Players said to be pushing back against new rule that will soon be in play on the PGA Tour

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Brian Rolapp has already made sweeping changes to the PGA Tour since taking over as CEO last year.

Rolapp has overseen schedule adjustments already, and plans to make some big changes when it comes to field sizes and no-cut events from 2027 onwards.

However, many PGA Tour players are said to be very concerned about one rule which will be coming into play soon.

Brian Rolapp took over as the PGA Tour‘s new CEO in 2025, and he opened up on his commitment to make sweeping changes without disrespecting the game’s traditions.

Rolapp has a six-point plan to change the PGA Tour for the better, one which includes increased fields, bringing halfway cuts back to Signature Events and operating with a more condensed schedule.

He certainly isn’t afraid to make tough decisions.

And one decision in particular that he will have to make very soon will be the toughest of the lot.

PGA Tour players pushing back against incoming new rule

The professional game is set to change beyond all recognition in 2028, and the same will be the case for amateur events from 2030 onwards.

The golf ball rollback rule will be coming into play at the start of the 2028 season, and there is some serious pushback already.

According to Golfweek, ‘several player directors on the Tour board and PAC (PlayerAdvisory Council), there still is little support on PGA Tour for the golf ball rollback’.

Justin Thomas was perhaps the most outspoken of the players who Golfweek spoke to.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Meanwhile, Maverick McNealy is equally disillusioned about the proposed changes.

“I think that is a debate we have skipped over,” McNealy said.

“Golf is in the best place it’s ever been. I don’t know why we’re trying to complicate things for such a small fraction of the golf-playing community.

“But assuming that we do hit it too far and we need to fix that, the way we’ve gone about changing the testing of the golf ball doesn’t actually accomplish what they want it to do.”

Jordan Spieth said: “They should be finding a way for it to be the same for everybody. Some players will be affected 2 yards and others 20.

“I hit Titleist (rollback) prototypes one time straight into the wind and I hit a couple that were the same ball speed, hit a little different on the face and the difference in carry was crazy. The dispersion was massive.”

Brian Harman also chimed in on the matter.

“I don’t disagree with Fred Ridley’s comments that distance means a little too much right now,“ he said.

“And if there was a solution out there to where you could snap your fingers, and every single person lost 20 yards, well, everyone would be in favor of it.

“But that’s not the solution that’s been provided. I think the answer is a lot more nuanced. I don’t disagree that there is perhaps a problem, but the solution that they’ve come up with is not it.” 

What some PGA Tour players think the answer is

Brian Harman thinks the driver is the real problem, rather than the golf ball.

“It’s the trampoline effect in these hollow golf clubs, these clubs are just so forgiving now that the golf ball doesn’t have to spin at all,“ he said.

“So, guys just swing as hard as they can. I would love to see some sort of experiment where we had to use a non-hollow driver.”

According to Golfweek, ‘multiple players recounted how Scott shared that when he was younger, and his game was off-kilter, he’d hit something less than a driver to keep the ball in play. Now, when his swing goes haywire, he hits his driver because it’s the straightest and most forgiving club in his bag’.

Harman is also firmly against golf courses being lengthened.

“We complain about that all the time because there’s no thought to just make a course longer,” he said.

Justin Thomas took aim at modern-day golf course design as well.

“It’s more an issue of how the golf courses are nowadays, where architects will come in and take out 500 trees. I think that is a much bigger problem of strategy and how you play a golf course,” Thomas said.

Quite what the solution to golf courses being overpowered is remains to be seen.

However, with so many players pushing back against the implementation of the golf ball rollback, there is a chance that the PGA Tour events will be played under different rules than three of the four major championships.

The PGA Championship would be the only major where the golf ball rollback will not be implemented, with the PGA of America strongly opposed to the idea.