Golf Ball Rollback – Syndication Server

Chairman Fred Ridley doesn’t want an 8,000-yard Masters, says Augusta National will support USGA, R&A golf ball rollback

Ridley doesn’t want the Masters to play more than 8,000 yards, but fears that may be the case in the future.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — During his annual media appearance ahead of the 2024 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on Wednesday, chairman Fred Ridley said the club supports the golf ball rollback spearheaded by the USGA and R&A in an effort to curb the growing distance problem in golf.

In his opening statements, Ridley talked about how for years the tournament was played at less than 7,000 yards, but noted this year’s yardage had extended to 7,555 yards. He also said one day this week the course could measure more than 7,600 yards.

The most notable comment the chairman made was that he doesn’t want the Masters to play more than 8,000 yards, but fears that may be the case in the future if distance isn’t diminished.

“I’ve said in the past that I hope we will not play the Masters at 8,000 yards. But that is likely to happen in the not too distant future under current standards,” said Ridley. “Accordingly, we support the decisions that have been made by the R&A and the USGA as they have addressed the impact of distance at all levels of the game.”

Last December the USGA and R&A announced they were changing how golf balls will be tested for conformity to reduce the effects of distance in the sport. Starting in 2028, for a golf ball to be deemed conforming and be legal for play, it will be tested using a robot that swings a titanium club at 125 mph and hits the ball on an 11-degree launch angle with 2,200 rpm of spin. The shot can not exceed the Overall Distance Standard (ODS) of 317 yards of combined carry distance and roll (with a 3-yard tolerance).

Currently, balls are at 120 mph with a launch angle of 10 degrees and 2,520 rpm of backspin, so the change increases the robot’s clubhead by 5 mph, increases the launch angle by 1 degree and decreases the spin rate by about 300 rpm.

Nearly every golf ball being sold today would go too far and fail the new test because manufacturers design their balls to go right to the current distance limits. Increasing the test speed by 5 mph and hitting shots at low spin rates and higher launch angles would make all of today’s balls go too far and become non-conforming. Balls that had previously been legal but failed the new test will be removed from the Conforming Ball list, making them illegal for official play starting Jan. 1, 2028.

According to Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s chief governance officer, using golf balls that pass the new test will result in a loss of distance, with the fastest-swinging players being affected the most and recreational golfers being affected the least.

Ridley said he hopes the PGA Tour and other golf tours and leagues will adopt the regulations and join Augusta National in its support of the USGA and R&A’s initiative.

“I certainly hope they will be, were they not it would cause a great deal of stress in the game it doesn’t need right now,” Ridley explained.

He also noted how, even if the regulations are implemented, other aspects of technology within the rules and the physicality and technical ability of the players will allow them to catch up and make up the difference in distance. Ridley doesn’t envision new tees closer to greens and he plans on “holding that 8,000-yard line.”

“We have some more room,” he added, “but we don’t have a lot.”

Distance has been a highly debated issue in golf – both the PGA Tour and LPGA immediately spoke out against the new regulations – and Augusta National’s support of the USGA and R&A’s efforts marks a significant step in the process to curb distance and make the game more sustainable.

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Nick Price sounds off on golf ball rollback: ‘Equipment is making all of our great courses redundant’

“The sweet spot on the driver is the size of a peach now. When I was playing it was the size of a pea.”

Nick Price is regarded as one of golf’s great gentleman but bring up the subject of golf equipment and what advances in technology have done to the game and the former world No. 1, three-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Famer doesn’t hold back.

“Equipment is making all of our great courses redundant,” Price told Golfweek last week at the PNC Championship in Orlando, where he teamed with son Greg. “You ask any of the old guys – but they’ll say you old guys always complain and this is a new generation and they work a lot harder than you, well, I can name five guys that are fatter than I am and still hit it 340 yards. So, don’t give me that yarn just because everyone is working out. A lot of guys are working out, which is great, and they work on the right things and whatever, but the sweet spot on the driver is the size of a peach now. When I was playing it was the size of a pea. I’m not saying we need to go back to (persimmon woods) but these poor golf courses, you’ve got 620-yard par 5s and they’re reaching them in driver-4-iron. Something needs to be done.”

