Mike Whan Interview | NLU Pod, Ep 952

USGA CEO Mike Whan makes his return to the pod on the heels of today's announcement about a LIV exemption into the field for the 2025 U.S. Open.

We start our discussion on recent comments from various stakeholders in pro golf around the golf ball rollback before getting into the LIV - US Open announcement and the USGA's rationale for creating the exemption. We close with some thoughts on upcoming venues for USGA championships - including Cypress Point for this year's edition of the Walker Cup.

0:00 - intro/distance debate and recent rollback comments
26:45 - watching Pebble Beach and pace of play
40:45 - LIV U.S. Open Exemption
57:40 - Current and future USGA Championship venues

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The Stack

[rigbandy]

Did not think I’d be listening to the ceo of the usga talk about BBLs on a Wednesday

[justiningram]

He’s spot on. I know he can come across a little cocky but he’s smart and this is great for the game. Tee it forward and roll with it

[RoosterInMyRari]

Really wish I could have seen DJs face when he said "BBLs"

[Beaver_Gladiator]

i dont understand how having to club up 1-2 clubs every hole is not a meaningful impact to recreational golfers

[aaronDgolf]

So 2027 stock up on a lifetime supply of pro v1s

[tyleregan]

So are the PGA distance numbers fudged? The tour average has only gone up 10 yards in the last 20 years no?

[nikkikiska]

There are a whole bunch of reasons against having a standard limited flight ball and only one reason for it: the distance that male professional and elite male amateur golfers are able to hit the ball. And re: male professionals, I think the "courses are becoming irrelevant" argument isn't as compelling as some believe. First, casual (and many more serious) golf fans like seeing the incredible distance that pro golfers hit the ball; there's a reason driveable par 4s are disproportionately shown during golf broadcasts. i.e. there's a tradeoff between viewer interest and making courses more "relevant." Second, there's a whole lot of ways to make courses more relevant than simply lengthening them: different angles, bunkers/hazards narrower fairways, longer rough... Let's say a course has 4 par 5s and three are easily reachable, make them par 4s for tournament play. This same course has a short-ish par 4 on each side that you set the tees to become driveable par 4s. Even if only one other par 4 on each side is long enough for a tour pro to hit driver, that's still EIGHT driver holes per round, and I'd say if the average pro is hitting driver on even 6 holes a round, that course is long enough to be considered "relevant."

Further, how many courses across the country need to be long enough to qualify as tournament sites to satisfy the needs of the PGA Tour? Or even the PGA and Korn Ferry Tours? I don't know what the exact number is, but it isn't large, and I'm pretty sure there's enough of them that currently fit the bill along with a bunch more that can be tweaked with some of the aforementioned changes and even more than that using some of the aforementioned changes along with building a couple new tee boxes.

Finally, Whan's argument of less water usage with the limited flight ball is a little nutty; you don't need to grow grass between where the pros hit it from and the fairway (or at least where the pros hit it from and the tees played by mid to high handicaps).

[spellingchampeon]

He has 20 something Jk I know what he meant

[aaronDgolf]

So lets change all of golf for the 1-5 % of golfers who play “elite” professional, junior, and college golf. Forget the other 95% of golfers who can barely hit a 200 yard driver and cant reach 440 yard par 4s in two . Again, you’re talking about 1 percent of players instead of focusing on the other 99 percent. The recreational game does not need to be “rolled” back. Golf is already hard enough and I am a 3 handicap that carry’s it 250

[JNIMM]

Why not FREEZE the ball where it is at? Rollback is not a good thing to sell. Mike Whan is a horrible leader of the USGA.

[JNIMM]

The arrogance of Mike Whan is disgusting. Too bad? Give me a break.

[justiningram]

He’s spot on. I know he can come across a little cocky but he’s smart and this is great for the game. Tee it forward and roll with it