PGA Tour’s fastest swinger on potential ball rollback: ‘A really exciting change’

Surely the PGA Tour’s fastest swinger would be opposed to any rollback of the golf ball?

Well, not exactly.

Brandon Matthews, who leads the Tour in average clubhead speed (126.6 mph) and ranks second in average driving distance (320.4 yards), responded to Tuesday’s news that the USGA and R&A were attempting to curb hitting distance with a proposal that would modify the testing conditions for golf balls used in elite competition via model local rule by January 2026.

“I think it was a long time coming,” Matthews told Golf Channel from the Valspar Championship. “You know, these golf balls nowadays, technology’s so good, right? Manufacturers did everything they could to make sure the golf ball goes straight and far, right? So, I think it’s going to create a lot more imagination and a lot more creativity that used to be in the game instead of just hitting it far and straight.”

Specifically, the governing bodies plan to alter the launch conditions for determining if a ball conforms to the overall distance standard, which allows for a combined carry and roll of greater than 317 yards but no more than 320 yards. Current conditions include balls tested with 120 mph of clubhead speed, 42 revolutions per second of spin and at a launch angle of 10 degrees, with acceptable ranges of variance for each.

Proposed conditions would be 127 mph, 37 revolutions per second and 11 degrees.

These changes, according to the governing bodies, would reduce the average driving distance of elite players by 14 to 15 yards.

The average swing speed on the PGA Tour this season is 115.1 mph – in 2007, the first year the Tour measured the stat, the average was 112.37 with Bubba Watson tops at 124.18. And last season, the average driving distance on Tour landed at 299.8 yards, a 13.9-yard increase from 2003.

The belief, and ball manufacturers have confirmed as much, is that current balls used on Tour would all be deemed non-conforming using the proposed testing conditions.

“I haven’t played a golf ball that was like what they’re going to end up going to in quite some time,” Matthews added. “You know, I’m sure they’re going to do a bunch of testing and stuff before and probably give us a little time to kind of adjust to it. But I’m really looking forward to seeing shot shapes again like you used to see, right? Like a shot, for example, like a rising ball flight. You don’t see that anymore because of the ball technology. So, you’re going to see a little more of that come back, which is really cool. But I don’t know how far they’re going to go with this, but it’s going to be a really exciting change and I think it’s going to make the game a little bit better.”