Nick Price with the trophy after winning the 1994 British Open at the Turnberry in Scotland. (Photo: Phil Sheldon/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

A native of Zimbabwe, Price won 18 times on the PGA Tour, earned two PGA Tour Player of the Year Awards (1993, 1994), and spent 43 weeks as the No. 1 player in the world.

The 66-year-old isn’t just another “old guy” voicing his opinion. He’s been intimately involved in the process as a member of the U.S. Golf Association Executive Committee for the past five years and served on the Championship and Equipment Standards committees.

“I was quite vocal about it, it was the ball, it was the driver, it was the grooves,” he said.

Earlier this month, the USGA and R&A announced that the rules governing how golf balls are tested will change starting on Jan. 1, 2028. It’s how the governing bodies intend to stop the trends of golfers hitting the ball farther and golf courses getting longer.

The announcement came after years of debate, study and communications between the USGA and R&A with stakeholders like golf equipment manufacturers, the PGA Tour, the PGA of America and other prominent groups in the golf world.

Of the governing bodies electing to roll back the ball in 2028 for pros and 2030 for recreaional golfers, Price was tepid on the move.

“It’s a step,” he said. “A lot of people don’t want to do anything about it.”

Initially, the USGA and R&A proposed the creation of a Model Local Rule that would have resulted in only elite men being required to use distance-reducing balls. But under the new rules, everyone is going to transition into the balls tested in a new, distance-reducing way.

Asked for his stance on bifurcation, Price said, “I thought there could be that. It was an option. We talked about if you played in a USGA championship you’d have to use a specific ball and clubs. But that ain’t going to happen.”

What college golf coaches are saying about the universal golf ball rollback

Not all opinions are the same.

LAS VEGAS — As if there wasn’t enough to discuss this week at the annual college golf coaches clinic, the golf ball rollback proposal, announced Wednesday by the USGA and R&A, has sparked plenty of conversation in the golf community.

And college golf coaches are among those talking about the changes.

Starting in 2028, for a golf ball to be deemed conforming and legal for play, it will be tested using a robot that swings a titanium club at 125 mph and hits the ball on an 11-degree launch angle with 2,200 rpm of spin. The shot can not exceed the Overall Distance Standard (ODS) of 317 yards of combined carry distance and roll (with a 3-yard tolerance).

The change will affect all levels of golf, meaning the top amateurs and college players will also have to conform to the new golf balls down the road.

Golfweek spoke with numerous college coaches at an annual convention for the Golf Coaches Association of America and the Women Golf Coaches Association to get some thoughts on the golf ball rollback. Here’s what some of them had to say.

Here’s what the USGA, R&A golf ball rollback means for top amateurs and college golfers

Change is coming, even for amateurs.

LAS VEGAS — Change is coming to the golf world, and not just one level of players.

The United States Golf Association and R&A, golf’s governing bodies, announced Wednesday they are changing how golf balls will be tested for conformity to reduce the effects of distance.

The change is going to affect all levels of golfers, from the top professionals in the game to weekend warriors at a local muni. But how exactly is it going to affect the top amateurs and collegiate golfers?

Speaking at the annual Golf Coaches Association of America convention, Scott Langley, the USGA’s senior director of player relations, explained the changes coming with how golf balls are tested and what it means.

“More and more speed is coming into the game, and players are learning how to play the game well at higher speeds,” Langley said. “The college game has good examples of terrific players that have learned to play well, comfortably driving ball in the high 180s, even 190 miles per hour.

“I can assure you that creating these boundaries is not a frictionless process. But it is my belief that it is a healthy friction that is essential to the long term health of the sport. True freedom is freedom within the right boundaries. Absolute freedom is not true freedom. Governance is hard, but it’s essential.”

Langley won the 2010 NCAA individual championship while playing for Illinois. He also spent time playing professionally before his work with the USGA. He understands the amateur game and what it takes to be successful at the highest level but also knows the integrity of the game has to be maintained.

Illinois’ Scott Langley poses with the NCAA Individual trophy and the Arnold Palmer award at the Honors Course.

It’s estimated that the longest male amateurs are going to lose anywhere between 10-15 yards with their driver, while the average male amateur will likely lose between 3-5 yards.

