Like other sports, the time has come for the sport of golf when technological innovation, new manufacturing materials and the superior performance of sports equipment, in the opinion of the organizations that govern this sport, must be limited through the Rules to ensure, not only the long-term future of sport, but also its essence and tradition. Adapt to changes, break down the “barriers to progress” and reward the athlete's ability.

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Balls Matter

It's not the first time that the sport of golf has modified its rules to adapt to increasingly technological and better materials and manufacturing standards, which have enabled players, both amateurs and professionals, to achieve distances on the course that were previously unimaginable. But it is the first time that modernization in this sport involve the implementation of a rule that will prevent professional and elite players from reaching current distances.

That is precisely the problem: the materials currently used to manufacture golf clubs and balls, combined with the physical improvement of golfers (the image of the “healthy chubby golfer” is long gone), is allowing them to achieve extraordinary results in competitions. The difficulty posed by the distance between tee and hole has been greatly reduced for these athletes, almost to the point of disappearance. In the opinion of the Royal & Ancient (R&A) and the United States Golf Association (USGA), institutions responsible for deciding on the rules of this sport, this threatens “golf’s long-term sustainability and undermines the core principle that a broad and balanced set of playing skills should remain the primary determinant of success in golf” so it is necessary to ensure “that distance did not become predominant in the balance of skills required in golf”.

Therefore, after years of back and forth, evaluating different options such as limiting the number of clubs in the competition bag and discarding other impossible options such as lengthening golf courses, these institutions have finally decided that the change will focus on the golf ball. In other words, future golf balls will not allow these players to reach the same speeds as currently, and therefore the same distances, allowing the distance factor to come back into play. Thus, they have announced that, starting in January 2028, the golf balls with which professional and elite players will be able to compete will be those listed in the January 2028 List of Conforming Golf Balls. The rest of us mortals, thankfully, are spared.

Golf ball manufacturers are not happy with this decision. Over the past 150 years, they have invested in technology, research, time, and money to improve the materials of golf balls to make them more reliable and accurate after impact and in flight, to make them go farther and farther. But now they will have to find a way to make their balls acquire less speed in flight and consequently lose distance. But how much? It is estimated that a professional “long hitter” with the drive will lose between 12 and 14 meters of distance, while the average professional player and the male elite player will lose about 8-10 meters, and female players about 5-6 meters.

But what about golf as a spectacle? Will this decision have any contradictory effect? It is true that distance will be lost, but will it succeed in rewarding the golfer's skill, creativity, and strategy? What will the public think? Will golf lose or gain interest? Will it be a return to the past? And above all, will there be more similar decisions in the future?