MIND / DISTANCE DEBATE M
A PROPOSAL TO ROLL BACK THE GOLF BALL AT THE ELITE LEVEL HAS BEEN A
BY E MICHAEL JOHNSON
1972 Spalding introduces the two-piece Top-Flite distance ball.
1976 The USGA’s “Iron Byron” robot measures golf balls’ initial velocities and distances. Struck at 109 miles per hour, balls must travel no further than 296 yards.
1979 TaylorMade introduces the first commercially viable metalwoods.
1984 The USGA adds “springlike effect” language to the Rules of Golf.
2004 The USGA implements rules restricting clubhead size to 460 cubic centimetres and COR (a measure of face springiness) to .822 with a test tolerance of .008.
2003 TrackMan – a Doppler-radar- based launch monitor, helps optimise the launch conditions of professional golfers. Average driving distance on the PGA Tour surges to 285.9 yards. Hank Kuehne leads at 321.4. Nine players average 300 or more, and 55 others top 290 yards.
2002 Augusta National adds more than 285 yards by extending half the holes in what is dubbed “Tigerproofing” the golf course. The USGA and R&A release a Joint Statement of Principles that puts distance firmly in the crosshairs of future regulation: “Any further significant increases in hitting distance at the highest level are undesirable.” Twenty-one players break the 400-yard barrier, including David Duval, with a 454-yarder.
2005 The USGA sends an e-mail to ball manufacturers
2006 The Ohio Golf Association conducts a tournament that requires participants to use a ball made to carry 10 to 15 yards shorter to highlight the burden on facilities to lengthen their courses.
2011 Average distance on the PGA Tour eclipses 290 yards for the first time. Five players top 310 yards, and 21 players average over 300 yards. More than 100 players have an average of more than 290 yards.
2018 After a period of
slow to flat distance increases, the PGA Tour average leaps from 290.0 in 2016 to 296.1 in 2018. Sixty golfers top the 300-yard mark.
soliciting prototype balls that fly 15 to 25 yards shorter than current USGA limits.
woods : j d cuban ; club : taylormade ; ball : robert beck / getty images ; trackman : rob carr / getty images ; st andrews : david alexander / getty images ; dechambeau : mike ehrmann / getty images
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