Due to the heavy rainfall in the run-up to the PGA Championship 2025, the course at Quail Hollow Golf Club is still wet and the surface is soft. As a result, balls are often digging in and considerable amounts of mud and dirt are sticking to the balls. This happened particularly frequently in Round 1 of the PGA Championship 2025 – the result was frustrated players who publicly voiced their displeasure, most notably Xander Schauffele.
PGA Championship 2025: Mudballs punish good shots
Normally, the “pick and clean” rule applies in such conditions: the ball may be picked up, cleaned and put back down near its original position. But at majors, this is avoided at all costs. The PGA of America announced in an official statement on the evening before the first round that there would be no preferred lies – so the ball must always be played as it lies.
However, if there is a lump of mud on the ball, and especially if it gets between the clubface and the ball, the ball flight and spin behavior become unpredictable. This was also the case for Xander Schauffele, who played together with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in the star group. Both he and Scheffler had mud stuck to the ball on the 16th. Schauffele described the situation as “ridiculous” in an interview after the round:
“It is what it is, and a lot of guys are dealing with it, but it’s just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way. It’s kind of stupid.”
He mishit his second shot into the left water hazard and ended up making double bogey. “I wouldn’t want to go in the locker room because I’m sure a lot of guys aren’t super happy with sort of the conditions there.” And: “It sucks that you’re kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway.”
Negative effect of mud balls scientifically proven
Paul Wood, Vice President of Engineering at Ping, conducted research into the physics of mud balls and experimented with different conditions. The result: Overall, a significant reduction in flight distance was found, as the mud impairs energy transfer: It “swallows” some of the power that the club transfers to the ball. The direction is also affected: it is impossible to predict how a mud ball will fly – overall, there was a significantly greater dispersion than with clean balls. The mud makes the moment of impact and ball flight more inconsistent.
Scottie Scheffler also had to contend with a dirty ball on 16:
“It’s one of those deals where it’s frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it’s going to go. I understand it’s part of the game, but there’s nothing more frustrating for a player. You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball, and due to a rules decision all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes. But I don’t make the rules. I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules.”
⛳️🏌️ #WATCH: World #1 Scottie Scheffler sounds off on mud balls at The PGA Championship: "You shouldn't be punished for hitting it in the fairway!" @SchefflerFans
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) May 15, 2025
Do you agree?l
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But not all professionals share this opinion: Aaron Rai, who started with a round of 67, said that the PGA of America rules officials knew what they were doing. PGA Tour pro Alex Smalley also claimed: “It didn’t really affect many shots out there.”
However, with the weather forecast now promising dry and sunny conditions, the course will continue to dry out. But even this prospect did not make Xander Schauffele optimistic: “The mud balls are going to get worse. They’re going to get worse as the plays dries up. They’re going to get in that perfect cake zone to where it’s kind of muddy underneath and then picking up mud on the way through.”