Wednesday At The 126th U.S. Open
USGA explains "Joint Statement" with Tours on distance. Plus, "1992" wind worries for Thursday's opening round with Saturday concerns as well. And a few final notes ahead of the championship.
Frank Hannigan’s mantra lives.
The USGA just wants to be loved. No matter how many headaches, hiccups or horrors are induced by straying from the simple mission of governing the Rules and running America’s national championships.
So one can assume the former Executive Director would think little of the “player focus” that’s a “pillar” of the current leadership structure, down to things like telling the media to exit in one direction this week from its interview room so as to not accidentally run into players headed for a lavish temporary facility. (At least the sign doesn’t ask us to avoid making eye contact with those who seemingly govern the game given Wednesday’s announcement to appease those who break 70 on a regular basis.)
“We really do engage the players in ways that we never used to just a few years ago,” said Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer during Wednesday’s traditional USGA press conference.
The player-centric efforts and neediness for the affection of logoclads who have never come and gone at a higher turnover rate has reached depths so bizarre that the organization was willing to spoil U.S. Open Eve at glorious Shinnecock Hills to keep the barking brats happy ahead of the next Policy Board meeting where they’ll be voting on even more abominable plans to blow up the PGA Tour’s brilliant business model.
The “joint statement,” on first glimpse, gives a few PGA Tour types with subcommittee seats an early Christmas present they can regift to their equipment-supplying overlords.
But not really.
Two weeks after USGA CEO Mike Whan curiously left the U.S. Women’s Open in Los Angeles for the Memorial Tournament all so he could be lectured by mostly under-accomplished PGA Tour players with narcissistic tendencies. And two weeks later years of distance “insights” study and a data-based conclusion seemed to be thrown into disarray. This Control+Alt+Delete announcement came from the governing bodies and the two most prominent men’s Tours not currently headed for bankruptcy also contained some curious verbiage suggesting not everyone at the Tours has lost touch with reality.
The press release suggested consensus regarding distance increases driving the (mens) game’s toward one-dimensionality, the same lament shared in April by Masters Chairman Fred Ridley. There also seems to be unprecedented agreement that technology-fueled changes pose long-term problems for the health of elite golf.
No. Kidding.
But in a world where players want no rules and believe whatever some corporate ghouls tell them—gee I wonder who inspired this in them?—the joint statement amounted to a win for the USGA and R&A who govern the (100% optional, free-of-charge) Rules of Golf©.
Where this rushed agreement leaves the sport takes some patience to grasp. No one will blame a golf fan on U.S. Open Eve for scrolling on down to key intel about the wild weather expected during tomorrow’s opening round of the 126th at one of the planet’s design masterpieces.
But here goes.
The joint statement (pasted in full below) confirms a “recognition that distance continues to increase at the elite level” and “a concern by the Tours that the updated ODS testing approach may not achieve the desired results.”
Translation: the original 2028 and now-2030 rollback will go forward, but the Tours feel there will be little impact on distances. The joint statement and ensuing Wednesday press conference at Shinnecock Hills revealed, after sharp questioning from scribblers, that the USGA and R&A continue to believe new testing protocols will make a dent in distance four years from now. The PGA Tour does not and will point to Cameron Young’s “Double Dot” Titleist, currently on the conforming ball list and still conforming in 2030.
Wednesday’s 10:30 a.m. ET announcement also suggested “a collective willingness to reconsider alternative approaches that may more materially impact the pace of future distance increases, while minimizing disruption to the overall golf market.”
Translation: the shelved changes in driver testing and other ideas proposed to ensure as many skills matter as possible are back on the table as possible rule changes for consideration in a much tighter window than before. Bifurcated “Model Local Rule” options remain off the table.
“Three years ago we were told pretty point-blank that MLRs would not be implemented that are distance-related at the PGA Tour level,” Whan said. “Given that, we had a crossroads. Do we keep going down that path if they’re not going to be implemented? That’s a paper exercise then. So we moved on from some of those.
Whether any possible player input leads to changes and a shorter “notice and comment” period to implement will be believable when it happens, given that we’re in the current mess because the PGA Tour and PGA of America continued to whine, spin, and lie after the agreed-upon process.
In the three years since the primary comment period ended, multiple prominent players with genuine credibility and good souls (Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, etc…) have suggested they are open to revisiting changes in driver size or more rigorous face testing to reward purer ball striking. But such ideas were also scrapped from the original “Distance Insights” decision by the organization representing players and club professionals. It’s unclear if there is goodwill this time from players in tailoring a solution that emphasizes skill while allowing companies to innovate, or if it’s just another delay tactic to please corporate overlords who think on a quarterly basis for shareholders.
“What really changed with us more recently is the number of individual players that kind of stepped forward, both in that meeting and since, with a real sense of wanting to help and share and asking for more information,” the USGA’s Mike Whan said. “That's exciting.”
In revisiting possible solutions capable of pleasing so many parties, the absurdly-protracted timing to “study” solutions apparently will not be repeated.
“So when we talk about other approaches, we want to be doing that with the speed of saying, you know, if we were going to do something other than 2030 or in addition to 2030, we need to know that sooner than later,” Whan said.
“This isn’t another eight-year effort. We need to get at it and do it with a sense of urgency.”
