The USGA and the R&A formally announced Wednesday their intention to roll back the distance golf balls can travel. The rollback goes into effect January 2028 for elite competitions and for everybody come January 2030. The decision, part of the governing bodies’ Distance Insights Project, comes after some three years of “Notice and Comment” in which the USGA and R&A accepted feedback from golf’s stakeholders.

“Governance is hard. And while thousands will claim that we did too much, there will be just as many who said we didn’t do enough to protect the game long-term,” said Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA. “But from the very beginning, we’ve been driven to do what is right for the game, without bias. As we’ve said, doing nothing is not an option—and we would be failing in our responsibility to protect the game’s future if we didn’t take appropriate action now.”

The specifics, first reported by Golf Digest, involve the test for the Overall Distance Standard. The governing bodies are increasing the swing speed at which golf balls are tested from the current standard of 120 mph to 125 mph without changing the distance limit of 317 yards (plus a three-yard tolerance) with a launch angle of 11 degrees and 2,200 rpm of spin. In layman’s terms, according to the USGA and R&A, the effect could be a distance loss of nine to 11 yards at the PGA Tour or DP World Tour level, five to seven yards for the LPGA/LET and between five yards or less for everyday players.

All golf balls submitted to the USGA for conformance during or after October 2027 will be evaluated using the new protocol. In other words, if everyday golfers want to continue using longer golf balls in 2028 and 2029, they will be older-model balls. There was no mention in the Notice of Decision how one would be able to tell what is an old conforming ball and what is a new conforming ball other than comparing it to the conforming list. However, John Spitzer, the USGA’s managing director of equipment standards, said approximately one-third of balls currently on the conforming list would still be conforming under the new protocol, primarily two- and-three-piece balls with ionomer covers.

The change in speed and the fact it affects all golfers are significant departures from the governing bodies previous stance. In 2022, the speed being looked at was 125 mph but that was amended in March 2023 to 127. However, also at that time the proposal was stated as a Model Local Rule impacting elite professional golfers only. Said Whan at the time, “We don’t see recreational golf obsoleting golf courses any time soon.”

So why the change to include everybody? The governing bodies say the move to a universal rollback was the result of feedback during the Notice and Comment period triggered in March after the announcement of the proposed MLR. In a note to all industry stakeholders, the USGA and R&A conveyed that, “While we previously proposed a targeted change to only elite golf, we have incorporated feedback from a broad range of stakeholders/players who stressed the importance of unification in the game of golf, mainly the importance of maintaining a single set of playing rules and a single set of equipment standards. This feedback clearly indicated that an across-the-game solution with deferred implementation is the preferred solution.”

Exactly how much distance regular golfers will lose, however, remains a bit grey since the one to five yards mention on Wednesday by the governing bodies doesn’t quite jibe with a USGA published report in June 2022. Although they stated similar numbers, there also was this on the testing of a shorter ball.

“In testing with the NP-500 … participants reported a perceived distance reduction of about 4.9 percent (210 yards compared to a 221-yard self-reported average). This is consistent with expectations based on laboratory testing.” In other words, not quite one to five yards. Still, Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s chief governance officer, told Golf Digest everyday golfers should rest easy.

“It’s five yards at most and likely limited to your driver,” Pagel said. “I don’t want to minimize people’s feelings or concerns about losing even a yard. We all have those concerns. We all want that extra yard or two. But just put this in the practical senses of this would mean, you know, 222 yards instead of 225. And you do have the ability to move tees up. You do have the ability to play forward tees. I would just say trust in the process. Over the next six years, I think we’ll find that the sky hasn’t fallen, the game is still going to be healthy.”

Perhaps just as important as the decision on golf balls, it appears the governing bodies are not quite done putting a governor on distance. Included in the note to stakeholders were two additional areas being looked at. The first is expanding testing of submitted drivers to keep tabs on “CT Creep,” which is drivers getting springier over time due to use, leading to the possibility of a conforming club becoming non-conforming. This is not a change, per se, and does not impact everyday players.

