"At some point somebody is going to have to do something. Why not now? What's holding everybody up?"

"At some point somebody is going to have to do something. Why not now? What's holding everybody up?" Slessor adds.

Since another year will pass before the USGA and R&A decide to (maybe) address distance, I was glad to see Tom Pilcher’s piece on the topic and a reminder of my favorite solution: a larger ball. (Thanks to reader Tim for sending.)

That came from European Golf Design’s Jeremy Slessor. FYI, European Golf Design is a collaboration of the European Tour and IMG, so they deal with distance issues, oh, hourly.

"When I started in the design and construction industry in the mid-1980s, we were putting in fairway bunkers at about 230-240 yards. We're now putting them at 300-350 yards," said Slessor, whose company were behind Ryder Cup courses at Celtic Manor (2010), Le Golf National (2018) and Marco Simone (2023).

Slessor spoke highly of the Hong Kong Open, where the 6,700-yard course and its small greens are always a test for the game's best.

And…

"The simple thing is to make the ball bigger. The pros should play that ball, and the manufacturers can use all their research and development to make the longest-flying big ball."

The 'small' ball (1.62 inches in diameter) was barred from competition in 1990, replaced by the standard ball (1.68 inches in diameter).

"At some point somebody is going to have to do something. Why not now? What's holding everybody up?" Slessor adds.

What’s holding everybody up? Fear, placing commerce over the game they are supposed to serve, and general point missing by select committee types who fearfully place commerce over the game they are supposed to serve.

Callaway brought back the Magna ball last year and it’d be worthy of a serious study to determine the impact on average golfers and professionals.