The rollback would be implemented for golfers of all levels in 2030—different than the bifurcated proposal those governing bodies put forward earlier this year. The USGA and R&A predict a 10-15 yards decrease for golf’s longest hitters, down to 1-5 yards for amateurs.

We have finalized the next step in our years-long effort to address consistent increases in hitting distance and golf’s sustainability.

These changes to the Overall Distance Standard will take effect in January 2028.

— USGA (@USGA) December 6, 2023

Naturally, the rule change caused an eruption from golfers on all sides. Let’s break down some of the most noteworthy reactions.

Bridgestone Golf

Golf ball maker Bridgestone Golf issued a statement effectively saying they don’t like it, but they accept it and are moving on.

Bridgestone Golf statement regarding USGA/R&A distance roll back announcement: pic.twitter.com/L290S6nJtX

— Bridgestone Golf (@bridgestonegolf) December 6, 2023

Rory McIlroy

McIlroy has been outspoken in support of his rollback. After a tweet over the weekend, McIlroy joined Sky Sports on Wednesday morning to support the official proposal, saying that it’ll lead to a more “skilled” game.

"I think this change will make the game more skilful again" ?

World number two golfer Rory McIlroy has backed the new changes to rules regarding golf ball specifications which will see a reduce in distance they travel ?️? pic.twitter.com/XamHvgVhBA

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) December 6, 2023

TaylorMade Golf

McIlroy’s sponsor, TaylorMade Golf, released a statement on the rollback, expressing opposition but acceptance. On Golf Channel, the company’s CEO David Abeles said: “This decision has been made, and we will move forward.”

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour, with a vast majority of players being against the decision, released a statement questioning the specifics of the new testing protocols, saying they aren’t representative of on-course speeds.

Callaway Golf

Callaway Golf carved out a unique position, expressing disappointment that the USGA moved away from a bifurcated proposal.

PGA of America

The PGA of America released a statement praising the delayed timeline of implementing the new rule, but expressing concerns over a “greater reduction of distance than we would advise” for recreational players.

We appreciate that the USGA and R&A ran a collaborative and patient process over the past several years. We are particularly gratified that they heard our concerns regarding the significant operational challenges bifurcation would have presented and are no longer considering a local rule regarding the ball for elite players. We are also pleased that the proposed change to the ball has been delayed until 2028 for elite players and 2030 for recreational golfers. Given the important role our nearly 30,000 PGA of America Golf Professionals play in the recreational game, having more time to adjust to the new rule is helpful. We remain opposed to any change that may potentially lessen the enjoyment of the game for recreational golfers or diminish the unprecedented momentum the game is enjoying. It appears recreational golfers will see a greater reduction in distance than we would advise. While this decrease has been lessened, we continue to recommend being more moderate on the swing speed change for the golf ball conformance test. At this time, we continue to have concerns and look forward to continuing this important conversation and finding resolution with all of our golf industry partners.

USGA and R&A CEOs Mike Whan and Martin Slumbers

Defending their own proposal on Golf Channel, Slumbers said that the move was designed to “protect the long-term health and sustainability of the game…with the environmental concerns,” while Whan punched back against some of the proposal’s critics:

“There’s gonna be a lot of ambulance chasers and alarmists that are gonna make this thing seem so much worse than it really is. … I don’t want a few loud voices that are trying to get more clicks and more viewers and more phone calls to drive a frenzy that quite frankly isn’t based in fact.”

.@RandA and @USGA CEOs Martin Slumbers and Mike Whan detail what the universal golf ball rollback announcement means for players of all levels.

?: @GolfCentral breaking news coverage live now on Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/remf2OX3Q2

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) December 6, 2023

Main image: Mike Ehrmann

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By Mike Stachura
TaylorMade Golf, whose drivers are the most played brand on the PGA Tour, is the latest manufacturer to question the need for any distance rollback.

The company asserted its position following the March 5 release of the 2017 Distance Report, which called the driving distance gain on the professional tours over the last year “unusual and concerning and requires closer inspection and monitoring to fully understand the causes and effects.”