The next item, however, is to continue its research into the forgiveness of drivers at the elite level, which could lead to reductions in moment of inertia (which mitigates distance loss on mis-hits), driver-head size or both. Although the language was aimed solely at elite players, as we have seen with the ball rollback decision, things have a way of changing.

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“Unequivocally, the ball is going further than it did 15 years ago,” says R&A CEO Martin Slumbers in an exclusive interview with Golf Digest. “And I see no reason to doubt it will not continue to do so. I’ve long been of this view. And for a long time, I had to keep it private. But once we published our distance report at the start of this process, I was very clear that, for the good of the game, we need to address this issue.

“From that point of view and from an environmental point of view, we have to do something,” he continues. “We have been very clear, as has [CEO] Mike Whan at the USGA. There are only three options: We can bifurcate; you change the whole game; or you do nothing. And doing nothing is not an option. We stand by that.”

For those keeping score, the ruling bodies got together earlier this year and proposed a Model Local Rule (MLR) that gives competition organizers the option to require use of golf balls that are tested under modified launch conditions to address the impacts of hitting distance in golf. The MLR was intended for use only in elite competitions and, if adopted, would have no impact on recreational golf.

But it wasn’t well received in certain influential quarters, and there was much debate and documents filed during the official comment period that ended in August. 

“The game was not happy with the Model Local Rule,” admits Slumbers. “There was a view that it would create a bifurcated game at the elite level. It was a very strong pushback against that. The PGA Tour was very public about it. So was the PGA of America. A number of players spoke out. And our job is to listen.

“But our responsibility is to the long-term future of the game. Along with the USGA, the R&A is a custodian of the game. We’re responsible for our period of time, something that has gone on for hundreds of years and will go on for hundreds more. So, we are listening. And we have made a decision about what we are going to do. We’re working that through at the moment and will make it public before the end of the year.”

While we stay tuned on that one, the R&A recently released the Open Qualifying Series of events that will offer places in the game’s oldest championship at Royal Troon in July 2024. It is a system that has come under are scrutiny since the arrival of LIV Golf. Has the Saudi-backed circuit complicated the process?

“If you look at the qualifications for last year’s Open and the way we structured the field for the 2023 Open, I’m very comfortable we created the opportunities for what we want,” says Slumbers. “That’s the best global field we can get. I care about global. And we did that. There are enough spots between top-50 exemptions on the world rankings, plus our qualifying events in South Africa, Australia, Japan, on the Asian Tour and final qualifying. I am confident that we find the best players and get them into the field. We will do the same again next year.”

Mention of the Asian Tour does raise one other area of contention. Two years ago, the R&A removed the Open exemption granted to the winner of the Asian Tour.

“We feel like our Order of Merit winner is deserving of playing in a major,” said Asian Tour CEO Cho Min Thant. “All four of them.”

Indeed, given that Open places are allocated to players who qualify from relatively weak fields like the one in this week’s Joburg Open, it seems like an odd decision. But it is one Slumbers defends.

“The argument, which I have explained to the head of the Asian Tour a number of times, is to look at this in the round,” says the Englishman. “We give 19 spots available to players from the Asia-Pacific region into the Open Championship. There was 20 when we exempted the Order of Merit winner. But the 19 spots are available to any who plays on his tour, or in the other qualifying events in that region. That’s 19 out of a field of 156, which is something around 14 percent. That is absolutely reflective of the relative strength of the players in Asia-Pacific.

“I much prefer to see the qualifiers come from 72-hole stroke-play tournaments,” continues Slumbers. “In a whole series of events with a whole series of mixed-ability fields. So, it is better to focus on the Open Qualifying events which contain the strongest fields in Asia-Pacific region during that year. If we want the best players from that region, that is the best way to achieve it.”

On a happier Open-related note, the prospect of the championship being played outside the United Kingdom at Portmarnock, just outside Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, is not something Slumbers dismisses out-of-hand.

