USGA And R&A: We Are Living In The Post-Stability-Through-Regulation Era

In going through the distance report that was part of the USGA/R&A announcement of equipment changes on the table, a couple of charts didn’t get quite enough attention for their very not-subtle messages.

In this “Figure 1” we some startling spikes in recent years, including the huge jump in PGA Tour “all drive” numbers. But it’s the shading of the graph that breaks the eras by blame.

Advancements from Club Innovations and Ball Innovations place emphasis on the ball over clubhead size as a distance gain force.

Then there is the “Stability through regulation” run from 2005 to 2017. I’ll pause here for snorting laughs.

Then there is the white section. Just waiting to be named for 2018 to today. For now let’s go with: Instability With Regulation Needed.

In Figure 2 the focus is on major regulation moves, with “Stability Through Regulation” highlighting over a decade ending in huge spikes. Also noteworthy here is the blame placed on the ball (pink shading) and the waiting-to-be-named section in white.