On the women’s side, it’s estimated that the top female amateurs will lose anywhere between 5-7 yards and the average female amateur between 1-3 yards off the tee.

“Advancements and athleticism are both inevitable and also just plain awesome,” Langley said. “But they must be considered thoughtfully in balance with sports long term health and identity. ”

Langley also said the USGA continues to look into solutions involving rewarding center strike with the driver but didn’t have any to bring forward yet.

Outside of the driver, the USGA and R&A said the golf ball rollback shouldn’t affect irons or wedges.

Overall, the way golf balls are tested in changing, and top professionals and amateurs will first experience these changes in 2028. Most of the golfing community and average amateurs not until 2030. Ultimately, the change is in the best interest of the longevity of the game and its future at all levels.

PGA Tour pros sound off on potential golf ball rollback

Some PGA Tour pros are calling it “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of.”

NASSAU, Bahamas – The USGA and R&A haven’t even officially released a rule change that would universally roll back golf ball distances and already some PGA Tour pros are calling it “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of.”

The governing bodies are expected to make an announcement early next week after a three-year “Notice and Comment” period with equipment makers and other golf organizations. After initially suggesting that it would be added as a local model rule geared to elite players, the USGA and R&A reportedly have changed directions and intend to roll back the ball for everyone, including the weekend warrior.

Rory McIlroy explains why he doesn’t understand the ‘anger about the golf ball roll back’

“It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability.”

Rory McIlroy is taking some time off after a busy 2023, but a brief break from competition doesn’t mean the world No. 2 is completely checked out from the game.

On Sunday morning McIlroy took to social media to voice his opinion about the recent report that the USGA and R&A plan to announce a universal golf ball rollback next week.

“I don’t understand the anger about the golf ball roll back. It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability,” McIlroy wrote. “It will also help bring back certain skills in the pro game that have been eradicated over the past 2 decades.”

I don’t understand the anger about the golf ball roll back. It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability. It will also help bring back certain skills in the pro game that have been eradicated over the past 2 decades.…

— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) December 3, 2023

The four-time major champion stood up for the two governing bodies and told fans their anger should be directed at elite professionals as well as the equipment manufacturers “because they didn’t want bifurcation.”

“The governing bodies presented us with that option earlier this year. Elite pros and ball manufacturers think bifurcation would negatively affect their bottom lines, when in reality, the game is already bifurcated,” he argued. “You think we play the same stuff you do? They put pressure on the governing bodies to roll it back to a lesser degree for everyone. Bifurcation was the logical answer for everyone, but yet again in this game, money talks.”

McIlroy has been on the frontlines for the PGA Tour in its battle against LIV Golf for the better half of the last two years and has been an active voice in the game for most of his career. The 34-year-old recently resigned from his position as a player director on the Tour’s Policy Board.

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Dusek: Jay Monahan’s memo starts the bargaining with the USGA and R&A

If support from McIlroy, Woods and more gave cause for optimism, Monahan’s memo was a reminder that nothing is settled.

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The memo that Jay Monahan sent to members of the PGA Tour on Wednesday evening contained 13 paragraphs, but one bullet point related to distance surely caught the attention of Mike Whan, the CEO of the United States Golf Association.

Whan and his team, along with with the R&A and its CEO, Martin Slumbers, are working to create support and momentum for the proposed Model Local Rule that would require elite players to use reduce-distance golf balls. Throughout the current “Notice and Comment” period, many players, including Justin Thomas, have come out against the idea, but other influential players like Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have come out in favor of it. Fred Ridley, chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club, also showed support for the idea of elite players using reduced-distance balls during his press conference before the start of this year’s Masters.

If support from McIlroy, Woods and Ridley gave Whan and Slumbers cause for optimism, Monahan’s memo was a reminder that nothing is settled.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

“As you know, we have spent the last two years undertaking a comprehensive analysis of distance on the PGA Tour and its impact. Although there has been some level of support for limiting future increases, there is widespread and significant belief the proposed Modified Local Rule is not warranted and is not in the best interest of the game. Following a discussion on the topic at a recent PAC meeting, we have notified the USGA and The R&A that while the PGA Tour is committed to collaborating with them – and all industry partners – to arrive at a solution that will best serve our players, our fans and the game at all levels, we are not able to support the MLR as proposed. As the formal feedback period to the USGA and the R&A comes to an end and this process evolves, I will be in touch with updates.”

