USGA President’s Golf Ball Rolled Back

Fred Perpall, the outgoing USGA president last month, participated in the American junior amateur at Trinity Forest in Dallas. Perpall appears at the club, his founding member is not the last official performance of his three-year term, but that day is coming, with President-elect Kevin Hammer preparing to take over the position in 2026.

Perpall is the first black president in USGA’s 131-year history, who oversaw the organization during the explosiveness of the game. More than 47 million Americans played some form of golf in 2024, a 38% increase from 2019, according to the National Golf Foundation. Perpall is also hosting as USGA moves towards a time when it makes games more accessible and sustainable. The development plan was introduced to elite teenagers; and the plan to combat golf was announced, a decision that led to a very long-lasting scrutiny in the golf community.

With Perpall’s presidency, he talked with Golf.com about his tenure, USGA priorities and the golf world’s reaction to the upcoming ball rollback.

For clarity and simplicity, this interview was easily edited.

Golf.com: How do you rate your presidency?

Fred Perpall: This is not my comment. I would say I was happy with my time as president. I feel grateful, another word, I will say Achievement. I feel like we’ve achieved a lot and USGA is in a great place. In the future, we will invest in grassroots games to allow more people to play. We are investing in the long-term health of the game, addressing distance and other sustainability issues. Moreover, we have invested a lot in the future of USGA.

How do you view the purification of the rolling ball situation? Apparently, the governing bodies encountered strong resistance from the PGA Tour, the US PGA and many leading manufacturers.

R&A and USGA have been authorized to write golf rules since the start of the golf competition. We are not overly motivated by professional games or something that is good for manufacturers. Professional golfers are doing their jobs; they are getting bigger, stronger, and healthier. Equipment manufacturers have done their jobs; they have made better equipment with more precise manufacturing techniques. So everyone has done the job and it’s time for us to get the job done.

Have you seen the upcoming changes or compromises to the plans you announced in 2023?

We have to study these extreme distances in golf and what it means to the footprint of golf and the resources required to play the game, and we have to observe it for a long time. So we have been in this process for over eight years. We came up with a solution where every party in each is sitting on the table, and we compromised with the PGA and PGA Tours of America, and they pushed the process vigorously.

What’s next?

We have pointed out that the rule will change around golf in 2028 and we will change the golf rules to fit this. The rules will be formulated in 2028 for professionals and for all golfers in 2030.

What do you think is the purpose of feedback when the change becomes formal?

This change will happen, and I doubt there will be a lot of fear and anxiety on this side of this change, but my doubt is that once we change, once the rules come into effect, it will be at a loss for the average golfer. In the long run, we can count the footprint of golf’s widening range, which I think will be better for the game.

Do you see the legal struggle coming?

No, I don’t believe it.

why not?

I believe we have already articulated the process of changing the rules in the golf rules. We have always been consistent in complying with these rules. Everyone has had an impact on the current changes, which has been greatly influenced by the PGA and PGA Tours in the United States. Everyone sat a seat on the table and we proposed a compromise and we have followed the process outlined in the rules. When this rule changes, everyone has their own chance to determine whether they want to play according to golf rules.

What happens if some travel choices do not follow the new rules?

When you compete in a R&A championship or USGA championship, I feel very confident that you will need to play consistent equipment to comply with the golf rules, every organization, every tour, every champion will have their own chance to determine whether they want to play according to the golf rules. We are sure that in the USGA and R&A Championships you will play by golf rules as well as most of our hosting sites and our large USGA clubs and you will play consistent devices.

When you do this, you say that diversification is one of your top priorities. You said, “As the first black president, I feel I have a responsibility to show the path to others.” Do you feel like you can create that path? For example, among the junior amateurs in the United States, there are still few ethnic minorities in the field.

I would say two things: First, we didn’t get here overnight in terms of the uniqueness and homogeneity of the game. Second, the game requires a lot of resources, and because of the history of our country, people in underserved communities do not have the same level of resources, which points to the ability to access the game.

What have you done to close this gap?

During my time we’ve built two programs and I think it’s going to have a big impact on who leads the game and who plays it.

One is our path program. We started a program for 50 kids who have shown leading the way – a pathway to making them a golf leadership role. Our goal is to create many future leaders in the golf field from the communities we are trying to reach, so we have diversity in leadership.

Then we started building the National Development Program of the United States, which provides $50,000 per year for children. The good news this year is that we have several grant recipients in these tournaments, and 50% of the 50 grants this year are women and minorities. We think that if a child can play golf, their skin color doesn’t matter where they were born, their back shirts, and who their parents are. If they can get the ball into the hole, we hope they continue on the elite golf journey, and now we will invest some dollars so that kids of all backgrounds have the same resources and that we can improve the game venue in terms of who can play golf.

Why do you think the program is so important to the entire game?

I think when you care about something, it becomes personal, and when it is personal it becomes permanent, we will leave a permanent plan to integrate and engage and include more Americans in golf. This will be good for golf, but it will also be good for every community that plays golf because the wonder of what we love about golf is that it puts you around you. We can improve the game by including more people, and we also think we can improve our country by providing more opportunities for Americans from all backgrounds to get along with each other. This is a good deal.

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