The findings of the Distance Insights Report from golf’s governing bodies means tour players may play different equipment to those of us at club level in the future. But what does this mean for golf equipment?
We already have numerous conformance specifications which restrict what manufacturers can and can’t do when designing and creating new golf clubs.
Now, though, the R&A and USGA are keen to make changes which will cause “a reduction in driving distance, reduction of the distance for other clubs in the bag, and lead to an enhancement in the balance between hitting distance and other skills”.
So how are they planning to do this?
In terms of specific club and ball changes there are a number of avenues that have been proposed. Let’s break each one down.
1. Reduction in the limit within the overall distance standard
The governing bodies are proposing a change to golf ball regulations so they can’t fly as far.
When new golf balls are released they are tested by the R&A and USGA to see if they are legal for competition play.
To do this they are hit with a mechanical golfer – a robot set up to swing the golf club at 120mph and launch it at a 10-degree angle.
For the ball to pass the test and be deemed conforming the overall distance must be under 317 yards with a three yard tolerance maxing out at 320 yards.
An interesting side note is that they plan to update this testing procedure. Currently they only test using the 120 mph and 10-degree launch angle perimeters, but in future want to test each ball at its optimum launch conditions – so anywhere between 7.5 and 15 degrees with 2,200 to 3,000rpm spin so they see the total optimised distance of the ball.
This means all current golf balls would need to be retested to see if they still meet the 320 yard limit under these new conditions.
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2. Modification in the limitation of ball efficiency
The current rules put a limit on how quickly the ball comes off the clubface.
The golf ball may not leave the clubface any faster than 255 feet-per-second, so the likelihood here is a reduction in this number.
3. Other ball specifications
