Ball Wars: PGA TOUR, Titleist weigh in as distance argument heats up

The PGA TOUR and Titleist, the world’s largest ball manufacturer, add their input to the raging golf ball distance debate.

Now that the USGA and R&A appear to be thinking about actually doing something about equipment, two major golf organizations, the PGA Tour and the PGA of America, as well as the biggest golf ball manufacturer, Titleist, are speaking out.

According to Golf Channel, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan sent a letter to PGA Tour members that said:

"“From 2016 to 2017 there was an increase of 2.5 yards in average driving distance. While this may seem significant when taken in isolation, it has not been uncommon over the past 15 years to see significant gains or losses. Since 2003 there have been three instances where a significant gain was recorded between years, and five instances where the average decreased.Since 2007 when we started monitoring launch conditions each week on Tour, average clubhead speed has increased by 1.5 MPH.Having carefully reviewed the data, we do not believe the trends indicate a significant or abnormal increase in distance since 2003 or from 2016 to 2017. Rest assured, we will continue to collaborate and share data with the USGA and the R&A –along with other industry stakeholders– in monitoring these trends as we have since 2003.”"

Taking a longer view, looking at PGA Tour’s website, the difference from 1997 to 2017 in average driving distance at the top of the order is, in 1997, John Daly at 302 yards and Tiger Woods at 294.8 yards, and, in 2017, Rory McIlroy at 317.2 yards and Dustin Johnson at 315 yards. So that’s easily 15 yards longer per tee shot on potentially 14 holes of a golf course, never mind how far irons, hybrids and wedges go. So, 2.5 yards or whatever the number a season adds up, and pretty soon it’s real distance.

There’s also a difference between the average driving distance, which is a measure of drives on two holes per round at every tournament, typically par fives, and the longest drives of the season, measured by Shotlink. Last season, 2017, there were 187 drives longer than 377 yards. It would be interesting to know how many were longer than 300 yards, but the Tour does not put more drives on its web site anymore.

Longer shots aren’t bad for golf as a whole, but they’re making it harder for courses to host high-level TOUR events.

The ONLY issue in the increased distance debate that affects golf at all is that for golf courses to host PGA Tour and Web.com Tour events today, the courses have to be longer than they used to be. Much longer. The increases in distance players can hit the ball have obsoleted 550 yards as a three-shot par five for most players. In some instances they’re pushing 600 yards, depending on whether it’s uphill or downhill.

That means that a lot of great old courses just are not going to be able to keep up with the skill level of today’s players and the length that today’s players hit the ball. If the courses are not out of real estate, they will be soon. As we have all read, Augusta National has added land and bought land on two sides of the club in order to be able to expand. Other courses do not have that luxury.

CEO of the PGA of America, Pete Bevacqua also commented to Golf Channel:

"“Based on the information we have seen, we are highly skeptical that rolling back the golf ball in whole or part will be in the best interests of the sport and out collective efforts to grow the game. Our nearly 29,000 PGA professionals would be at the forefront of implementing this rollback so we will be polling them this week to fully understand their perspective, especially on what it would mean for the vast majority of golfers they serve. We look forward to offering our candid feedback to the USGA and R&A once we have collected that data and reviewed the full report.”"

Titleist breaks down the data at the four majors, and the results are surprising.

Titleist, the largest golf ball manufacturer, also released what they call a Distance Study for 2017. In the report, they cite interesting data and say they believe that the current regulations are sufficient and that no changes are needed to the ball.

Their study notes that at PGA Tour events that were at the same golf course in 2017 that they were in 2016, the average driving distance increased by a half a yard, 18 inches.

In addition, their data shows that the average driving distance year-over-year at the Masters, U.S Open, British Open and PGA increase from 2016 to 2017 by eight yards. The biggest change was at the U.S. Open, with the 2016 version being held at Oakmont with narrow fairways, and the 2017 tournament being held at a course with broader fairways, Erin Hills. The difference in distance off the tee was more than 20 yards longer in 2017 than 2016.

The British Open 2017 course, Royal Birkdale, had drives that, on average, were eight yards longer than the 2016 course, Royal Troon.

The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow played eight yards longer off the tee than Baltusrol in 2016.

Now, any course in any year can be affected by weather. A wet course will give up less distance than a dry course. So, that factor is also in play and affects any measurements.

Of real interest are the charts in the Titleist report that show, for example, that the scores at the Masters have stayed more or less the same since 1950, even though Augusta National has added significant length to the course, up to about 7500 yards, added a semi-rough or first cut, as they like to call it, and planted tons of trees.

