19th Hole
Bifurcation: Should it happen? How would it work?
GolfWRX member Lacy Underall (“Yes, I was really getting tired of having fun all the time”) fired up a forum thread dedicated to the growing bifurcation debate, and it has taken off faster than Al Czervik’s yacht, Seafood.
Underall is looking for clarification
“It sure looks like Mike Davis and the USGA are serious about rolling the golf ball back. The question to me is: are they talking about bifurcation or will this apply to everyone?. I personally do not see how bifurcation could work but I’m willing to listen to your ideas.”
Don’t see how bifurcation could work? Well, WRXers will be happy to tell you, no doubt. The essential concept, beyond the specific ball-related element, of course, is a different set of rules for professionals and amateurs.
New2g0lf doesn’t see the need
“Davis and the USGA are putting out feelers to see how people would react. I doubt they would be so stupid as to bifurcate the rules when all they need to do is allow local rules to restrict or specify certain golf ball performance attributes.”
North Butte seconds this opinion
“No change is needed to the Rules of Golf. Any competition committee is free to impose Conditions of Competition which make additional restrictions beyond those in RoG.”
Bevans0222 points to other sports
“The real problem seems to be a relatively small number of top pros that hit the ball a mile. Unfortunately it’s just going to get worse though, as instruction and fitness continue to improve. There is actually a couple of precedents for bifurcation though. MLB does not allow aluminum bats, but they can be used all the way up through college ball. So it would not be the first time that there were different rules for professionals, versus amateurs.”
Pinestreetgolf does the same (with a great example)
“Of course it would work. There is bifurcation in literally every sport. The next time you play pickup basketball bring your own portable shot clock and start calling defensive three seconds. You’ll be real popular. The college rules are completely different from NBA rules. Same with the NFL rules (they adjust because NFL players hit harder).”
“You can not want a rollback of the golf ball, but to suggest bifurcation “wouldn’t work” is silly. It works in every other sport except tennis which, by the way, is in an almost all-time low for ratings (probably because points last a third of as long as in the tennis heyday – no 150 mph serves).”
Pinestreet’s comment kicks off a great debate/discussion that is presently eight pages and 264 replies long, at writing.
If you’ve been following the recent bifurcation chatter, you’ll want to check out this thread and share your thoughts.
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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