Golfers these days have it really, really good. Club technology has never been better. Launch monitors can provide instantaneous feedback. And speaking of feedback, there are data-tracking apps that highlight the strengths and weaknesses of your game. How long could you play the same golf ball?
Something else that’s worth celebrating? Golf ball durability. During the days of balata pellets, it was commonplace to find a dime-sized scuff mark on the cover after a zippy wedge shot — on the first hole. Elastomer cover technology has come a long way since those days. For example, in 2019, Alex Chiarella scored a win at the Lethbridge Paradise Canyon Open (Mackenzie Tour) while using the same Titleist Pro V1x for all 72 holes.
Chiarella took 264 swings (and putts) with the ball that week — a number that most weekend golfers wouldn’t come close to attaining due to the occasional wayward shot that would render the ball permanently lost. In 2009, a GOLF Magazine study found avid golfers lose 1.3 golf balls per round, which adds up to 5.2 for 72 holes. Simply keeping a ball in play for that long isn’t going to happen unless you’re a scratch/pro golfer, striping it, receive some fortuitous bounces, or all of the above. How long could you play the same golf ball?
But let’s pretend for a second that you’re in the zone and can’t lose a golf ball. How long could you play the same golf ball? And what signs would tell you it’s time to make a change before performance dips?
Unless you’re seeing something squirrely on a stock shot — like a significant change in direction or launch on a well-struck shot — it’s safe to play a ball for as long as you want, even if the paint on the cover starts to come off.
Where you need to be concerned is when the paint loss starts to expand, likely due to a scuff mark. How long could you play the same golf ball?
“Our normal rule of thumb for regular golfers is as long as paint loss, a scuff or defacement of the golf ball is less than the size of a dime, it should be good to go,” said a Titleist representative.
In other words, general wear and tear won’t affect the cover all that much. It’s shots that “kiss” the cart path or ricochet off a tree that generally leads to more paint loss and an eventual dip in performance. How long could you play the same golf ball?
How long could you play the same golf ball?
Titleist confirmed in 2019 that they’ve heard from weekend golfers who’ve played over 120 consecutive holes with the same ball, so it’s certainly possible to keep playing one ball without having to worry about it affecting your game. Just remember to keep an eye on the cover as the round progresses.
And one more thing: make sure you have enough balls in the bag to make it 18 holes. The average pro carries seven to 12 balls and prefers to put a few freshies in play during the course of a round. If you’re on the higher end of the handicap spectrum, make sure a full dozen is present and accounted before on the first tee.
How long could you play the same golf ball? This is the question.
What the golf ball rollback means for professional, recreational golfers.
The decision by the USGA and R&A to “roll back” golf balls universally across all levels of golf is now one of the most debated topics in the game. After three years of a “notice and comments” period in which the governing bodies proposed a bifurcated system with only the pros using a different ball, such strong opposition to bifurcation led to a universal decision.
In less than a decade, the golf balls you and the pros are using will no longer be within the rules. But there’s a whole lot more to parse through with this massive move.
What does a ball rollback mean?
Golf balls will be scaled back to ensure they can not go as far, combatting a long-term issue of player distance increasing while golf courses remain at the same length (or undergo costly renovations to increase yardage). Manufacturers will be required to make new balls that meet the new standards. The previous system tested balls at 120 mph, ensuring they did not go further than the 317-yard distance limit. The new rules increase the test to 125 mph, which obviously would send a ball further, meaning the balls need to be scaled back. The longest hitters will lose 13-15 yards, the USGA said, while LPGA players may 5-7 yards. The average recreational golfer will lose less than 3-5 yards, according to the USGA. How long could you play the same golf ball?
What does a ball rollback mean?
During the 2022-23 season, 98 PGA Tour professionals averaged more than 300 yards off the tee. Just 10 years ago only 13 did. The 75th-longest player on the tour this year, Kevin Roy, averaged 303.4 yards, or 31.5 yards more than his 1998 counterpart, Guy Boros. This is because of improvements in club and ball technology, creating concern among many in the game that professional golf is becoming a worse product as players can drive it so far that courses can’t keep up. As Tiger Woods put it Saturday, “We just don’t have enough property anymore.” Woods, as he himself noted, is hitting the golf ball longer than ever, despite all the surgeries he has been through in the last nine years.
The governing bodies only wanted to make this change for the highest levels of golf, not wanting to affect the recreational golfer. But there was strong opposition to that idea, particularly with the PGA Tour and top equipment manufacturers, with many claiming one of the beautiful parts of golf is that professional and recreational golfers all play the same equipment. Those people, for instance, PGA Tour policy board member Patrick Cantlay, also said bifurcation would mean manufacturers have to spend millions of dollars developing multiple different golf balls for different levels. How long could you play the same golf ball?
Maybe some of the pushback about bifurcation was really a fight to stop rollback altogether, but R&A head Martin Slumbers told Golf Digest, “There are only three options: We can bifurcate; you change the whole game; or you do nothing. And doing nothing is not an option.” Since the opposition to bifurcation was so strong, the USGA and R&A went forward with rolling it back for everyone.
Maybe some of the pushback about bifurcation was really a fight to stop rollback altogether, but R&A head Martin Slumbers told Golf Digest, “There are only three options: We can bifurcate; you change the whole game; or you do nothing. And doing nothing is not an option.” Since the opposition to bifurcation was so strong, the USGA and R&A went forward with rolling it back for everyone.
This has been met with considerable pushback online, but they’re pushing forward with the changes.
“There’s gonna be a lot of ambulance chasers and alarmists that are gonna make this thing seem so much worse than it really is,” USGA CEO Mike Whan told The Golf Channel. “… I don’t want a few loud voices that are trying to get more clicks and more viewers and more phone calls to drive a frenzy that quite frankly isn’t based in fact.”