Justin Thomas slams ball rollback proposal in 3-minute ‘rant’

Padraig Harrington apart, Tour professional followers of the USGA’s proposed ball rollback have been few and much between. Though the soonest the rollback may take impact is 2026, gamers haven’t been shy about expressing their displeasure.

Chief amongst them: Justin Thomas.

At the Valspar Championship Wednesday, when Thomas — a Titleist endorsee — was requested about his response to the proposal, he didn’t maintain again, delivering a three-minute “rant” (his phrase).

“My reaction was disappointed and also not surprised, to be honest,” he started. I feel the USGA through the years has — in my eyes, it’s harsh, however made some fairly egocentric selections. They undoubtedly, in my thoughts, have achieved quite a lot of issues that aren’t for the betterment of the sport, though they declare it.

“I had conversations with some USGA members and it just — to me, I don’t understand how it’s growing the game. For them to say in the same sentence that golf is in the best place it’s ever been, everything is great, but … And I’m like, well, there shouldn’t be a but. You’re trying to create a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist. To me, it’s just — it’s so bad for the game of golf.”

Thomas cited leisure gamers’ potential to buy and play the identical gear as the professionals as one of many nice issues concerning the recreation — and a component that can be in jeopardy if the proposal is adopted on the highest ranges.

“The USGA wants to bring it to a point where that’s not the case,” he stated. “They want it to be, okay, well, the pros play this way and the amateurs play this way, and that just doesn’t — I don’t understand how that’s better for the game of golf,” he stated. “The amount of time, money that these manufacturers have spent trying to create the best product possible and now you’re going to tell them and us that we have to start over for potentially if the PGA Tour, PGA of America, don’t adopt this local rule. So for two of the four biggest events of the year we’re going to have to use a different ball? Like, try to explain to me how that’s better for the game of golf.”

The different drawback Thomas cited with the proposal is that the “problem” it’s addressing is just relevant to a small pool of elite gamers.

“They’re basing it off the highest .1 % of all golfers. You know what I imply? I don’t know what number of of y’all persistently play golf in right here, however I promise none of you’ve got come in from the golf course and stated, you recognize, I’m hitting it thus far and straight in the present day that golf’s simply not even enjoyable anymore. Like, no, that’s not — it’s simply not actuality.

“It irritates me because it’s consistent with, I feel like, decisions and things that the USGA has done in the past when it comes to rules or whatnot and data,” Thomas continued. “I mean, what is it, using 127-mile-an-hour clubhead speed? Like, if you can swing 127 miles an hour, like, power to you. I mean, people are running faster, so, what, are they just going to make the length of a mile longer so that the fastest mile time doesn’t change, or are they going to put the NBA hoop at 13 feet because people can jump higher now? Like, no. It’s evolution. We’re athletes now. Like, we’re training to hit the ball further and faster and if you can do it, so good for you. So yeah, as you can tell, I’m clearly against it.”

This isn’t the primary time Thomas has been publicly vital of the USGA.

In 2019, Thomas referred to as the newly-revised USGA guidelines “terrible.” Days later, Thomas quote-tweeted a submit from PGA Tour Communications a couple of two-stroke penalty that was assessed to Adam Schenk through the Honda Classic. Thomas used the hashtag #growthegame in a sarcastic method, and tagged the USGA. In a separate tweet, he expressed a want for the USGA to “start communicating” with the gamers. The USGA PR deal with responded with “Justin, we need to talk,” earlier than accusing Thomas of cancelling conferences and reminding him that his tour has “a seat at the table.”

The USGA later issued a tweet saying Thomas had not cancelled conferences, and points between Thomas and the governing physique have been ostensibly put to relaxation offline. But the ball rollback proposal has apparently reignited Thomas’ grievances with the governing physique as a complete.

“Why are this group of call it 5- to-15-handicapped amateurs determining the rules of golf for professional golfers or why are they saying that we have to do something?” Thomas stated. “So is it one thing the place down the street the place it’s like, you recognize what, then nice, if you wish to change one thing primarily based off of your information that we really feel like is fairly biased and incorrect and self-centered to what you imagine in, then perhaps we’ll simply create our personal or we’ll do our personal factor. So I don’t know the place the Tour stands on that. I can’t communicate on behalf of what they’re planning on doing.

“But to my knowledge, they haven’t necessarily been on board with it or wanting to pursue the rolling the ball back,” he continued. “I mean, I’m all for not letting it go any further. And I think this is another important thing, like, this would help me. Rolling the ball back is only going to help, I feel like, somebody who hits it far and is a good ball-striker. It’s just an advantage for me even more so, I feel like, than I have and I’m still not for it. It’s just — it’s a bigger picture. It’s about the game of golf. If I can hear some reasons that claim it’s better for the game of golf, then so be it, but I’ve yet to hear any.”

Once once more, it appears like JT and the USGA want to speak.

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