The telegraph
Golf governing bodies take steps to address the distance of the game
Leading golf officials signaled their intention to rescue the future of the big hitters’ sport on Tuesday, unveiling proposals to control names like Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy. The game’s two governing bodies, the R&A and the US Golf Association, paved the way for equipment restrictions, including limits on the length of the riders and the introduction of a standardized tournament ball in tournaments. The problem of increasing golf distance is causing the destruction of large fields. The move is likely to shatter DeChambeau’s plans to employ a 48-inch driver to dominate the Augusta National at the Masters in April. It was the landmark day that purists – including names like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – have waited since the powers that were signaled last February that, with the “Distance Insights” project, they were finally ready to face the professional on the issue of duration of the game that their joint studies indicated was “critical to the future of the game”. The pandemic put pressure on progress, but it has resumed and has finally reached what is labeled a “solution phase”. With Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of R&A, confirming to Telegraph Sport on Tuesday that a radical overhaul of the professional game was almost inevitable – “it is highly unlikely that we will end up doing anything” – will now begin to collect feedback on potential use of a local rule that specifies the use of clubs and balls designed to result in shorter hitting distances. In the short term, comments were requested on the proposal to introduce a local rule reducing the maximum length of the non-putter club to 48 inches. For 46 in. The deadline for this is March 4, and, as is expected to happen, it will allow Augusta and all other tournament organizers to curb longtime pitchers. Slumbers denied that it was “individual-specific”, but accepted that big launchers could be “personalized in that”. However, the big battle will certainly come in attempts by R&A and the USGA to persuade equipment manufacturers to review general compliance specifications for clubs and balls, including specifications that directly affect hitting distances. This means that the governing bodies want to research topics such as limiting the efficiency of the ball, its sizes and weights, making the drivers smaller and shorter and reducing the spring effect on the faces and the moment of inertia on the club heads. They have chosen to follow the “local rule” to ensure that golf continues to have a set of rules that professionals and amateurs at all levels will adhere to. “Local rules” are not part of the official rule book, but are a modification or addition to a rule that any tournament committee can adopt for a particular competition. The rules would, in fact, be different in practice and it would mean, ultimately, that while the weekend hacker is still able to use the best that technology can offer – there is no appetite to change things significantly at the level recreational – professionals will face game-changing restrictions. Slumbers, however, does not see it that way. “The local rule could be applied on a much broader scale than the professional game or the elite amateur game,” he said. “I think it is misleading to say that this is just elite golf.” Undoubtedly, lawyers will become, and are already involved, with equipment manufacturers desperate to protect their billion-dollar industry, but the hope is that an agreement can be reached after the feedback phase is completed in November. “This is a serious problem and this is the time to think seriously and I am confident that the game and its many facets can come together to do what is right for our sport,” said Slumbers. It is a complex issue, but Slumbers pointed out that, although they want the conversations to be as deep as they are responsible, they should not drag on. Players like DeChambeau are already threatening the 400 yard mark and there is an urgent need to restrict bombers to ensure that large courses do not become obsolete and that the game does not become too one-dimensional. “There is a balance between skill and technology that we are trying to find because the game is in danger of losing that balance,” said Slumbers. “After the blockade, the different tours, government agencies, golf federations, golf unions and bodies like Augusta and PGA of America came together to ensure that the sport could return and function as effectively as possible. It gives me confidence in that regard. Mike Davis, Slumbers’ USGA colleague, added: “It’s about the long term, for the whole game. Golfers need to understand that this hit by each generation on the ball is negatively affecting the game. The cost of this is being borne by all golfers. We’re just trying to get the game of golf back to the golf courses. The ‘local rule’ route is the perfect plan to thwart big hitters and manufacturers R&A and the United States Golf Association are far from stupid and are perfectly aware that they will have a fight on their hands with equipment manufacturers with their proposals to reduce hit distances in the professional game. However, if they expected this to be essentially a battle with the bombers on Tour, then Webb Simpson pointed out that even the conspirators could object. Simpson, number 9 in the world, is one of the elite’s shortest hitters, ranking 114th in the driving distance statistics of the PGA Tour, having failed to finish in the top 100 in the past six seasons. If the power of Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy were suddenly reduced, it would certainly have to be good for Simpson’s chances of increasing his resume.