Golfweek contacted the USGA for comment and was sent this statement: “We remain in a Notice & Comment period, accepting feedback from voices from across the game. The PGA Tour is an important stakeholder and we appreciate the feedback they have contributed to this conversation.”

Getting the PGA Tour (and, by extension, the Korn Ferry Tour and DP World Tour) on board with the MLR is critical for the USGA and the R&A. It would represent the most significant seal of approval possible and it has felt like a foregone conclusion to many people in the golf industry.

In the four months since the USGA and R&A jointly announced the proposed MLR, numerous executives and industry insiders who spoke with Golfweek shrugged their collective shoulders and begrudgingly seemed to have accepted that if the MLR were passed, the PGA Tour would adopt it.

Those feelings still exist, and industry veterans who spoke with Golfweek on Thursday morning see Monahan’s comments as the start of a bargaining process.

Monahan, who is likely on shaky ground with many PGA Tour members after surprising the golf world with the proposal of a merger with LIV Golf, is not in a position to go against a majority of players and tell them the PGA Tour will make them use a reduced-distance ball in a few years. Monahan’s memo to golf’s governing bodies is really saying that while they may feel that distance is becoming too big a part of the game and threatening the competitive value of historically significant courses, the PGA Tour has other things to consider.

The inclusion of, ” … a solution that will best serve our players, our fans and the game at all levels,” was also not an accident. We know players don’t want to lose distance. Fans who buy tickets and companies that purchase luxury boxes to entertain clients at PGA Tour events don’t want to see golfers hit the ball less far. Television executives who study TV ratings don’t see distance as a problem. For Monahan, golf is as much about entertainment as it is competition, and part of his job is to protect the entertainment value of his players and tournaments.

“I think what we came down to was, we didn’t feel like this proposal was warranted, but we’re not against doing something,” said PGA Tour executive vice president and chief player officer, Jason Gore in an interview with Michael Breed on Sirius XM Radio Thursday morning. “We agree with Mike Whan in that doing nothing is not an option. We just don’t feel that this is the best path forward. The bifurcation was really hard for us to swallow.”

While the USGA and the R&A insist that the creation and adoption of the Model Local Rules would not amount to bifurcation, a different set of rules to govern elite golfers, nearly everyone else in the golf industry does, and the PGA Tour and equipment makers see that as a problem. To them, one of golf’s greatest appeals is that pros like Rory McIlroy and the guys in your Thursday night league play the same equipment and are governed by the same rules. They argue that the adoption of a Model Local Rule pertaining to golf balls would change that.

Chief Executive of the R&A Martin Slumbers during a press conference ahead of The Open at the Royal Liverpool, on July 19, 2023. (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

“As the formal feedback period to the USGA and the R&A comes to an end and this process evolves, I will be in touch with updates,” Monahan concluded in his paragraph on distance.

That’s the key sentence, a signal to Liberty Corners, New Jersey (home of the USGA) and St. Andrews, Scotland (home of the R&A), that the PGA Tour wants to negotiate. Monahan did not write that the PGA Tour would never adopt a distance-reducing MLR. He noted that it would not support the MLR as it is proposed now.

If the USGA and R&A modify the MLR, so balls for elite players get tested at lower swing speeds or at higher spin rates, so the distance reduction is not as drastic, Monahan could go back to his players and sell himself as someone who got a concession from USGA and R&A.

But the interesting thing that happens when you combine Monahan’s memo and Gore’s comments together is it might take a rule change governing golf balls, and not the creation of a Model Local Rule, to get the PGA Tour’s signoff on the idea of reducing distance. While the USGA and R&A have stated that they don’t want to change anything for recreational golfers, the PGA Tour may be signaling that a rule change governing all golfers is more appealing than a Model Local Rule that only applies to elite golfers.

In the end, the only thing that Jay Monahan’s memo clarifies with regard to distance is that a lot more talk and negotiations are needed.

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Should the potential rollback of the golf ball be delayed given the upheaval in pro golf? Mike Whan says no: ‘How slow do we have to go?’

“I think if people feel rushed by this, I worry for them because this is a pretty slow process.”

