LIV Golf star Bryson DeChambeau has slammed the “atrocious” new rule proposals that could see elite tournaments allowed to ban the longest-flying balls.
Earlier this week, the USGA and R&A introduced the ‘model local rule’, which would give individual tournaments the option to require a ball that travels about 10m shorter than the current tour average.
The proposed new rule, if accepted, would come into effect in January 2026.
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DeChambeau – statistically the longest hitter in the game – said event organisers should make courses harder rather than just restrict how far players can hit the ball.
“If you could say I’m the complete opposite times 1,000, that’s what I would be,” he told the LIV Golf website.
“It’s a great handicap for us guys that have worked really hard to learn how to hit it farther.
“Look, if they do it in a way where it only affects the top end, I see the rationale. But I think it’s the most atrocious thing that you could possibly do to the game of golf. It’s not about rolling golf balls back; it’s about making golf courses more difficult.
“It’s the most unimaginative, uninspiring, game-cutting thing you could do. Everybody wants to see people hit it farther. That’s part of the reason why a lot of people like what I do. It’s part of the reason a lot of people don’t like what I do.”
Speaking to media ahead of the Valspar Championship in Florida starting Thursday night (AEDT), world No.10 Justin Thomas labelled the proposal “selfish” and “the solution for a problem that doesn’t exist”.
“My reaction was disappointed and also not surprised, to be honest. I think the USGA over the years has – in my eyes, it’s harsh, but made some pretty selfish decisions,” he said.
“In my mind, [they] have done a lot of things that aren’t for the betterment of the game, although they claim it.
“I don’t understand how it’s growing the game. For them to say in the same sentence that golf is in the best place it’s ever been, everything is great, but…
“And I’m like, well, there shouldn’t be a but. You’re trying to create a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.”
One of the fundamental rules and traditions of golf is that weekend hackers can play with exactly the same equipment as the professionals on tour.
Thomas – who plays with Titleist balls, by far the most-used ball on tour – said that was one of the best things about the sport.
“For an everyday amateur golfer, it’s very unique that we are able to play the exact same equipment … you can go to the pro shop and buy the same golf ball that I play or Scottie Scheffler plays or whatever,” he said.
“But the USGA wants to bring it to a point where that’s not the case. They want it to be, ‘okay, well, the pros play this way and the amateurs play this way’, and that just doesn’t — I don’t understand how that’s better for the game of golf.”
Thomas then likened the change to athletics events extending the length of races to keep times the same.
“People are running faster, [so] are they just going to make the length of a mile longer so that the fastest mile time doesn’t change, or are they going to put the NBA hoop at 13 feet because people can jump higher now?
“It’s evolution. We’re athletes now. We’re training to hit the ball further and faster and if you can do it, so good for you.”
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