The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #25

The Rollback is Coming, Rahm to LIV?, Lee Trevino Interview, Shots Gained Explained, and More

“Nobody asked how you looked, just what you shot.” - Sam Snead

📰 Edition #25 📰

Welcome back to The 2nd Cut Newsletter!

ICYMI, check out last week’s Deep Dive: The Best of November

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📫 In today’s Newsletter 📫 The Rollback is Coming, Rahm to LIV?, Lee Trevino Interview, Shots Gained Explained, and More

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If you’re new here, this newsletter is designed to provide valuable insights, tips, and ideas from around the internet to improve your golf game.

What you get:

• 1 - Newsletter every Wednesday

• 1 - Deep dive every Friday

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The Rollback

If you haven’t heard the news, the USGA and R&A have announced a universal golf ball rollback to limit distance starting in 2028. Amateurs will have til 2030 to implement the new ball.

Here’s a quote from the USGA release:

“The longest hitters are expected to see a reduction of as much as 13-15 yards in drive distance. Average professional tour and elite male players are expected to see a reduction of 9-11 yards, with a 5-7-yard reduction for an average LPGA or Ladies European Tour (LET) player.

The change in testing speed is expected to have a minimal distance impact, 5 yards or less, for most recreational golfers. Research shows an average swing speed of 93 mph for male golfers and 72 mph for female players.”

I think this is a mistake. Distance is not an issue for the majority of amateur golfers. In fact, most amateurs actually lack distance and are playing tees too far back. Remember the “Tee it Forward” campaign?

The issue of sustainability and course length is only an issue on the pro level. I have yet to play a course that was too short for amateurs.

If these numbers from the USGA are accurate and most amateur players will see minimal distance impact, then why are we rolling back in the first place?

I want to read more before I give my full rebuttal, but needless to say, I’m not a fan of this affecting the amateur golfer. The game is already hard enough. Golf popularity is at an all-time high, and I think this is poorly timed, unnecessary, and will have unintended consequences.

In the next couple of weeks, I’ll dive deeper into the rollback.

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🐦 Tweets of the Week 🐦

After watching the video below, I realized some of you may not know what strokes gained are, which I’ve referenced in the letter many times before. To be honest, I still don’t completely understand it myself.

In the short video below, the creator of Strokes Gained, Mark Broadie, illustrates how it works. (1:51) Link

It’s still a bit confusing, but essentially, strokes gained is a way to gauge each part of your game versus a benchmark.

I use the Arccos app and system for my strokes gained data, which has been a huge help to my game. The data is extremely granular and a great feedback loop for identifying weaknesses you weren’t aware of.

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📺 💻 T2C Media 📺 💻

I prefer to avoid PGA/LIV debates, but the latest news of Rahm’s potential departure could have huge implications for the game of golf.

Rumors are circulating that Jon Rahm is headed to LIV golf for a mind-blowing $600 million. Joel Beall of Golf Digest breaks down the questions and answers of what this means for the PGA Tour, LIV, golf as a whole, and Rahm. Link

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In more upbeat news, Soly from the No Laying Up Podcast did a two-hour interview with the always-entertaining Lee Trevino, and Trevino did not disappoint.

I highly recommend watching the interview (or listening to the podcast), but at the very least, check out the story Trevino tells about Gatorade and Tequila at the 1968 PGA Championship (around the 1:05:00 mark).

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📊 Poll of the Week 📊

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⛳ Thanks for Reading ⛳

If you have any questions or comments about the newsletter, please comment below or email me at the2ndcut@substack.com. I love hearing from readers.

Til next time.