Jack Nicklaus, Scottie Scheffler Share Mixed Feelings on Controversial Ball Rollback

Both are skeptical of how much the rollback guidelines will combat golf's distance problem.

Scottie Scheffler and Jack Nicklaus explained their stance on rollback in their pre-tournament pressers at the Memorial. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jack Nicklaus calls it “throwing a deck chair off the Titanic.”

He’s referring to one of golf’s most controversial topics: rolling back the golf ball.

In an effort to combat the sport’s distance problem, where players are bombing the ball further than ever before, golf’s governing bodies are set to require manufacturers to implement stricter testing standards in the next few years that would reduce how far the ball travels game by at most 15 yards for professionals.

Nicklaus isn’t confident it’s enough, though.

“It won't make any difference,” Nicklaus said Tuesday at the Memorial Tournament, “about a yard [in the recreational game]. Maybe two at the absolute most. And you’ll never know that. And to the pro, maybe to a Rory [McIlroy] or maybe as long as there is, might have maybe 12 to 14 yards, it might pull him back. It might be a benefit. Might keep him out of trouble. I don’t know. But you know, I mean, it’s insignificant. The only thing that’s good about it is that it’s actually reined in the game back a little bit and pulled it back to where it shouldn’t get any further than that. Let's hope not. I mean, we run out of real estate.”

Meaning …

“We have probably, in this country today, we probably have, if you don't touch the golf courses that are out there, and play ‘em the way they are, we probably don't have 20, 25 maybe 30 golf courses that are really of championship caliber, really, without fooling around with ‘em,” Nicklaus said. “If the ball was brought back a little bit, we would have a lot more golf courses.”

Jack Nicklaus on the need for a golf equipment rollback: pic.twitter.com/HUNPnEIWEq

— Fried Egg Golf (@fried_egg_golf) June 2, 2026

However, it’s been reported that Cam Young has been playing a Titleist Pro V1x Double Dot, which would be deemed conforming under the USGA and R&A’s rollback regulations. Young is averaging 313 yards off the tee, ranked 27th on Tour (and he’s won twice).

Scheffler mostly agrees with Nicklaus’s assertion, but doesn’t believe the current rollback guidelines will be a perfect fix.

“I agree with some of the principles behind the golf ball rollback,” the World No. 1 said. “I think when you look at how power and hitting the ball high has become so important in our game—we were actually talking about it today, I was looking at the world rankings and Russell Henley (who won last week at Colonial) is really the only guy in the top 20 in the world who doesn’t hit it pretty far and doesn’t hit it very high.”

And it’s possible rollback won’t create a level playing field.

“I think when you look at the golf ball rollback, when you start moving it back only 8 yards, not only does it disproportionately affect certain players, where you have some guys who it won’t affect at all, and some guys where it will affect 15 to 20 yards, I think creates some issues within our game when you start changing the rules,” Scheffler, the world No. 1, said. “And then, on top of that, I think it’s a greater issue in terms of golf course design where power is becoming too rewarded.

“You look at certain golf courses that we have that are great tests, like a Colonial or a Harbour Town, and they’re not overly long golf courses, but it challenges you in different ways. I feel like they’re doing it to make the game of golf a little bit more difficult at the elite level, which I understand, but golf is the easiest game in the world to make hard.”

But with the penalty for missing fairways minimal at so many venues in the pro game, Scheffler feels that’s perhaps an area to address, too.

“I think when you look at how power is being rewarded in our game there’s a reason why you see so many guys doing speed training, why you see so many guys spending time in the gym, trying to increase their speed,” he said, “because it’s becoming increasingly important in our game, when you look at the way golf courses are set up and when you look at golf course design.”

The rollback controversy has split both players and fans. It seems there’s one thing everyone can agree on, though.

“It’s not a popular subject,” Nicklaus said.

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