Augusta National Is Officially On Team Roll Back The Golf Ball, Doesn't Want To Play An 8,000-Yard Masters

Augusta National Golf Club has pledged its support of rolling back the golf ball, which means that three of golf's four major governing bodies subscribe to the idea that there is a distance problem in the sport.

In December 2023, the USGA and R&A officially announced a rollback was on the horizon. Beginning in 2028, golf balls used at the professional level will travel a shorter distance while the same golf balls will be implemented and enforced at the amateur level in 2030. With these newly ‘nerfed’ golf balls, long hitters who have ball speeds of 183 mph or higher would lose 13 to 15 yards with their driver.

The annual media appearance held by Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley on Wednesday ahead of the 2024 Masters served as the club's first opportunity to formally address the idea of a rollback, and Ridley made the club's stance crystal clear.

Augusta National has lengthened the golf course time and time again over the years, and Ridley plainly said the club isn't interested in continuing that trend.

"Adding distance to the Augusta National golf course has become standard operation over the past two decades. For almost 70 years, the Masters was played at just over 6,900 yards. Today the course measures 7,550 yards from the markers, and we may well play one of the tournament rounds this year at more than 7,600 yards," Ridley stated. 

"I've said in the past that I hope we will not play the Masters at 8,000 yards. But that is likely to happen in the not too distant future under current standards. Accordingly, we support the decisions that have been made by the R&A and the USGA as they have addressed the impact of distance at all levels of the game."

 (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Augusta National Adds Pressure To 2 More Governing Bodies

Augusta National joining forces with the USGA and R&A on the topic of the rollback puts significant pressure on golf's fourth governing body, the PGA of America.

Shortly after the USGA and R&A's official announcement last December, both the PGA of America and PGA Tour, which are two separate entities, announced that they opposed the rollback proposal.

Ridley specifically mentioned the Tour during his Wednesday presser.

"Well, assuming that these regulations are adopted by the PGA TOUR and the other tours, and I certainly hope they will be, I think were they not adopted it would cause a great deal of stress in the game, which it doesn't need right now," Ridley explained.