USGA Golf Ball RollBack As a 73-year-old man, I can tee it forward and still not reach most greens in regulation. Why do I want to play a game that the regulators of golf want to limit my enjoyment of this wonderful game? The USGA in their infinite wisdom has threatened to roll back the golf ball for several years and they officially made it clear this year that they intend to do so in 2028 for professionals and in 2030 for average golfers. I’ll be 79 by then and even shorter off the tee. I am really looking forward to using a shorter golf ball. NOT! It seems to me that they are missing the point. Because the talent pool has become so split from players defecting to the LIV side, nonsignature regular season PGA Tour events resemble Korn Ferry Tour tournaments with names not quickly recognizable. With the new changes that were announced coming in 2026, the fields will continue to decrease and the void between top-tier PGA Tour members and the lesser-known professionals will become even greater. The bigger problem for the PGA Tour is that I am not the only one that has been turned off by the lack of competitive balance on tour. Even though play at the local level is up dramatically, television viewership has declined by over 30% and is still trending downward. PGA Tour sponsors are not happy. These are not the people you want to disappoint because they pay the bills and keep the lights on. With outside investment in the PGA Tour, the investors will want a return on their money. Will that require charitable giving, such an important segment of professional tournaments, to be reduced, as well? I understand the need for a professional athlete to maximize his earning potential, a pro never knows when injury will curtail a promising career, but the exorbitant amounts of money being thrown around in professional golf today seems obscene. Could this have been avoided? Maybe, but who could have foreseen a sovereign country, like Saudi Arabia, devoting its massive wealth to completely destroy one of the best golf leagues in the world?
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