Cameron Young reportedly playing golf ball that would conform under rollback

One of the PGA Tour’s best players over the past eight months has apparently been playing with a ball that would be legal under the USGA and R&A’s proposed rollback.

As first reported by Golf Channel on Tuesday night, the Titleist prototype Pro V1x Double Dot ball Cameron Young began using last summer would conform under the USGA and R&A’s new ODS Test conditions.

Both Titleist and the USGA declined to comment for this story.

To curb the extreme driving distances at the game’s highest levels, the USGA and R&A announced in 2023 a change to the Overall Distance Standard used to test golf balls. The rollback, which is slated to be implemented in the professional game in 2028 and recreational play by 2030, would see the testing conditions for balls changed to a 125-mph clubhead speed (up from 120) and launch angle increased to 11 degrees (up from 10). Balls would still need to fly no farther than 317 yards with a 3-yard tolerance.

“Obviously, there is no conforming list,” Young said at the PGA Championship on Wednesday. “I suppose I read something that said it passed that test, but I wasn’t aware of that until very recently. So at no point was that a consideration. It was just really me trying to optimize my golf, and it’s the ball that seems to work the best for me.”

Young put the ball in play for the first time at the Wyndham Championship in August and won by six strokes. On Wednesday he said he found out just a few weeks ago that the ball would be conforming under the new rule.

Now a three-time PGA Tour winner, Young first tested the ball — which is one of Titleist’s Customized Performance Option (CPO) balls designed to fine-tune performance and flight characteristics — about two years ago. Titleist’s director of tour research and validation Fordie Pitts delivered the finished prototypes to Young at the Wyndham, and he has played the ball ever since.

Interestingly, Data Golf looked at Young’s 50-round driving distance average since he made the switch last August and noticed he’s lost about 3 yards off the tee. But his accuracy is up dramatically this season; he ranks 46th in the category, finding more than 61 percent of his fairways, a rise of 121 spots from last year. He ranks 6th in SG: Off the Tee, up from 31st.

Why this has garnered attention during one of the biggest weeks of the year is due to Young’s marginal driving losses. If he’s losing only a couple of yards per drive with a rolled-back ball, some might argue the rollback might not accomplish what it set out to do.

Titleist identified Young as having unique delivery characteristics, which could be optimized by the Double Dot prototype. From what Titleist has divulged about the prototype, the ball has a lower spin and flatter flight than the standard Pro V1x. Young has a naturally strong ball flight with his irons, and the ball helped optimize his launch conditions.

“For me, the biggest thing, like I said, is the irons,” Young said Wednesday. “This ball is easier to control with the irons. It doesn’t spin as much, and it just allows me to be better with my distance control just because it’s more consistent.”

Since he added the ball, he’s worked to optimize the top end of his bag for its lower-spinning flight, adding an 11-degree GT3 driver, high-launching GT1 3-wood and a new GTS3 7-wood, his first time using the club type.

“The driver is kind of the easiest thing to deal with, I feel like,” he said. “For me to get it where it needed to be, I had to just add a little bit of spin, and it kind of comes out at a perfectly playable range.”

In March, Young unleashed a 375-yard bomb with that new GT3 setup and Double Dot ball on the 72nd hole of the Players Championship that was the longest drive recorded on TPC Sawgrass’ 18th hole in the ShotLink era. But while the ball wasn’t developed with Young in mind, it has been a perfect fit for him and come during the height of his career thus far.

“I don’t think any of us are out here playing the ball that goes the farthest,” Young said. “I think you’d struggle to find a single person that’s doing that. We’re all sacrificing a certain amount of things that we feel are worth it, control with irons, control with wedges. For me, that’s the biggest thing is being able to control spin.”

Conforming or not in 2028 — or 2030, as the governing bodies are floating the idea of delaying implementation — Young is convinced that the Double Dot is the best ball for him.

“I was kind of surprised in a sense, but at the same time, it didn’t change that I had played well with it, and I was comfortable,” Young said of learning of the ball’s conformance under the proposed rule. “I feel like I’m playing a golf ball that’s best for how I’m playing the game at the moment. If that works out to mean that this goes into effect and I’m still playing the ball however many years from now makes it an easy change.”

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

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