The game of golf has an extensive rulebook that has been developed over the years by the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. Most golfers are familiar with the basic rules such as play the ball as it lies, don’t ground your club in a sand trap, add a penalty stroke for a ball hit out of bounds, and on and on. However, there is also a subcategory of rules that aren’t etched in stone, but do allow organizations or tournament committees to enforce certain rules that benefit that entity. For instance, major professional and amateur tournaments have set rules pertinent to them. Some examples are the one-ball rule, the inability to ride in a motorized cart, or the requirement to wear long pants instead of shorts. No one seems terribly surprised by rules that require a contestant to wear long pants in the United States Open whereas there is no such requirement for playing in the Lake County Open. It’s all up to the tournament committee to determine those rules of play.
There are numerous rules with regard to equipment. The Rules of Golf state that the length of a driver cannot exceed 48 inches. However, two weeks ago the USGA decided to add an addendum to the Rules of Golf that allows a tournament committee to limit the length of a driver to 46 inches. This new adaption will take effect on Jan. 1, 2022.
The PGA Tour and the European PGA Tour both announced that they would incorporate the new 46-inch rule at the start of the 2022 calendar year. Both men’s professional tours are of the opinion that limiting the length of the driver will limit the ability of top golfers such as Bryson DeChambeau to hit prodigious tee shots. The keepers of the game worry that top golfers are now capable of driving 350-yard par-4s and turning 550-yard par-5s into driver and short iron realities. The PGA Tour also made the comment that this new rule would only impact the 3 percent of its members who use drivers that are in the 48-inch range.
The reaction to the PGA Tour’s action was swift. Five-time major champion and reigning PGA titlist Phil Mickelson was the first golfer of note to express his disdain. Never a big fan of the USGA and its “amateur” rules-making apparatus, Mickelson was initially quoted as saying, “It is extremely disappointing to find out that the PGA Tour adopted the new USGA rule through the media. I don’t know of any player who had any say or any kind of representation in this matter. I do know that many are wondering if there is a better way.” From there Phil got a little more personal with the added commentary, “Stupid is as stupid does. Really though, are the amateurs (USGA) trying their best to govern the professional game the stupid ones? Or are the professionals at fault for letting them.” The important thing to note about Mickelson is that he is taller at 6-foot-4 than most golfers, he has always been a power player, whether on the PGA Tour or on those occasions when he plays the Champions Tour for seniors, and he has used the longer 48-inch driver for more than one year. He feels that at age 51 the longer driver allows him to stay relevant on the regular tour with the younger set. He can keep up with them.
A top-five driver of the golf ball on the PGA Tour is Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. McIlroy owns four major titles and recently won the CJ Cup in Las Vegas. McIlroy countered Mickelson’s commentary. Rory said, “I was in all those meetings when we discussed it for quite a while, and I think the majority of the players were on board with it.” Rory added, “I think it’s more of a preventative measure. I think that if this is as far as they want the ball to go, I think we’re too far past like trying to roll it back, but this is sort of setting the limit. Obviously Phil didn’t get the memo for the meetings.
Mickelson countered that “this is pathetic. It promotes a shorter, more violent swing, that’s injury prone. During our first golf boom in 40 years, I think our amateur governing body keeps trying to make it less fun.”
Surprisingly, there are several top-notch members of the LPGA Tour who also use a 48-inch driver, most notably Brooke Henderson. Ernie Els, who is now a regular on the Champions Tour, also uses a longer-than-normal driver. Els too is 6-foot-4. From the truly amateur perspective, I have to assume that taller-than-average recreational golfers have probably been fitted for drivers that are longer than those used by regular-sized men. I once played in a golf tournament in Chicago that had former Bull center Will Perdue in the field. I quietly went over to the golf bag of the 6-foot-11 Perdue and would guess that his driver topped out at 50 inches.
Mike Whan, the recently named executive director of the USGA, did offer a counterthought to the golfing equipment owned by the likes of tall golfers such as Will Perdue. Whan was quoted as saying that “admittedly this is not the answer to the overall distance debate issue. It is a simple option for competitive events. It’s important to note that it is not a Rule of Golf. This is an available tool for those running competitive events. It is not mandated for the average recreational golfer.” Of course, someday there may be a professional who is as tall as Perdue.
So what are we to make of all this? Obviously tall golfers such as Mickelson and Els would prefer to use a longer driver. Assuming one can control the ball off the clubface, the science says that the ball would go farther. To some golfers who are noted bombers such as Dustin Johnson and Adam Scott, both contend that they cannot control the longer 48-inch driver. The new addendum rule has no effect on them. To others who also bomb the ball and still play the shorter driver such as Justin Thomas and Kevin Kisner, the feeling is that the PGA Tour shouldn’t legislate against the longer driver. Most interesting was the commentary from reigning British Open champ Collin Morikawa, a noted precision player who is not a bomber. He felt that the world of golf course architecture needed to come to grips with the power game and design more golf courses that have doglegs, are tree lined, or take advantage of the prevailing winds.
The distance debate is not a Phil Mickelson issue. It was just about 100 years ago when the keepers of the game debated the move away from wooden shafts towards the more popular steel-shafted clubs. Equipment manufacturers will always try to push the envelope to design a better clubhead, shaft and ball. While Joe Six Pack will never hit the golf ball as far as Dustin or Bryson or Rory, he will cherish those moments when his new Taylor Made driver jumps off the clubface and rolls out to 240 yards. The distance debate will continue on all levels
