If this past week is any indication, the game’s top players aren’t exactly on the same page when it comes to how distance should be regulated at the highest level.
This comes in the wake of the USGA and R&A announcing a new model local rule that allows the option for tournament organizers to limit driver length to 46 inches. The PGA Tour announced it will adopt that rule starting on Jan. 1, 2022.
Reactions were varied, to say the least.
Professionals can all pretty much agree that the rule will barely affect any of them as the game is currently played. Only about three percent of pros use a driver longer than 46 inches and the vast majority report discomfort with the lack of control that comes when testing longer clubs.
For those complaining on social media, save your energy for future battles. This rule doesn’t have any impact on the amateur game and it barely registers a glance in the professional game. If you’re adamant that this rule somehow hurts taller players, you’ll be pained to hear that relative giants Hudson Swafford (6-foot-3) and Stewart Cink (6-4) both thought this wouldn’t do a single thing to their games. They both use drivers near the standard length of 45 inches, which is common for taller players.
“I don’t think it will make a world of difference, but I was in all those meetings when we discussed it for quite a while and I think the majority of players are on board with it.”
RORY McILROY
On that front, the players are nearly unanimous: this rule won’t make much of a dent.
“Look, it’s not going to change my driver specs, I’ll tell you that, and I don’t think it’s going to change many other guys’ driver specs,” said Collin Morikawa. It was a sentiment repeated by many at last week’s C.J. Cup.
However, beyond what it means to their own games, players are a bit all over the place on how they view the decision by the USGA and R&A in the grander scheme of the pro game.
Was it a conservative but positive first step in the complicated, nuanced topic of managing distance? Or was it an unnecessary ruling that distracted the golf world from more pertinent factors with reining in distance?
It depends on who you ask.
Rory McIlroy was one of several who offered a picture of PGA Tour players at relative peace with the ruling.
“I don’t think it will make a world of difference, but I was in all those meetings when we discussed it for quite a while and I think the majority of players are on board with it,” he said.
Tell that to Phil Mickelson. The six-time major champion took to Twitter, lambasting both the governing bodies and the PGA Tour for their decisions.
First, Mickelson tweeted a quote from Forrest Gump – “Stupid is as stupid does” – followed by this comment: “Really though, are the amateurs trying their best to govern the professional game the stupid ones? Or the professionals for letting them?”
A day later, he insinuated that players were not involved in the decision, going against what McIlroy stated the same day of the tweet.
“It is extremely disappointing to find out that the PGA Tour adopted the new USGA rule through the media,” Mickelson tweeted. “I don’t know of any player who had any say or any kind of representation in this matter. I do know many are wondering if there’s a better way.”
"Really though, are the amateurs trying their best to govern the professional game the stupid ones? Or the professionals for letting them?"
PHIL MICKELSON
And then there was Justin Thomas, who gave a more measured explanation for why he disagreed with the ruling.
“I feel like there’s a lot of other things, you know, like the arm-bar putter that they should be approaching as opposed to the length of driver,” Thomas said. “I think the fact that you see only a few people using a long driver speaks for itself, that it’s not really that big of an advantage. It’s a lot harder to hit it straight.”
Kevin Kisner also disagreed, saying he was against anything that could make the game more difficult.
While 48-inch driver shafts didn’t take off like many predicted they would a year ago, here’s a safer prediction: There will be more stringent rulings that limit distance and there will be some choice words from players. If this handshake of a ruling got some of them riled up, a ruling that actually impacts how they play the game will produce something far more heated.
E-MAIL SEAN
Sean Fairholm