{"id":301294,"date":"2023-12-03T15:24:36","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T15:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=301294"},"modified":"2023-12-03T15:24:36","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T15:24:36","slug":"rory-mcilroy-backs-controversial-universla-golf-ball-rollback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/golf\/rory-mcilroy-backs-controversial-universla-golf-ball-rollback\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy backs controversial universla golf ball rollback"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Rory McIlroy backs controversial golf ball rollback for professionals AND amateur players &#8211; meaning balls will travel less in the air &#8211; but claims &#8216;money talks&#8217; in swipe at manufacturers and elites<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u00a0Rory McIlroy has backed plans to curb how far golf balls travel in the air\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The reported plans would see new golf balls introduced that fly 15 yards less<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>He was originally in favour of the changes just applying to elite players\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Rory McIlroy has backed plans to universally &#8216;roll back&#8217; the golf ball, claiming it will put the sport &#8216;back on a path of sustainability&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, he claimed &#8216;money talks&#8217; in accusing manufacturers and other pforessionals of pushing for changes to affect everybody.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Golf&#8217;s rule makers announced controversial plans\u00a0to roll back the distances travelled by balls at the elite end of the game in March &#8211; but now they want the restrictions to apply for regular players as well.<\/p>\n<p>The United States Golf Association and the R&amp;A want tournaments to use golf balls that travel 15 yards less in the air because of the ever-increasing driving distances, with fears that courses would have to be lengthened otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>They originally wanted to bifurcate the golf ball, meaning professionals and amateurs would hit different balls under the &#8216;Model Local Rule&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>However a report by Golf Digest\u00a0suggests that the United States Golf Association and R&amp;A will announce changes to roll back the distance for elite and recreational players &#8211; meaning the balls will not bifurcated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/03\/14\/78523521-12820113-image-a-37_1701614115635.jpg\" height=\"485\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Rory McIlroy has backed plans to introduce changes that would see golf balls travel less when hit at all levels<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/03\/14\/78523527-12820113-image-a-38_1701614199475.jpg\" height=\"417\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>However, he was originally against the idea of the changes affecting amateurs, something he believes other elite players and manufacturers have pushed\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Key terms explained\u00a0<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8216;Rollback&#8217; &#8211; changes which mean balls will be used that travel less.<\/li>\n<li>&#8216;Bifurcation&#8217; &#8211; a situation where professional and amateur golfers are using different equipment. The &#8216;roll back was originally supposed to only impact elite players, but will not affect people at all levels, meaning they are not &#8216;bifurcated&#8217;.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And McIlroy has thrown his weight behind the proposals, which would likely only come in to effect from 2026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I don\u2019t 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,&#8217; McIlroy wrote on X, formerly Twitter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It will also help bring back certain skills in the pro game that have been eradicated over the past two decades.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The people who are upset about this decision shouldn\u2019t be mad at the governing bodies, they should be mad at elite pros and club\/ball manufacturers because they didn\u2019t want bifurcation.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy originally supported bifurcation because he did not want amateur players to be affected.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He feels manufacturers and other elite professionals are responsible for the lack of bifurcation, which was the &#8216;logical&#8217; answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He added: &#8216;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?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;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.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/03\/14\/78523561-12820113-image-a-39_1701614334771.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Bryson DeChambeau opposed the idea of rolling back the golf ball, even though players hitting it further threatens the future of some courses<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/03\/14\/78523565-12820113-image-a-40_1701614394813.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Course architects have generally been in favour of the changes, which would help prevent players from outdriving courses\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In general, professional golfers have been against the rollback.<\/p>\n<p>Back in March, Bryson DeChambeau said: &#8216;I think it\u2019s the most atrocious thing that you could possibly do to the game of golf. It\u2019s not about rolling golf balls back; it\u2019s about making golf courses more difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think it\u2019s the most unimaginative, uninspiring, game-cutting thing you could do. Everybody wants to see people hit it farther. That\u2019s part of the reason why a lot of people like what I do.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Golf course architects have largely been in support of the plans, because of the increasing strain courses have been put under.<\/p>\n<p>To prevent courses from becoming obsolete with golfers hitting further, extending courses puts a demand on resources and space which are sometimes insurmountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/golf\/article-12820113\/Rory-McIlroy-golf-ball-rollback.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rory McIlroy backs controversial golf ball rollback for professionals AND amateur players &#8211; meaning balls will travel less in the <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rory McIlroy backs controversial universla golf ball rollback - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/golf\/rory-mcilroy-backs-controversial-universla-golf-ball-rollback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rory McIlroy backs controversial universla golf ball rollback - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rory McIlroy backs controversial golf ball rollback for professionals AND amateur players &#8211; 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