AUGUSTA, Ga. — Pedants will tell you that Augusta National is a property, not a governing body, a depthless observation that is equally true of the White House, Downing Street and the Élysée Palace. Augusta National is golf’s real seat of power, not only in the public imagination but in its ability to set priorities and effect change. This is why the closest thing our sport has to a State of the Union address comes Wednesday of Masters Week, when the club’s sitting chairman offers prepared remarks to the media before fielding questions on pressing issues in the game.
The chairman’s scripted remarks are dependably careful, highlighting good deeds outside the walls of the club and minor changes within. Against that tradition, Fred Ridley’s comments were unconventional in that he raised a thorny topic before the assembled press did: that of distance.
In his State of the Union at the 2020 Masters, Ridley’s language on this subject had bordered on strident for a man occupying his position. He said golf is “at a crossroads,” and “coming closer to a call to action.” When the chairman of Augusta National hints that a call to action is imminent, it means that call has already been privately issued to those who needed to hear it in golf’s corridors of power. In this case, that means the USGA and R&A, whose joint Distance Insights project was delayed by the pandemic but recently resurrected with the announcement of further investigation and feedback in specific areas.
