LONDON—Golf’s longest hitters could be reeled in under new proposals to limit the distance balls struck by elite players can travel.
Average driving distances are around 300 meters on the PGA Tour but many players are well in excess of that, meaning some courses are in danger of becoming obsolete.
While great attention is given to club technology, rules makers the Royal and Ancient and United States Golf Association (USGA) are now turning their attention to balls.
They are proposing the introduction of a Model Local Rule (MLR) which would give competition organizers the option to require players to use only balls tested under modified launch conditions and that meet maximum-distance criteria….