Butch Harmon believes that the golf ball rollback would not have the desired impact on the game, as he backed Jose Maria Olazabal’s suggestion to decrease the limit on the number of golf clubs allowed in the bag.
The golf ball rollback has divided opinion for several years. The governing bodies had hoped that changing the rules around the ball would rein in the distances being hit by the large majority of the world’s best players.
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A spanner was thrown in the works earlier this season, with Cameron Young winning the Cadillac Championship with a golf ball that would have apparently conformed with the new regulations.
There had been plans to introduce the new rules into the professional game in 2028. However, that has now been pushed back to 2030.
And it would appear that some want the USGA and the R&A to go even further.
What Jose Maria Olazabal would do instead of a golf ball rollback
Speaking on The Smylie Show about the changes that need to be made to the game, Butch Harmon insisted that the decision-makers need to be looking elsewhere.
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“I don’t think rolling the ball back is the answer to be honest with you. I think if they really wanted to do something, they could do it with a driver. A smaller head, the length of the club could only be so far, the velocity the ball comes off the club face can only be so fast. But unfortunately, I think we’ve passed the time for that to happen,” he said.
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
“The manufacturers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing these clubs. The downside is the average guy that’s 15, 16 handicap doesn’t have the club head speed to take advantage of it. They think they do, and they’re going to buy them.
“I don’t know what the solution is. I don’t know what the answer is. I’ve heard all kinds of scenarios. I’ll tell you the one who had the most interesting idea was Jose Maria Olazabal, one of my best friends. We were talking about it, and Jose is the best. I’ve never met a guy that’s got such a passion for golf. ‘Butch, I tell you something, okay, leave the clubs the same. Don’t touch the driver, don’t touch the ball. We go from 14 clubs to nine clubs. We find out who can play’. I’m thinking to myself that’s brilliant. I don’t know how we got to 14 anyway.
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“Wouldn’t it be great to see a tournament where you could only use nine clubs? If you’ve got a putter, you’ve only got eight clubs.”
The PGA Tour player who believes that golfers should be limited to carrying 10 clubs
Someone on the PGA Tour who would seemingly agree with Olazabal and Harmon is Michael Kim.
Kim reacted to the recent announcement of the delayed rollback by insisting that bifurcation is the only way to make the plans work as some want.
He went on to add on X that limiting the amount of clubs a player could carry to 10 would make shotmaking much more important ‘immediately’.
It is a fascinating debate. And clearly, the rollback is not going to work as things stand if Cameron Young is already able to win a PGA Tour event with a golf ball that would be conforming.
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There are plenty of amateur golfers who would probably benefit straight away from having just nine or 10 clubs to pick from because they will no longer have a decision to make over certain shots. There will be one club in the bag that they can possibly turn to.
And as both Olazabal and Kim suggest, those players should, over time, develop a wider skillset that would make the game even more enjoyable.
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