TaylorMade has received almost 45,000 responses from golfers who were invited to comment on the USGA and R&A’s proposal to introduce new performance parameters for golf balls used for professional and elite level amateur play.
TaylorMade invited everyday golfers to voice their opinion by completing a survey regarding the topic of golf ball bifurcation. Nearly 45,000 golfers across more than 100 countries spanning a variety of ages, abilities and participation levels completed the survey over the last 10 days.
Of those who replied, 81% did not agree with the proposed bifurcation in the rules governing golf balls, while 77% didn’t believe that average hitting distances needed to be reduced among professional golfers.
However, only half of respondents (48%) believe that it is important for amateurs to play with the same equipment as professional golfers, while 35% said it was ‘moderately important’ and 17% said it was ‘not important’.
If the rule change for tour-level golf balls does go ahead, 49% said it would have no impact on their interest in following professional golf, while 45% said it would make them less interested. Only 6% said it would make them more interested. Broken down by age group, 57% of those respondents aged 18-34 said that they would be less interested in professional golf if distances were rolled back by the golf ball change.
Discussing the findings, David Abeles, TaylorMade Golf President & CEO, said: “The goal of our survey was to give golfers the opportunity to voice their opinion on this proposed ruling as we absorb the local rule and its potential effects on the everyday golfer. We are grateful that nearly 45,000 golfers across the world felt the need for their voice to be heard. The overwhelming amount of responses show the passion, knowledge and care for the game our audience possesses. Each response and data point is being reviewed as we will utilize this feedback in our preparation to provide a response to the USGA and R&A.
Interested parties have until August 13, 2023 to put forward comments on the proposals to golf ball performance jointly tabled by the USGA and the R&A. Any changes will not be implemented until January 1, 2026.
To view the complete results of TaylorMade’s survey, click here.