Dusek: My takeaways from the USGA and R&A’s golf ball rollback press conference

Equipment writer David Dusek takes a look at the pros and cons of ball changes announced by the USGA and R&A.

For months, people in the golf equipment world have speculated about what changes the USGA and R&A would make to rein in distance. On Monday afternoon, I finally found out in a chat with USGA’s chief governance officer, Thomas Pagel.

He described the proposed Model Local Rule (MLR) that, if adopted, would allow tournaments and high-level tours to mandate the use of reduced-distance golf balls. He hammered home the USGA and the R&A’s talking points and fielded my questions. Many of those questions were asked again Tuesday morning in a press conference that included USGA CEO Mike Whan and R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers.

They talked about several things, and here are my takeaways and thoughts.