R&A and USGA update bifurcation plans

Governing bodies are expected to announce a golf ball roll back that could take as much as 20 yards off the distances hit by the game’s leading players.

The R&A and USGA will set out their plans in an afternoon media conference led by Martin Slumbers and Mike Whan.

Reports in various media, including Golf Digest, say a Model Local Rule could be brought in that would be reserved for elite competition and would have no effect on the club game.

But for the first time, it would essentially bifurcate golf – meaning professionals and recreational players would use different equipment and play to different rules.

Golf Digest reported that rolling back the golf ball would be achieved by changing how they are tested to conform. In the Rules of Golf, players must play a conforming golf ball that meets the requirements in the Equipment Rules or be disqualified.

“The swing speed for the robot would increase from 120 miles per hour to 127 miles per hour. That likely would make all current golf balls used in elite competition nonconforming. Given that at elite speeds, every mile per hour increase in clubhead speed equates to approximately 2.5-3 yards in total distance, increasing the test speed by 7 miles per hour could result in a distance loss of about 20 yards or more,” they said.

It’s believed the new Local Rule could come into effect in January 2026 but, first, there will be a review period as the governing bodies ask for comment from across the golf industry.

What’s yet to be outlined is what the definition of ‘elite’ competition would look like. While it is certain that top level professional golf on the various men’s tours would be affected, would the same apply to the women’s game? Could the Model Local Rule also be seen at top amateur level – essentially requiring players to switch balls depending on the type of competition they are playing?

The distances top players are hitting the ball has increased exponentially over the past couple of decades. This year, Rory McIlroy leads the PGA Tour’s driving distance statistics with an average of 326.6 yards. A total of 83 players boast an average of 300 yards or more.

By contrast in 1999, the year before the launch of the Titleist Pro V1, John Daly led the numbers with an average of 305.6 yards. He was the only player to hit that milestone.

Advances in fitness and coaching, as well as equipment, have also contributed but, in early 2020, an R&A and USGA Distance Insights Project report concluded that increasing distances were hurting the game. It summarised that golf would best thrive if the “continuing cycle of ever-increasing hitting distances and golf course lengths is brought to an end”.

It added: “Longer distances, longer courses, playing from longer tees, and longer times to play are taking golf in the wrong direction and are not necessary to make golf challenging, enjoyable or sustainable in the future”.

A year later, an update outlined that the R&A and USGA would assess the “potential use of a local rule option that would specify use of clubs and/or balls intended to result in a shorter hitting distances”.

While changes to clubs appear to have been parked for the time being, it seems a ball that does not travel as far, and rules that allow committees to require they be used, may be the future of the sport at the very top.

Originally, that update envisaged that such a local rule could be utilised at every level, with golfers not playing in competitions given the choice whether they wanted to use scaled back equipment.

But Golf Digest also reported that a notice sent by the governing bodies to equipment manufacturers this week says that following comment, the R&A and USGA were not considering substantial reductions in hitting distances at all levels of the game.

That notice reportedly says: “The proposed MLR (Model Local Rule) would enable golf event organisers and committees to use specific balls for certain elite championships and tournaments but would not impact the current recreational game in any way.”

Critics of big hitting on the professional tours have long argued for a golf ball roll back, claiming it is travelling too far, making prestige golf courses redundant, and forcing others to become ever longer – requiring more land, more water, and more resources at a time when environmental pressures and climate change are demanding the opposite.

It seems they are about to get their way.

What do you think? Are you in favour of rolling the golf ball back or should the game’s governing bodies leave well alone? Would you like to try a rolled back golf ball and how do you feel that the professional and club game is about to be split. Let us know with a tweet.

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