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LOS ANGELES – Jon Rahm sees the writing on the wall.

“The USGA and the R&A want to make a change to the ball to somehow protect the game, which is fine. If they think that’s the best decision, so be it,” he said.

But Rahm also has his qualms and pointed to LA Country Club, site of this week’s 123^rd U.S. Open, to highlight his concerns.

“It’s funny to me because how many of the tee boxes on this golf course will become obsolete if they change the golf ball? At least half would be unusable for the next I don’t know how many years,” he said. “They keep trying to protect from distance by adding distance to a golf course in a way where only long hitters are going to have a better chance to win. I don’t know how else to really explain it. If they want to roll it back, then so be it.”

The USGA and R&A in March proposed a Model Local Rule that would give competition organizers the option to require the use of golf balls that are tested under modified launch conditions to address the impacts of hitting distance in golf. The rule, which wouldn’t go into effect until 2026, is intended for use only in elite competitions and, if adopted, will have no impact on recreational golf. Manufacturers and golf stakeholders can provide feedback until Aug. 14. But given the upheaval in the world of professional golf, should the process be delayed as was previously done during the height of COVID-19? USGA CEO Mike Whan said the process won’t be deterred by the PGA Tour’s recent agreement to form a commercial entity with the PIF.

“We started this in 2018,” Whan said. “It’s 2023 and we’re talking about implementing something not earlier than 2026. I was talking to a friend the other day who’s like, ‘Why are you rushing this through?’ I’m like, ‘How slow do we have to go?’ Started in ’18, talking about a ’26 implementation. He said to me, ‘Can’t you just slow this down?’ I’m like, ‘Slower than an eight-year process?’ ”

“I don’t know what the final outcome will be and what we’ll come in. If anybody feels like this is in a hurry I don’t think they’re really paying attention,” Whan added. “We’re talking about we’ve been back and forth in a listening process and we are now again, and we’ve told everybody recently that no earlier than 2026. We’re not talking about this season. We’re not talking about next season. We’re not talking about the season after that. I think if people feel rushed by this, I worry for them because this is a pretty slow process.”

Whan said the governing bodies feel a real responsibility to make sure “that whatever decisions we make don’t fracture some of the strongest pieces of the game.”

It is a complicated decision, and no matter the final decision, Whan knows it is inevitable that some parties will be disappointed. Fred Perpall, the USGA’s president, said that it is a decision being made for the future of golf – 50, 100 plus years down the road.

“We’re at a time in our history where governance and government has been like at an all-time low. No one loves to be governed,” Perpall said. “We all love to be popular, but sometimes I think you have to really think about what’s right. Equipment manufacturers, they’ve done their jobs. The elite players, they’ve done their jobs, too. They’re getting better, stronger, faster.

“But with the USGA and the R&A as governance organizations, like we’re the folks that have to wake up and think about the long-term health of the game.”

“A lot of my friends that I would play golf with would say no one really wants this,” he added. “Sometimes you have to have the courage to really do what’s right.”

On Monday, defending U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick voiced his concern that the Model Local Rule would create two different balls.

“If you’re going to roll the ball back, I think just do it for everyone so everyone is playing the same ball, and if it’s going 30 yards shorter, then great, whatever,” Fitzpatrick said. “I just wish they really would take the PGA Tour players’ thought and advice into consideration because one of the bigger benefits of golf is the fact that all amateurs and all professionals play under the exact same rules, and if you start changing that, it can be a slippery slope.”

Matt Fitzpatrick at a press conference ahead of the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. (Photo: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports)

Whan said the governing bodies are doing just that, and they are in the process of listening to all stakeholders of the game.

“Somebody said to me the other day, ‘Why do you go to the (PGA Tour) PAC meeting and ask a bunch of current PGA Tour professionals how do they feel good a ball being shorter. Like do you really have to fly there for that?’ That’s part of the governance. That’s part of the process. I may not like everything they say but I heard everything they said, and I heard everything they said a year ago as we made changes going into this time,” Whan said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve enjoyed the process, but it’s been a great learning experience. I think the feedback process is important and it makes us better. Even when we don’t like the feedback we get, it makes us better. We’ve got to balance over the next step of input whether or not one ball for all or model local rule is kind of a right approach.