The U.S. Open chart from 1960 to present day shows a divergence in scores and course lengths with the scores going lower in spite of the length of the course increasing. It is similar at the British Open and the PGA Championship.

Lower scores, regardless of how they come, make golf more exciting for everyone

Titleist also tracked scoring on the PGA Tour since 1985 and compared it to the distance of drives. It shows the scores remained relatively the same.

Here’s the thing about the scoring: Golf fans like to see birdies, eagles and holes-in-one. It makes golf exciting, like something you want to do. It is the club members or course owners who don’t like to see a winner at 20-under par or 25-under par, as though that reflects poorly on the value of their course rather than the impressive skill set of the players.

PGA Tour players are just so good that they can decimate the average golf course and even the championship courses of yesteryear unless something is done to trick up the course, narrowing fairways, for instance. It would be far more fun to see what the PGA Tour players could do at Augusta National without the first cut, for example, because that’s an example everyone knows. But times change, and sometimes course owners and organizations have ideas about what par should be at their course.

An interesting chart in the Titleist report showed the difference between the longest drivers on the PGA Tour versus the entire PGA Tour. The difference between No 1-10 in driving distance and the PGA Tour average driving distance is 19 yards. The No. 1-10 driving distance average is 323 and the PGA Tour average is 293.

Interestingly, the shorter drivers, those from 141 to 150 in driving distance average what the longest drivers, like Davis Love III, hit in 30 years ago, 286 yards. Love’s average for that season was 285.7.

Titleist accused media of focusing on just the longest players (page 38 of the report), but in reality, most of the focus is on those players who are at the top of the world rankings, those who have won major championships and those who have won multiple tournaments. World No. 1, Dustin Johnson, and world No. 2, Justin Thomas, are among the longer hitters although Johnson is not currently listed in the top ten in driving average. He’s currently 20th, while Thomas is 10th.

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Those in the top ten in driving distance average are Tony Finau, Trey Mullinax, Kevin Tway, Bubba Watson, Luke List, Justin Rose, Jason Day, Ryan Palmer, Gary Woodland and Justin Thomas. Certainly, there is a lot of attention on Watson, Rose, Day and Thomas, all major winners. In addition, Woodland has won a tournament this season, and he has always been known as a long hitter.

Those in 141-150th in driving distance are: C.T. Pan, Brett Stegmaier, Abraham Ancer, Brian Harmon, Tom Hoge, Si Woo Kim, Michael Kim, and Austin Cook. Do they have the same winning record and number of majors as those in the top ten in driving distance?

Finally, the USGA and R&A report summarized the situation as follows:

"“Based on the information we have seen, we are highly skeptical that rolling back the golf ball in whole or part will be in the best interests of the sport and out collective efforts to grow the game. Our nearly 29,000 PGA professionals would be at the forefront of implementing this rollback so we will be polling them this week to fully understand their perspective, especially on what it would mean for the vast majority of golfers they serve. We look forward to offering our candid feedback to the USGA and R&A once we have collected that data and reviewed the full report.”"

However, the Titleist report looked at just year-over-year for the Web.com Tour, as it did for the PGA Tour. Their 2016 to 2017 findings show that 24 of the top 25 the Web.com Tour players actually had shorter distances in 2017, and they attributed it to course set up.

Remember, the only reason to do anything with the ball has to do with courses. You have to feel for a golf club that had a championship course in 1985 that has now been obsoleted for use by the PGA Tour because of the distance that equipment – the combination of club and ball –allows the golf ball to travel. You have to wonder when we will see the first 8,000 yard or 8,500 yard U.S. Open course. The course is only obsoleted for PGA Tour and Web.com Tour play ot for normal humans.

In terms of course that were obsoleted, I can think of a two right off the bat: Eldorado CC and Indian Wells CC in Indian Wells, CA. Both used to be in the CareerBuilder Challenge, but were long ago taken out of the rotation because they are now too short. Eldorado is where President Eisenhower was a member. On the other hand, the PGA West Stadium course, which was taken out of the Bob Hope Desert Classic (now Career Builder) after one playing in 1987 because it was too difficult, is now the host course for the tournament. They do not play the back tees there, but the course will stretch to 7700 yards.

The bottom line here is that in general, the only reason to change the ball is because of the amount of land that is required for golf courses now and in the future for professional tournaments at the highest level.

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For the rest of us, we LIKE to have game improvement clubs – or there wouldn’t be game improvement clubs.

Anything that allows a golfer to hit the ball farther is something any golfer wants, pro or amateur.

Spectators love to see the long ball, whether it’s Lexi Thompson and Michelle Wie or Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson.

It’s just plain fun to see that. We are all in awe.

You will have to make up your own mind on this, and perhaps let the USGA know what you think.

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