Golf’s ruling bodies continued their stated intention to curtail driving distance with an announcement Thursday that if adopted as an equipment rule by the R&A and USGA very likely would make nearly every current golf ball played on tour nonconforming.
It’s a conversation that has been amplified in 2020, partially due to the R&A and USGA’s Distance Insights Project but mostly because of Bryson DeChambeau.
If this past week was any indication, should the USGA want a Teflon coating at Winged Foot from criticism, perhaps its best move is installing Nicklaus on the greens committee.
If you’re looking for definitive conclusions in the massive reports that contributed to the USGA and R&A’s recently released Distance Insights Project, they are quite nearly at every turn and occur so often they can occasionally contradict themselves.
While golf’s ruling bodies are unclear as to what should happen next, the nearly two-year study of how far the golf ball is flying – known as the Distance Insights Project – is resoundingly clear on one specific conclusion: Distance must be stopped.
In August 2018, the USGA and R&A announced an investigation into distance called the Distance Insights Project. In February 2020, the governing bodies will, at long last, relay the findings