“The club has talked to us about it,” he says. “The course is a world-class links. But there are infrastructure challenges. We are going to play the Women’s Amateur there in 2024 and we had the Amateur Championship there a couple of years ago. They have had the Walker Cup there, too. The position at the moment, which we support, is that the club is working with the Irish government to ascertain if there would be support for them to make a credible proposition. We will wait and see what happens there.”

Image: Matthew Lewis/R&A

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The Continent of Europe continued its dominance of the Vagliano and Junior Vagliano trophies by winning the senior and junior international matches against Great Britain and Ireland at Royal Dornoch.

GB&I is now without a win in the Vagliano Trophy since 2005 following today’s 13½-10½ defeat, while the junior team fell just short of securing its first win in the Junior Vagliano Trophy after the match finished tied at 9-9.

A combination of Spanish, German, Belgian and Swedish women gave the Continent of Europe captain Ane Urchegui Garcia victory as she led the senior team for the first time.

“I’m so happy,” Urchegui Garcia said after Germany’s Helen Briem earned the winning point, taking her side to the required 12½ points with a 2&1 singles victory over Caley McGinty.

“I feel very proud of the players. This was a very tough match to play and I want to congratulate Great Britain and Ireland captain Maria Dunne because her team played great golf.”

GB&I won the morning foursomes 2½-1½ to level the contest at eight points apiece with eight singles left to play. Strong winds and driving rain should have favoured the home side on traditional links, but the anticipated tense finish turned into something of a damp squib thanks to the excellent play of the Continent of Europe.

Two of the first three singles sessions went GB&I’s way with England’s Lottie Woad defeating Savannah de Bock of Belgium 2&1 and Aine Donegan beating world number one Ingrid Lindblad by the same score after a halve in the lead match between Ireland’s Beth Coulter and Rocio Tejedo of Spain. Those were the only GB&I wins in the singles before the bottom five players in Urchegui Garcia’s order reeled off victories.

“My team was very nervous after losing the morning foursomes but they were determined to go out and fight and they did,” Urchegui Garcia added. “I didn’t have to say anything to them at lunchtime to try to inspire them. They were doing that on their own. They were cheering each other on because there was such a spirit in my team. They all played for each other and inspired each other to this victory.”

GB&I captain Dunne took heart from winning the morning foursomes, hoping her team would kick to victory. 

“I’m gutted for my players,” said Dunne. “We gave it our all. I asked them to fight for every point. They did and I couldn’t really have asked for anything more from them.

“They fought hard to level the match after this morning’s foursomes but we just came up short. On another day the result would have gone our way but we can do ourselves proud because it was so close. The European team was just stronger on the day. They were better putters than us this afternoon, and that was obvious over the two days. We can be proud of ourselves for the way we fought.”

Briem was one of three players on the Continent of Europe team to record three points out of four along with Spain’s Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio and Meja Ortengren of Sweden. Only Woad on the GB&I team managed that feat.

There was a modicum of consolation for GB&I in that the Junior Vagliano Trophy finished level on nine points apiece. However, it meant that the Continent of Europe secured the trophy for the eighth straight time having never lost since the inaugural 2011 match.

“It says a lot about the strength of junior golf on the Continent of Europe,” said Continent of Europe captain Myrte Eikenaar, who was skippering the junior team for the third straight occasion.

“It says a lot about the girls that we’ve kept the trophy. They’re not just great golfers but they bring a lot of energy to the team, and it’s great that in a few days, they can become so tight-knit and fight for each other.

“It’s good to see that GB&I keeps drawing closer. Every year it gets tighter and that’s good for the match. I’d love to have gotten the win because it always feels better, but it’s great to retain the trophy and I’m proud of the girls.”

Irish pair Costello and Dillon deserve special mention. They earned three and a half points each out of a possible four. Germany’s Sofia Maier-Borst was top points earner for the Continent of Europe. Costello and Dillon will be looking to graduate to the senior team in two years’ time, hoping to help a GB&I team finally get that elusive pot of gold.

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