Golf's Governing Bodies May Be Coming For Your Driver Next After Officially Announcing Ball Rollback

The USGA and R&A, two of golf's governing bodies, officially announced on Wednesday that a game-wide golf ball rollback is coming. Starting in 2028, golf balls used by players on the PGA Tour will travel a shorter distance while the same golf balls will be implemented and enforced at the amateur level in 2030.

With these newly nerfed golf balls, long hitters who have ball speeds of 183 mph or higher will lose 13 to 15 yards with their driver. PGA Tour with an average swing speed will lose nine to 11 yards off the tee, most LPGA players will lose somewhere between five to seven yards, and the weekend warriors out there will be hitting it five yards shorter off the tee, give or take.

Shorter distances off the tee of course means longer distances left for approach shots, which for practically every golfer on the planet means the game of golf will soon be made even harder.

The golf ball rollback is official, but now the game's governing bodies could come for your driver. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

While the golf ball is the topic of conversation today, don't be surprised if the focus turns towards drivers sooner rather than later. Drivers are getting both hotter and more forgiving year after year, and while the nerfed golf ball will counteract the advancements in driver technology, that technology may ultimately catch up which is why the USGA and R&A were sure to make a note about monitoring drivers.

"Continue to monitor drivers and explore possible additional options related to distance. Specifically, we will research the forgiveness of drivers and how they perform with off-center hits," the statement from the two governing bodies noted.

READ: WHY RORY MCILROY IS MOSTLY WRONG ABOUT THE ROLLBACK

What's interesting here is that John Spitzer, the USGA's managing director of equipment standards, recently explained that "equipment plays a very small role" in these increases in distances in golf. According to him, the increases are a result of the player.

So, in other words, Spitzer is blaming players getting physically stronger and creating faster swing speeds as the top factor for the distance increase.

One way to interpret Spitzer's comment is that drinking more beer on the course and not going to the gym is actually good for the game of golf.

All in all, 2028 and 2030 are a long ways away. There is no telling what sort of changes we could see between now and then when it comes to golf equipment and what the USGA and R&A elect to move forward with.

Follow Mark Harris on X @itismarkharris and email him at mark.harris@outkick.com