the par fours were drivable.
“One of the most famous golf courses in the world, St Andrews, was starting to get like that, isn’t it? You look at it and some of the longer hitters must be looking at driving four or five of the holes on there now.
“I can think of 3, 9, 10, 12, 18, and there’s probably some other holes in there that they get really close to. So you don’t really want those old masterpieces to be butchered like that.”
Main image: Lee Westwood at Close House | Source: Close House
Now have your say
What do you make of Lee Westwood’s views on the golf ball roll back? Should governing bodies have acted sooner? Do you agree we need to protect our “old masterpieces”? Have your say in the comments, or get in touch with us on X.
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