PGA Tour star Mackenzie Hughes claims “Ball rollback doesn’t make any sense” to him

The debate on the ball rollback rule has become quite intense in recent days. On Dec 2, Canadian PGA Tour star Mackenzie Hughes expressed his opinion on social media and said that it didn't make sense to him.

Mackenzie Hughes is opposed to the application of the ball rollback rule for all categories of players as it would complicate the game. In the Canadian's opinion, this measure could drive amateurs away from recreational golf.

This is what Mackenzie Hughes wrote in his X account (formerly Twitter):

"Ball rollback just doesn’t make sense to me. Golf is about the masses, not the 0.1% of golfers that can hit the ball far. We want to make it easier and more fun for amateurs, not the other way around. Hopefully this decision is not the final say on this."

Mackenzie Hughes posted his opinion on X in response to a post by biomechanics expert Sasho MacKenzie, who believes that the rollback rule is not taking into consideration the clubhead speed achieved by professionals, which is far superior to what amateurs can achieve.

This was part of what Sasho MacKenzie said on his X account::

"They [the pros] will quickly adapt to the slower ball by increasing their clubhead speed. They will regain their current driving distance and level of dispersion in order to optimize their strokes gained off-the-tee. Dozens of others will quickly initiate training protocols to tap into their potential and increase their clubhead speed."

"Those that do not adapt will gradually be supplanted be new golfers with faster clubhead speeds. 99% of amateur golfers will not adapt. Bummer."

The PGA Tour's average clubhead speed for the 2022-2023 season was 115.08 mph. Hughes finished among the 102 players who performed above the tour average.

Why are governing bodies proposing a ball rollback rule?

The golf rollback rule is a proposal being considered by the golf's world governing bodies, the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the R&A. The rule is said to be officially announced next week.

Scientific and technical advances in both training methods and golf equipment have led to an increase in the range of long shots in golf and governing bodies consider this to be detrimental to the sport.

The reason, according to USGA and R&A, is that this increasing range is causing golf courses to become obsolete as longer range requires longer courses. Additionally, the economic and environmental cost of refurbishing existing top-level courses is considered unaffordable.

Thus, the ball rollback rule was devised which, if implemented, would establish the use of balls designed to have shorter ranges. The USGA and R&A calculations consider a reduction of between 15 and 20 yards in the average driving distance.

There are three possible variants for an eventual ball rollback rule. It could apply to all categories of players, it could apply only to professionals, or it could be scrapped altogether. All possibilities have advocates and detractors.

However, the majority of opinions consider that, in any case, this measure should not reach amateurs who play recreational golf.

Mackenzie Hughes and others with the same opinion, say that current golf courses still represent a major challenge for this category of players and that making them more difficult could discourage them from playing the sport.