Rory McIlroy has called out fellow pros and ball manufacturers over the expected announcement from the R&A and the USGA that there will be universal golf ball roll backs, for both pros and amateurs, to reduce the distance that they travel.
Players such as Keegan Bradley and Justin Rose have criticised the proposed move, with Bradley particularly displeased:
Srixon made whatever the USGA was saying, and it was 40, 50 yards [shorter] with my driver. I was a club or two shorter. I think that the USGA … everything that they do is reactionary.
They don't think of a solution. They just think we're going to affect a hundred percent of the population that plays golf. For the amateur world to hit the ball shorter is monstrous.
I can't think of anything more stupid than that. I don't think it's very smart at all, especially when golf's growing in popularity literally coming out of COVID.
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I don’t understand the anger about the golf ball roll back. It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability. It will also help bring back certain skills in the pro game that have been eradicated over the past 2 decades.…
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) December 3, 2023
Rory McIlroy Slams Fellow Tour Pros
The Modified Local Rule was previously proposed, meaning a bifurcation in the sport, with amateurs allowed to use their regular ball and pros using the shorter, modified ones. However, this rule was rejected by manufacturers and many leading tour players.
McIlroy, who is onboard with the proposed changes, has been critical over those who rejected the MLR, and blamed them for the new, universal roll backs.
"I don’t understand the anger about the golf ball roll back," McIlroy wrote on Twitter.
It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability. It will also help bring back certain skills in the pro game that have been eradicated over the past 2 decades.
The people who are upset about this decision shouldn’t be mad at the governing bodies, they should be mad at elite pros and club/ball manufacturers because they didn’t want bifurcation.
The governing bodies presented us with that option earlier this year. Elite pros and ball manufacturers think bifurcation would negatively affect their bottom lines, when in reality, the game is already bifurcated.
You think we play the same stuff you do? They put pressure on the governing bodies to roll it back to a lesser degree for everyone. Bifurcation was the logical answer for everyone, but yet again in this game, money talks.
His buddy Tiger Woods was in agreement with him, and used baseball as an example of a sport that implements bifurcation, with the rule that MLB players must use wooden bats, while amateurs can use metal bats.
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