The statement from TaylorMade CEO David Abeles said the company’s study of the same numbers suggests no cause for new restrictions. Abeles tone was similar to that voiced by both the PGA Tour and PGA of America in the wake of the report. 

“We have meticulously reviewed the USGA and R&A’s 2017 Distance Report and discussed its findings with key stakeholders,” Abeles’ statement reads. “Additionally, we have carefully considered the inferred implications that the study may have on the game moving forward. The TaylorMade Golf Company firmly opposes any potential rollback of product performance or bifurcation of the rules in any form as we believe these movements will be detrimental to the game at every level.”

Abeles, whose company joins Acushnet among companies to caution against action based on the 2017 Distance Report’s numbers, said that any restrictions on distance could harm current efforts being made to grow the game.

“We are optimistic about golf’s future and we believe that the growth initiatives our industry has invested in are beginning to drive participation momentum in our sport. Any separation from the rules or any step backward in performance would be disadvantageous to the growth of the game,” Abeles said. “For millions of golfers of all skill levels, we believe innovation and technology lead to better performance, and better performance brings more joy to the game for all who play it.”

The statement concludes with Abeles calling for further collaboration between the ruling bodies, equipment manufacturers and other leaders in golf.

“As the discussion around bifurcation and rollback formalizes, we look forward to having a seat at the table to lend our voice.”

The USGA and R&A released the distance figures from seven professional tours that saw a three-yard gain in average driving distance, a dramatic jump from the 0.2-yards-per-year gain seen for the preceding decade. The ruling bodies asserted in the preamble to the report that the distance issue would be under an extensive review.

“We remain open-minded and our absolute priority is to ensure that all key stakeholders are involved in an open and inclusive process, and that we move forward together in the best interests of golf at all levels,” the preamble reads. “There is no fixed timetable, but we will commence this process immediately and endeavor to reach a conclusion as promptly as possible.”

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TaylorMade Golf announced on Monday that it has “mutually agreed” to end its relationship with this year’s Masters champion, Sergio Garcia, with the company releasing the Spaniard from the remaining years of his contract.

The news does not come as a huge surprise to those in the industry as there have been whispers of Garcia possibly going to Callaway. Speculation was further fueled with Garcia’s recent use of an Odyssey Toulon Design putter and Callaway wedges.

The move also makes sense in that TaylorMade has a large investment in endorsement deals with tour players, and with the sale of the company to KPS Capital Partners in May, the new owners might have wanted to shed some of that payroll.

For years Garcia carried the load as the company’s international icon, but with the addition of Rory McIlroy earlier this year, that role is filled. Garcia had been with TaylorMade since 2003, leaving Titleist to join the company. During his time with TaylorMade, Garcia won 19 times internationally including the Players as well as this year’s Masters.

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By Mike Stachura
TaylorMade unveiled its new P730 irons, a one-piece forged iron design months ago. We just didn’t know it. Now, the full story is out and the clubs will be soon, too.

First presented and put into play in May when Rory McIlroy announced he was signing with TaylorMade, the muscleback blade is TaylorMade’s first update to that category in nearly four years, replacing the Tour Preferred MB 14. It was not a change they made easily, says Tomo Bystedt, senior director of iron design.

“When we were first showing them to Dustin Johnson, he said ‘Why would you make another one? This one is perfect,’” Bystedt said. “So we had to deconstruct what he was saying. Looking at what he liked and looking at what we could improve that wouldn’t detract from those things.

“We knew there was a little bit of work to do shaping wise. But it was one of those things that you couldn’t really get out of the player until you showed him where we could go with it.”

McIlroy’s satisfaction with the custom milled prototype set they first presented him in May made it clear to Bystedt and his team that they were on the proper path, and other TaylorMade staffers Justin Rose and Dustin Johnson are putting versions in play, with Johnson’s being the version that will come to market.

One key shift in the P730 irons’ design can be seen in the milled out channel along the back. Bystedt said that input from Justin Rose said that these better players wanted an iron with less moment of inertia (or stability on off-center hits) in the heel toe direction, typically found in even the slightest cavity back forgings.

