What Is Delaying The Distance Insights Project?

Originally slotted in for this fall, then pushed to year’s end and now scheduled for release February 4, 2020, the USGA and R&A’s position paper on what distance has meant to the game needed another three months.

Why another delay?

After all, it’s not expected that the report will provide a prescription to restore certain skills or to slow down distance. Instead, the report is expected to piece together data and insights from all sectors of the game while considering the role of a technological expansion and skill.

The delay is unfortunate given the growing groundswell demanding we have a discussion about how the elite game is played. Plenty more want to know if the governing bodies feel a need to cap or contract the scale of the sport in some way. While the percentages are still small, I’ve never sensed the sport was more open to the discussion. Particularly as an increasing number sees a bloated game due to the needed to maintain 18 holes.

Either way, any changes will not be implemented quickly, so the longer they drag this out, the harder it is to understand what the end game might be. We’ll have to wait another three months to see if there is an actual end game, or just new forms of procrastination.