“I think it would be impossible to say that this process and this feedback process hasn’t resulted in change along the way, and I believe it will continue to do that.

“I think I can speak on behalf of the R&A when I say both the R&A and the USGA believe doing nothing is a bad idea for the long-term future and health of the game. But part of doing something means you’ve really got to be out there and really asking for and taking direct comments, and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Lynch: Three weeks into a war for golf’s future, Augusta National’s Fred Ridley ended it with one shot

Twenty-two days after the governing bodies sounded the bugle in a battle for the future of golf, the cavalry arrived at Augusta.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Twenty-two days after the governing bodies sounded the bugle in a battle for the future of golf, the cavalry arrived on Wednesday at Augusta National.

It was March 14 when the USGA and R&A proposed a modified local rule that, if adopted, would introduce a limited-distance ball at the elite level. The timing wasn’t accidental. It accommodated three weeks of predictable histrionics, warnings, bluster and social media carping from every constituency: Tour players, architecture nerds, equipment manufacturers, invested observers, armchair analysts, media partners and influential shills. Which was just enough time for the smoke to begin clearing before what will likely prove the decisive contribution in a long-smoldering and sulfurous debate:

“We have been consistent in our support of the governing bodies, and we restate our desire to see distance addressed.”

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Thus spake Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National and the Masters. He added that while the club will respect the feedback period established by the governing bodies (it runs through August 14), he left no doubt as to what position his powerful entities will adopt.

“I’ve stated that we believe distance needs to be addressed,” Ridley said. “I think the natural conclusion is, yes, we will be supportive.”

So when theory becomes practice — on Jan. 1, 2026, when the proposed change would take effect — the 90th Masters will be the first major championship contested with a modified ball. It will be followed that same year by the Opens, U.S. and British, since the governing bodies who run those events have made clear they will exercise their own option. What odds the PGA Championship — ever mindful of being perceived as the runt of the major litter — will diminish itself by choosing to separate itself further on the ball issue? Your move, Mr. Waugh.

Having every major conducted with a modified ball will test the willingness of Tour players to switch equipment from their weekly money games for events that actually define legacies. When the whining is exhausted — admittedly, this might take until Dec. 31, 2025 — the professional proletariat will reconcile itself to the new reality. Without Wednesday’s unambiguous signal from Ridley, the future landscape would look a lot more uncertain. His words lend support to the governing bodies, clarity to the future, and no succor to the smash bros.

Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta

Chairman’s press conferences at Augusta National are usually divided into two fields: housekeeping and legacy. For Ridley, the legacy aspect concerned an investment in municipal golf to create pathways into the game in the city of Augusta, of which his famed club is a part while being apart.

Housekeeping matters included announcing that the NCAA champion will receive an invitation to compete in the Masters and explaining why an invitation to attend was not extended to Greg Norman, the commissar of LIV Golf. It was akin to asking grandpa why his Thanksgiving guest list is missing a former friend who promised to break the furniture, insulted the decor and announced plans for his friends to hold a celebratory kegger on your lawn.

Ridley replied that he wanted the focus to be on the Masters, not on the Saudi-financed civil war roiling golf (which is considerably less deadly than the one they’re funding in Yemen). He added that Norman has only been here twice in the past decade, including once while working as an announcer. What of Norman’s recent grouse that he might never be invited back to Augusta National?

“It’s hard to answer that question because, you know, I don’t know where the world is going to be next year or two years from now,” Ridley said, the kind of equivocation that constitutes a drive-by in the parlance of Augusta National. “I would never say never. But I told you why he had not been invited this year.”

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Crude translation for the flaxen-haired finger puppet: faff around and find out.

Nor would the Chairman be drawn on whether changes will be made to Masters invitation criteria that would make it tougher for LIV players to qualify — unsurprising since LIV is dispensing subpoenas in a failing effort to prove golf’s bodies are conspiring against it.

“I’m sure there will be changes in the future, but none beyond what I announced this morning,” he finally offered.

