The new golf ball should be chance for recreational golfers to play smarter, not

It’s easy to understand why professional golfers might push back against the plan to reduce the distance that balls travel in the air, but using recreational players as a prop to oppose the change is disingenuous at best and laughable at worst.

Losing an average of 3-5 yards will not negatively affect club golfers or weekend warriors who fantasize about being the next Happy Gilmore. It will not materially change your score. The reduction is so negligible as to be insignificant.

But when professionals such as Keegan Bradley label the change “monstrous” for amateurs, they water a seed that never should have been planted.

Bradley grew up in a golfing household, with a father who is a club pro, so he understands that recreational players lack the technique, swing speed and accuracy to be impacted by the plan, which the USGA and R&A will implement for professionals in 2028 and for everyone else in 2030.

His statement earlier this month to reporters in the Bahamas was disappointing because it felt like an attempt to manipulate a gullible audience, which is what recreational players are. He gave us another reason to point the finger of blame for our on-course failures at everything and everyone except ourselves.

Bad shot? We tell ourselves it has to be the balls or the clubs, which is why we’ll purchase a dozen balls for $50 despite knowing we’re likely to lose at least two or three a round because we’re not as good as we think we are, or we’ll spend thousands on irons because we believe they will make our shots travel longer and straighter without the required practice time. Poor drive? Has to be the driver, which is why we’ll spend hundreds to replace the one we purchased the year before.

Perhaps Bradley felt he could help pressure golf’s leadership to rethink its plan by getting the common man to join his fight. But the truth is that the changes are necessary to offset advancements in technology and equipment. USGA data shows the number of top pro players averaging at least 300 yards off the tee has increased from 13 to 98 over the last 10 PGA Tour seasons, making it easier for them to avoid a well-placed bunker or a cluster of trees by simply going over them.

That was the concern of the USGA and R&A early last year when they issued joint statements that said, in part: “The governing bodies are continuing their work to address the long-term cycle of increased hitting distances and course lengthening that threatens golf’s long-term sustainability and undermines the core principle that a broad and balanced set of playing skills should remain the primary determinant of success in golf.”

Some courses have attempted to fight back by extending hole distances, but there is only so much available property and money to go around. Consequently, course management and shot-shaping appear to have diminished roles when…