Professional golfers have never accepted the ball rollback policy since the idea was first proposed in 2021. Even the PGA Tour rejected the USGA’s initial proposal, but a renewed motion won its approval in December 2023 despite the backlash from the pro golfers. Now, after years of its initial approval, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, & Co. have once again raised their concerns about it. And they hold the same views.

“I feel a majority of guys out here are under the same opinion I am that there isn’t a problem with the golf ball,” Thomas told Adam Schupak of Golfweek. He added, “So, if that’s the case, I don’t know why we’d let a group of amateur golfers decide how we play the game.”

The USGA had brought up the initial proposal of ball rollback to the PGA Tour. With the integration of technology and advancement in golf, the driving distance has been increasing every year, and that has influenced the course designers to expand the fairways to meet the demands. The USGA wasn’t happy with the frequent renovation of courses and having to make the amateur golfers play on different layouts every time.

But as Thomas mentioned, the majority of the professional golfers haven’t had an issue with the distance of the golf ball. Even short drivers like Jordan Spieth haven’t been completely opposed to that. He understands the idea behind the USGA’s proposal. But he is not on board with the manner in which they are going about it.

“They should be finding a way for it to be the same for everybody. Some players will be affected by 2 yards, and others by 20. I hit Titleist (rollback) prototypes one time straight into the wind, and I hit a couple that were the same ball speed but hit a little different on the face, and the difference in carry was crazy. The dispersion was massive.”

Being a short driver, the effect of the rollback is quite drastic for players like Spieth. While players like Rory McIlroy can still manage to cover a huge distance, the three-time major winner will be stuck with hitting it shorter than he already is. 5% rollback on a 270-yard drive for Spieth will do more damage to him than a 320-yard drive to McIlroy. And that’s where the proposal is really flawed.

So Spieth and Thomas’ appeal against ball rollback is understandable. But it also explains why McIlroy would support it.

Why is Rory McIlroy not on the same wavelength as Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas about ball rollback?

As mentioned, Rory McIlroy’s ability with the driver might nullify the effect of ball rollback on him. He might still be able to easily outdrive the field. And that includes Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Hence, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the Northern Irishman is in support of the proposal.

McIlroy said that golf’s ball rollback was similar to how they made tennis more challenging. They “slowed the ball down” and made the grass “a little stickier.”

Furthermore, the 30-time PGA Tour champion also claimed, “People can talk about, in this country, about going from an aluminum baseball bat in college to going to a wooden bat in the pros. This isn’t unique to golf; this happens in other sports as well.”

Considering his prowess with the driver, no wonder he was in favor of the proposal. He has much less to lose than Spieth and Thomas every time they play together.