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USGA and R&A float tour-only limits on ball, driver and club length
Golf's rule-makers have asked manufacturers for feedback on three optional Model Local Rules for elite events, including a tighter ball test and a lower driver CT limit. Your own kit is not affected.
The USGA and The R&A have sent equipment makers a notice outlining three possible Model Local Rules for the professional game, and they want answers by 21 October 2026.
All three are optional. The Rules of Golf for everyone would stay as they are; a tour or tournament organiser could choose to switch the new rules on. The PGA Tour and the DP World Tour asked for the options in the first place, according to Golf Digest. Golf Monthly notes that the proposal puts “bifurcation”, separate equipment rules for pros and everyone else, back on the table after years of the governing bodies insisting on one set of rules for all.
The three proposals
1. A stricter ball test. Balls used under the local rule would have to fly no further than 317.0 yards on the governing bodies’ test. Today there is a three-yard tolerance on top of that figure, so the change effectively removes the wiggle room that lets balls creep up to around 320 yards.
2. Less spring in the driver face. The limit on a driver’s Characteristic Time (CT), the measure of how flexible the face is, would be set at 239 microseconds, with the current 18-microsecond tolerance taken away. At present, heads can test as high as 257 before they are ruled non-conforming.
3. Shorter clubs. The maximum length for every club except the putter would drop below the current 46 inches. The exact number has not been set yet, and GOLF.com notes the idea is partly to head off future experiments with extra-long drivers.
The earliest these could be used is the start of the 2028 season.
After the paused rollback
In June the governing bodies paused the plan to bring in the golf-ball rollback for elite players, after talks with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. These three local rules would be available sooner, while talks on the rollback continue. The recreational side of the rollback is still set for January 2030, according to Golf Digest.
GOLF.com reports the average PGA Tour driving distance this year is 306 yards, three up on 2025, while Golf Digest says the field averaged 315.9 yards off the tee at this year’s U.S. Open, about five yards clear of the previous record. GOLF.com adds that two players are averaging more than 330 yards this season.
Fix it on tour, not at the club
We like the logic. If the problem is 330-yard hitters turning classic courses into drive-and-flick exercises, fix it on tour rather than take yards off club golfers, whose drivers and balls would stay legal for competitions and handicap rounds. The drawback is that a rule tours can switch on and off could leave pros using different kit from week to week, and manufacturers building two versions of everything. Feedback is due by 21 October.
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