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Augusta National’s reverence for past Masters champions makes exclusion of LIV golfers impossible. Six attended the Champions Dinner on Tuesday. The other twelve competing this week will find future access tougher as their world ranking slips, a trend likely to accelerate due to an imminent – and unappealable – decision by a sports arbitration panel in the UK that will effectively lock LIV players out of DP World Tour events. That means LIV guys who want to earn ranking points will need to familiarize themselves with the Asian Tour schedule, where even wins yield paltry ranking points given the shallow talent pool participating.

As clearly as Ridley endorsed the governing bodies’ authority to regulate distance, he was equally direct in defending the Official World Golf Ranking system, which has been under a sustained assault by Norman and his mealy-mouthed marionettes, who insist LIV tournaments must be awarded points despite meeting almost none of the established criteria to be recognized.

“It’s an objective criteria based on data-driven analytics, and it’s consistently applied,” Ridley said. “I think most would agree it’s a good system.”

Ridley is a traditionalist’s idea of a company man, the type of chap who, in the words of E.B. White, winds the clock daily in a contribution toward order and steadfastness. His fealty to golf’s established order and to the values of the game in which he has spent a lifetime are unshakeable. It’s accepted that he’s the unchallenged authority within the walls of Augusta National. The intent he signaled Wednesday will go some way to proving that the influence of his position extends over a much greater realm.

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TaylorMade survey suggest golfers strongly oppose USGA, R&A golf ball rollback

More than 45,000 people took part, according to TaylorMade.

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A week after the USGA and R&A announced a proposed Model Local Rule (MLR) that could mandate elite players to use a reduced-distance golf ball, TaylorMade joined other equipment makers in voicing skepticism and worry about what it might do to the sport. The second sentence of the statement said, “This will introduce bifurcation into our sport, meaning that you – the golfer – will play with different equipment than the professionals.”

Thursday morning, the equipment company based in Carlsbad, California, released the results of a survey it conducted to gauge recreational golfers’ ideas on the proposed Model Local Rule. More than 45,000 people took part, according to TaylorMade, and the overwhelming response was recreational golfers are not in favor of the USGA and R&A’s plans.

When asked, “To the best of your knowledge, do you agree with the proposed golf ball rule,” 81 percent responded ‘No’ in the survey, while 77 percent said that the average hitting distances in professional golf do not need to be reduced.

“The goal of our survey was to give golfers the opportunity to voice their opinion on this proposed ruling as we absorb the MLR and its potential effects on the everyday golfer,” said David Abeles, TaylorMade’s president and CEO. “We are grateful that nearly 45,000 golfers across the world felt the need for their voices to be heard. The overwhelming amount of responses show the passion, knowledge and care for the game our audience possesses. Each response and data point is being reviewed as we will utilize this feedback in our preparation to provide a response to the USGA and R&A.”

TaylorMade’s survey consisted of 14 questions, including the respondent’s handicap level. 85 percent of people who took the survey said the MLR would not have any impact on how much golf they played when TaylorMade asked for three words to describe the proposed MLR, the most common words used were “Unnecessary,” “Stupid” and “Dumb.”

After announcing the proposed MLR, the USGA and R&A stated that a comment period would take place until Aug. 14. During the comment period, stakeholders like equipment companies, players, golf course operators, professional tours and others can weigh in and provide feedback to the game’s governing bodies. After the comment period concludes, the USGA and R&A will likely go over reports and new input, and it is anticipated that they will announce a decision regarding the proposed MLR by the end of 2023. If it passes, that would give equipment makers like TaylorMade, Titleist, Callaway, Bridgestone and Srixon two years to create balls that could pass the modified testing procedures and conform with the Model Local Rule.

The TaylorMade study does not claim to be a scientifically-created, cross-section of all golfers, it can safely be assumed that golfers who opted to take the survey after seeing it promoted on TaylorMade’s social media channels and website think positively of the brand and its viewpoints.

While some people will see the survey as biased, it represents a clear challenge to the USGA and R&A’s position that distance is a problem at the elite level and needs to be reduced. The game’s governing bodies were well aware of how polarizing an issue distance has become before they announced the proposed MLR, and a key for its acceptance in the golf community is winning over weekend golfers and recreational players who will not be affected by it. While the USGA and R&A staunchly oppose bifurcation, many golfers feel the adoption of the MLR would amount to precisely that, creating different sets of rules to govern players of different abilities.

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