No more distance dominance, golf study suggests. Next steps unclear

Golf’s governing bodies, the United States Golf Association and the R&A, issued their two-year study called Distance Impact Project and provided no surprises: The elite players hit the ball too far and the recreational golfer too often plays from the wrong tees.

“Nothing we didn’t already know,” said Biff Lathrop, executive director of the South Carolina Golf Association.

The document’s summary says, “We believe that golf will best thrive over the next decades and beyond if this continuing cycle of ever-increasing hitting distances and golf course lengths is brought to an end.”

And that leads to the next question: “How?”

All the stakeholders — players at all levels, equipment manufacturers, course owners, governing bodies, television networks and others — all have opinions that will be heard. Theories began flying soon after Tuesday’s release, and finding common ground will be challenging.

Distance, Lathrop said, “is not a big issue for us at the amateur level. Yes, we have some college players and our best amateurs who can who hit the ball so far, but it’s not (a problem) we will see in our events.”

He cited State Amateurs from several year ago, the first at Daniel Island Club and the second at Aiken’s Palmetto Golf Club. The Daniel Island Ralston Creek course could measure to almost 7,500 yards; Palmetto’s tops out at less than 6,400.

“Something like 14-under par won at Daniel Island and one player broke par at Palmetto,” he said. “And Camden Country Club. Same thing. First-time players lick their chops at the yardage and not very many will break par.”

In that vein, TV commentator Brandel Chamblee, never one shy with an opinion, suggests the obvious way to rein the long hitters who lack accuracy off the tee: Make the rough more penal and the greens faster. He supports his thoughts with data that show a premium on accuracy with thick rough.

Think about Augusta National Golf Club, one of the game’s iconic courses. Officials wanted today’s players to hit the same club into the greens that designers Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie created and continually added distance.

They seldom succeeded. Short-iron second shots on the back nine’s par-5s are still the norm, and now they’re pondering more distance on the 13th hole, a treasure that has become an easy birdie in the Masters.

“Keeping the course current,” the late Hootie Johnson, then the club’s chairman, liked to say.

That’s the challenge today — at the elite level.

Rolling back rules on equipment and balls to shorten distances would be impossible to sell.

“That would hurt the recreational golfer far more than the elite golfer,” Lathrop said. “Besides that, how would a rollback be enforced? There are companies who now tout distance on their products and note that they are not USGA approved, and people still buy them.”

So ...?

“The next step is (looking at) areas of interest,” USGA executive director Mike Davis told reporters. “We will put topics out about balls and about clubs,” a process that will take up to a year. “After that, we will sit down and decide what kind of specifications we want to put forth for balls and clubs.

“ ... The whole purpose is to present that we do have a problem that we want to serve for the long term. We felt that the way to handle this is to have the most comprehensive set of data possible and make decisions from there.”

One thing for sure: The way forward will be thorny.

Chip shots. Webb Simpson, who earned his sixth PGA Tour title in Phoenix last week, heads the list of early commitments to compete in the 2020 RBC Heritage in April. Simpson, whose championships include the 2012 U.S. Open and 2018 Players, will be joined by fellow RBC Ambassadors Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin and Ryan Palmer. Tickets information for the April 15-18 event at Hilton Head Island’s Harbour Town Golf Links is available online at www.rbcheritage.com. ... Jackson Van Paris (Pinehurst, N.C.) won the boys’ title and Natasha Kiel (New Hope, Pa.) led the girls in the Sea Pines Junior Heritage at Harbour Town.