“Justin was saying that when you’re trying to shape the ball, you don’t want to do anything different in your swing, you don’t want to overrotate your hands, you don’t want to set up differently with your stance—it should almost just be a thought, telepathic,” Bystedt said. “Part of that struggle that Justin’s had with our cavity backs is having too much inertia so that when he’s trying to hit a draw it wouldn’t turn over enough.”

So the P730 irons feature a shorter blade length (only by a millimeter) to reduce that stability in the heel-toe direction. But the milled channel helps them restore some stability in the top-bottom direction so shots slightly higher on the face (Bystedt says half a groove) perform the same.

“So by creating this channel in the middle we moved some of the mass up to the top of the blade. Catching it just half a groove high on the face it seems to go the same. Might not be noticeable in a non-tour iron but it is for this type of player.”

The P730 irons will be available Nov. 1 in the U.S. ($1,400, 3-iron through pitching wedge).

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By Mike Stachura
The TaylorMade P790 irons design brief sounds either amazingly simple or ridiculously complicated. For a company used to making bold steps in innovation, it ended up being one of its boldest for a category of player that’s tough to serve.

“Products like this in the past have taken advantage of different benefits of hollow construction, either to get forgiveness or to manage feel or to get more speed with a thin face,” said Tomo Bystedt, TaylorMade’s senior director of iron creation. “What if you could do something that takes advantage of all the benefits? That was kind of our mission here. How do we get all of the speed and make it feel really good at the same time and obviously deliver a look and appearance that a good player would love to look at? That was the brief that we set out to do.

“One of the things we realized in this forged distance category is that there was only so far we could go with existing constructions and existing materials,” “So we thought, ‘What if we did something entirely different?’”

That something is the P790 irons, a hollow construction set that features an ultra-thin face with a proprietary polyurethane foam filling, all in the relatively compact shape better players prefer.

That’s not an easy proposition because usually one of the keys to getting speed in an iron is to extend the size of the face to make in essence a larger trampoline. That creates more coefficient of restitution (COR) or spring-like effect to lead to more ballspeed and distance. But the P790 irons feature a shallower, compact design, forcing engineers to rethink the face from past TaylorMade irons.

The new face, made of 4140 forged carbon steel, is different in two vital ways. First, it gets as thin as 1.75 millimeters from the long irons through to the 7-iron. That’s compared to 2.2 millimeters on TaylorMade’s PSi irons. That thin face is possible because of a lightweight foam filler on the inside that supports the face.

The material, called SpeedFoam, was suggested to the iron team engineers by colleagues in the golf ball side of TaylorMade’s business. It’s not a material used in golf balls, but it had the right properties to allow the thin face to flex while not adding weight that would negatively affect the center of gravity location.

“This material is so soft that it preserves the flexibility in the face and at the same time dampens the sound,” Bystedt said. “So that was kind of the magic bullet to solving this puzzle.”

Secondly, the face insert actually extends beyond the bottom of the face and leading edge and wraps around the sole, leading into a cut-through slot similar to those seen on TaylorMade’s M2 fairway woods. This helps create greater flexibility in the lower part of the face where many iron shot impacts occur. The rest of the iron’s body is made of soft 8620 carbon steel, the same steel used in the company’s Milled Grind wedges.

Bystedt says that combination led to an iron that launches with the speed of TaylorMade’s M1 game-improvement iron with the size of TaylorMade’s better player-preferred P770 iron. He said the thin face launches shots with a peak trajectory more than a yard higher than P770 despite having lofts two degrees stronger.

Instrumental is the P790 irons’ lower center of gravity, partly a function of their slightly shallower profile but largely enhanced by positioning a metal-injected-molding tungsten alloy within the hollow body.

As the P790 irons progress to the 8-iron and shorter irons and wedges, it remains a hollow construction but the face thickens progressively and the hosel lengthens slightly. The effort there is to raise the center of gravity on the shorter clubs for a more controlled flight and spin.

Adding to the distance elements of the P790 irons is a newly developed True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 shaft, a version of the venerable Dynamic Gold shafts that’s about 25 grams lighter than the standard.

The P790 irons will be available Sept. 15 in the U.S. ($1,300, offered in 3-iron through pitching wedge with A-wedge option).

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