The Player Advisory Council on the PGA Tour has reportedly opposed the USGA and the R&A’s plans on golf ball roll back.
According to Golf Channel, the 16-member PAC met with Mike Whan of the USGA and Martin Slumbers of the R&A at the Memorial Tournament to discuss the new proposed Model Local Rule that could be implemented as early as January 2026.
Other tour executives and tour commissioner Jay Monahan were also in attendance.
After a one-hour presentation by the two organisations, as well as a presentation by representatives from Titleist, Callaway, and Bridgestone, the consensus was players would not support bifurcation.
Achushnet, the company that owns Titleist and FootJoy, has previously said bifurcation “would be detrimental to golf’s long-term well-being.”
They are not on their own when it comes to equipment manufacturers. A TaylorMade survey found a large percentage of everyday golfers would be opposed to golf ball roll back.
It was the middle of March when the USGA and R&A announced plans to introduce a new MLR which could allow competition organisers to “use golf balls tested under modified launch conditions to address the impacts of hitting distance in golf.”
“I feel like that would be going against the grain strongly of what the sentiment is, and certainly off the back of yesterday, I think that would be surprising if that was just the thing that we did,” Adam Scott said, who is chairman of the PAC.
“I think there’d be some pushback on that from the membership.
“Ultimately, the players will end up deciding whether they want to mess around for two weeks with another ball. I really believe there’s a lot at stake here.
“The way the testing has been done as for the future, that’s hard to understand when we’re not there. We’re setting rules for future generations, which is how it’s been explained. Because that’s where they’re going.”