This trimming of silly timelines may be a nod to PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, who came from the NFL where rules changes are regularly made and who has reportedly been mystified at the long process to make tweaks in the name of making golf better.
While Whan came off as sincere in his claims, what “appropriate time” means from two organizations also bending to player whims after the agreed-upon process, remains a concerning tendency of the USGA and R&A. These are the organizations whose initial “Joint Statement of Principles” policy announced a zero-tolerance increase in distance stance 24 years ago. The average PGA Tour drive has jumped 22 yards since. Billions have been spent expanding courses or building new ones to suit a larger golf footprint in the two decades since.
“I find it exciting that so many of the players, even that I've talked to walking the range the last couple of days, are interested in the topic in a way that we're talking about approaches.”
So happy they’re happy. And that the USGA is feeling the affection they so pine for from the current crop of logoclads who’ll be doing something else five years from now. Whether this affection translates to a better solution remains to be seen. Just don’t tell the players they got played.
Joint Statement from the USGA, The R&A, PGA Tour and DP World Tour
Over the past eight years, The USGA and The R&A have raised concerns about distance increases and the long-term consequences of failing to address this consistent trend.
Through a series of formal feedback processes and numerous individual stakeholder meetings, the governing bodies agreed on an across-the-game change in how golf balls are tested via the Overall Distance Standard (ODS).
Recently, two significant developments have emerged in the efforts to address the impact of distance on the game:
1) Feedback from the golf industry on the Notice and Comment related to the date of implementation of the updated ODS testing approach indicated that the majority support a single-date implementation (2030) versus a two-date, phased implementation (2028 and 2030).
2) Constructive discussions between the governing bodies, PGA TOUR leadership, the PGA TOUR Player Advisory Council (PAC), DP World Tour leadership and other stakeholders yielded three key outcomes: (a) recognition that distance continues to increase at the elite level; (b) a concern by the Tours that the updated ODS testing approach may not achieve the desired results; (c) a collective willingness to reconsider alternative approaches that may more materially impact the pace of future distance increases, while minimizing disruption to the overall golf market.
Given these developments, The R&A and USGA will take the appropriate amount of time to assess a range of possible options and determine the path forward. Specifically, the governing bodies will work closely with key stakeholders – including the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and their respective members – to review, test and implement options that have a meaningful impact on distance at the elite level. These efforts will ensure the elite game does not become too one-dimensional while continuing to emphasize the importance of shotmaking. There will be no change to the ODS testing approach until January 2030 while these options are evaluated.
The USGA, The R&A, PGA TOUR and DP World Tour are confident in the path forward and committed to working collaboratively, and with other key stakeholders, to ensure the long-term health of the game.
Thursday’s Wind
The weather forecast suggests we could see conditions not seen since the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
Thursday’s opening round is forecasted to feature sustained winds throughout the day from 12 to 24 m.p.h. with gusts from 24 to 36.
“When we start to talk about numbers in the mid-30s, that becomes problematic in a number of ways,” said the USGA’s John Bodenhamer, citing “golf balls just staying still on the putting green.”
Some of the on-site models being studied by Thor Guards’ on-site meteorologist Jake Swick suggest gusts in the 40s.
“We’re preparing for all that we can, and that duration on Thursday will be from, we think and what we’re being told, anywhere from 10:30 in the morning, 11:00 a.m. all the way through most of the day until 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. It is a long duration that we’ll have to prepare the golf course for.”
Green speeds will be the slowest seen at a U.S. Open since 1995 (here at Shinnecock). The previously-covered plans to “syringe” (i.e. keep greens alive with very minor misting) will be part of the plan to keep play moving. As a result, first round tee times are ten minutes earlier than usual to allow for midday watering.
But it’s not just the opening round that’s of concern for Bodenhamer and the setup team that includes the retiring Jeff Hall, who was here for the 2004 U.S. Open.
“On Thursday the winds will come out of the prevailing south/southwest,” Bodenhamer said. “What changes on Saturday, the winds aren’t quite as strong, but they still reach gusts over 30 miles an hour, but the forecast calls for winds to come out of the west/northwest.”
Players who experienced that direction on Monday pointed out how difficult it was just to keep a ball on the 11th green.
Left unsaid in the press conference but undoubtedly the bigger issue if gusts are nearly the high 30s: spectator safety. A large camera tower came down during high winds at the Memorial two weeks ago and given past concerns with other championships when gusts neared the 40s, there are greater concerns than little white balls staying on greens.
Here is Swick’s Wednesday evening synopsis of the day:
Thursday’s system supplies humidity, cloud cover, and strong winds out of the south at 20 mph or so with gusts closer to 35+ mph at times. There could be some morning raindrops in the area, but the highest risk for a shower or storm comes between 2 and 5 PM. The approaching storm system’s front passes Thursday night ushering in a drier and gusty wind Friday out of the west and southwest gusting not quite as much as Thursday.
And from Windy:
American Viewing Guide
For those American viewers not accessing via YouTube TV or Roku, I’d like to think I’ve made traversing the USA/Versant/NBC/Peacock/NBCSN/Comcast enshittified viewing order:
Course Close-Ups
A video celebration of the width, rough and sound setup at No. 1:
