'We Have Made A Decision' - R&A To Reveal Plan To Tackle Golf Ball Distances By End Of The Year

R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers says a decision has been made about tackling golf ball distances, and will be released by the end of the year

R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers talks to the media at the 150th Open
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Paul Higham
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Golf's rule makers have decided on a plan of action to address the distance the golf ball goes in the professional game - and will release those plans before the end of the year.

The R&A and USGA are working together to try and rollback the ever-increasing yardages top pros can get from their ever-evolving technology.

And now R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers has said that that've decided upon a plan, and are just working out the finer details before making it public - which will be before 2023 has ended.

An initial plan on golf ball bifurcation – a new model local rule - hasn't gone down as well as hoped, and Slumbers admitted that finding a solution everyone was happy with had been a problem.

"It has been more of a challenge to build consensus than I was expecting," Slumbers told Golf Monthly recently.

"I think it’s an abdication of responsibility to say 'let’s do nothing with the golf ball and let’s just get everyone to change their golf courses'. What you do there is put more cost onto facilities that are increasingly under pressure," Slumbers added.

Although it's been difficult, Slumbers says "doing nothing is not an option" as the R&A and USGA feel that golf "shouldn’t be dominated by how far you hit the ball and that’s a little too important today".

And now, Slumbers has also given a timeframe for when they will release their latest plan, which will be a matter of weeks.

"We have made a decision about what we are going to do," Slumbers told Golf Digest. "We’re working that through at the moment and will make it public before the end of the year.”

We'll wait and see just what the keepers of golf's laws come up with next, in what is one of the biggest talking points in golf.

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Paul Higham
Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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