{"id":646798,"date":"2026-06-19T07:40:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T07:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646798\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T07:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T07:40:24","slug":"donald-trump-has-say-on-ridiculous-golf-ball-rollback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646798\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump has say on ‘ridiculous’ golf ball rollback"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tPresident Donald Trump has weighed in on the game\u2019s biggest equipment debate after the governing bodies delayed the controversial golf ball rollback.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has become the latest high-profile figure to weigh in on golf\u2019s most controversial equipment debate, branding the golf ball rollback \u201cridiculous\u201d after the USGA and R&A agreed to delay the changes<\/a> until at least 2030.<\/p>\n

Posting on his Truth Social platform<\/a>, Trump celebrated what he described as a \u201cBIG VICTORY\u201d for PGA Tour players and golfers around the world after the governing bodies announced they would rethink their approach to distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations to commissioner Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour, and the governing bodies, and also, the great US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, for a BIG VICTORY,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

Trump claimed the USGA had wanted to reduce how far golf balls travel but said the governing bodies were now \u201cprecluded\u201d from doing so \u201cfor a long number of years\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a ridiculous idea, that nobody wanted, especially PGA Tour Players, and people that don\u2019t want to go to a course to be told that their drives will be going 20 yards shorter,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the USGA should do is agree that, far into the future, they will not allow the current ball to go further. In other words, they will keep the ball the same!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

The president added: \u201cThe game of golf is \u2018hot as a pistol\u2019. The last thing we should do is tell people that, for no reason whatsoever, you will not be able to hit a ball as far as you used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in trademark style, he concluded: \u201cHas anyone ever heard of anything so ridiculous?\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s comments carry more weight in golf than those of most world leaders.<\/p>\n

An avid player who regularly talks about the game in public and political settings, the 80-year-old owns golf properties around the world, including Trump Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links Scotland, two of the most celebrated resorts in the game.<\/p>\n

His courses have hosted PGA Tour, LPGA and LIV Golf events, with Trump National Doral becoming one of LIV Golf\u2019s flagship venues.<\/p>\n

Trump has also become increasingly visible within the professional game. He attended the Ryder Cup<\/a> at Bethpage, has repeatedly spoken about the future of golf during his presidency and famously debated Joe Biden\u2019s handicap during the pair\u2019s televised election debate.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Last year, he teamed up with LIV Golf star Bryson Dechambeau for a hugely successful episode of the former US Open champion\u2019s Break 50 YouTube series<\/a>. DeChambeau has since been appointed Chair of the President\u2019s Council<\/a> on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.<\/p>\n

Trump, who frequently claims club championship victories<\/a>, has also found himself at the center of long-running accusations from critics and former playing partners over his conduct on the golf course<\/a> \u2014 allegations he has consistently dismissed.<\/p>\n

His rollback comments came just hours after the USGA, R&A, PGA Tour and DP World Tour issued a joint statement confirming there will be no change to golf ball testing standards until January 2030.<\/p>\n

Under the original plan announced in 2023<\/a>, elite players were due to switch to a reduced-distance ball in 2028, with recreational golfers following two years later.<\/p>\n

However, after discussions with the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and players, the governing bodies agreed to revisit their approach amid concerns the proposed changes might not go far enough to meaningfully curb distances increases.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Speaking at Shinnecock Hills<\/a> ahead of this week\u2019s US Open<\/a>, USGA CEO Mike Whan revealed that players and tour officials had questioned whether the rollback would actually achieve enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fair to critique whether or not it\u2019s enough,\u201d Whan said. \u201cIt probably isn\u2019t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whan also revealed that the rethink was prompted not by new testing data, but by discussions with elite players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was dialogue with some of the best players in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite Trump\u2019s suggestion that the rollback has effectively been killed, golf\u2019s governing bodies insist they remain committed to addressing distance at the elite level and are now exploring alternative solutions alongside the tours and players.<\/p>\n

So while the biggest equipment change in modern golf has been pushed back, the distance debate itself is far from over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump has weighed in on the game\u2019s biggest equipment debate after the governing bodies delayed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-646798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}