‘Stupid is as stupid does:’ Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas and more PGA Tour players react to USGA, R&A driver news

“Look, it’s not going to change my driver specs, I’ll tell you that, and I don’t think it’s going to change many other guys’ driver specs.

“Is that the answer to hitting it shorter? No. You know, I think yeah, if you have a long drive and you see what Bryson did, you see what long drive guys do, they have a longer driver, right, and they’re able to hit it farther, but can you maintain that on the golf course? Hasn’t been done yet. Not saying it won’t be done, but you know like if a guy wants a 47‑inch driver, I think they should let them because why not.

“We’ve seen courses that you end up shooting 10 to 15 under and it’s not because the course is 9,000 yards long, we don’t play that. It’s because it makes you shape shots, it makes you hit different shots and it’s all about course design.

“So that’s my opinion in it or on it, is that I think course design needs to be structured in a way where we don’t need 8,000‑yard courses. Yeah, they’re great sometimes, but there’s a lot of short courses on our tour that don’t provide 25 under par and it’s because of the way the layout is and the conditions. So I don’t think many guys have over 46 inches, their driver, anyways, so I don’t think it will change much.”