way to save face and revive their relevancy to a game, that seems to have passed them by? Heads of both organizations, the USGA and R&A, have publicly repeated the stance that doing nothing is not an option. The fifth major player in the golf world is the Augusta National Golf Club, host of The Masters. Their Chairman, Fred Ridley has said they support a ball roll back. MLR has produced a split in golf’s major championships. The U.S. Open, the OPEN Championship and the Masters will play the new shorter ball. The rest of the professional tournaments run by the PGA Tour (The PLAYERS, Presidents Cup, regular Tour events) and PGA (PGA Championship, Ryder Cup) will still use the current golf ball. The distance the ball travels is not the crux of the problem. As roll back proponents cite stats about driving distance, as well as a myriad of other data, anyone who has ever played, or watched golf on television knows it’s birdies and low scoring that brings attention to the game. Even with the longer ball, new scoring records are not being set every week. Below are PGA Tour scoring statistics for the lowest annual scoring average, the 100th place player scoring average and the Tour overall scoring average, for the past 20 years. Draw your own conclusions, but the differences do not seem to be great enough to make gameshattering conclusions such as limiting golf ball performance, or a roll back justifiable. split golf into an “us” versus “them;” something most of golf’s stakeholders say is fraught with negative consequences. An earlier memo to the USGA, from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, also used similar language about MLR, “It is not warranted and is not in the best interest of the game.” The operative question today though is what will the USGA and The R&A do? Will they stick with the MLR, drop it, or try for a compromise? Is there any other Year 2022-2023 68.28 70.47 70.70 2012 69.63 71.01 71.32 2002 69.00 70.98 71.29 Lowest Scoring Avg 100th Scoring Avg Tour Average Michigan Golf Journal
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