Decision on rolling back golf ball to be announced before end of year

Ronan MacNamara

24th November 2023

Martin Slumbers, CEO of the R&A revealed that a decision on whether the golf ball will be rolled back is imminent and should be public knowledge before the end of 2023.

This is a development that will dramatically impact the world of golf after the USGA and R&A announced in March that they would be introducing a Model Local Rule which will limit the speed the golf ball can travel at.

In an interview with John Huggan of Golf Digest, Slumbers, revealed that golf’s governing bodies have reached a decision about whether or not golfers will be playing under a different set of rules surrounding equipment.

The Model Local Rule decision was met with mixed feelings from professional golfers but Slumbers insists that an announcement is imminent and that doing nothing is “not an option” and that “changing the whole game” is one of the potential ways to tackle the distance the golf ball travels.

“The game was not happy with the Model Local Rule,” Slumbers explained.

“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.

“Unequivocally, the ball is going further than it did 15 years ago. 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.

“We have been very clear, as has 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.”

A date for the announcement has yet to be confirmed.