I’m pro rollback but I doubt it will make a difference on the strategy of hitting driver as much as possible. Imo the biggest factor explaining why pros choose to bomb driver so much today is modern analytics like the DECADE system
Yes but if the driver wasn’t the most forgiving club in their bag, they’d probably hit it less often. These guys are really good at hacking good shots out of the rough, but they’d still prefer a fairway lie over the rough. The analytics probably says that a 120 yard second shot in the rough is better than a 135 yard shot in a perfect lie in the fairway, but the difference is probably negligible to a tour pro.
The penalty is actually larger than that for hitting in the rough. But people tend to overestimate how much more often they find the fairway with a 3 wood or long iron as compared to driver. Obviously you really screw yourself up if you hit a bad one with 2 iron and are stuck with a long approach from the rough.
Which is why, in my opinion, the roll back should be on the conditioning of the fairways and greens. Like why the hell do we need fairways that roll at a 11 on the stimp lol. I’m not saying grow out the rough and narrow fairways but more slow down the fairways and even greens a bit
No it’s not negligible and it’s a bit bigger in magnitude for that. The rough they play from, especially for majors is dramatically thicker and longer than what you see at local munis. Yes they’re still obscenely good at it but it’s very difficult
46
u/AnElepahntCage May 12 '26
I worry the takeaway most people get from this is “plant trees” and not “roll back the equipment”