If indignant PGA Tour players are to be believed – bear with me – Mike Whan and Martin Slumbers are unaccountable despots bent on ruining golf, in which case they’re due thanks for momentarily distracting us from the unaccountable despot who is actually decimating the game, though MBS won’t ever be criticized for such by players under his writ.
The chief executives of the USGA and R&A have proposed an optional rule that, if adopted by tournaments or tours after Jan. 1, 2026, would force golfers to use a modified ball that pauses rampant distance gains at the elite level. Like everything else these days, reactions have been polarized. Dewy-eyed romantics say it doesn’t sufficiently return us to a bygone era of balata brilliance, while Tour pros sing the sponsor standards, from “Grow the game!” to “Grow the rough!” — views invariably offered while sporting the logos of companies with a commercial interest in seeing no action taken on distance.
