“You know Augusta National is going to be the real linchpin when it comes to distance, don’t you?”
I heard that sentence, or at least a version of it, several times during conversations with equipment makers after the U.S. Golf Association and R&A announced they wanted to explore new Model Local Rules that could reduce distance at the elite levels. Those two organizations want to potentially modify how they test golf balls too.
The USGA and the R&A are the governing bodies of golf. They make the rules, set the equipment standards and oversee the handicap system. They research the sustainability of soil and grasses, report on the environmental impacts of the game, study ways to improve the pace of play and host tournaments worldwide, including the U.S. Open and British Open.
But the Augusta National Golf Club will also play a critical role because its reach has expanded beyond Washington Road and Old Berckmans Road. These days, Augusta National awards invitations to the Masters to the Asian Pacific Amateur Championship and the Latin American Amateur Championship winners, so its influence is felt in those regions. It hosts the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship, which has quickly become one of the most coveted amateur titles in golf and the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals on the Sunday before the start of the Masters.
The club is also home to the most influential course in the world. With all due respect to the Old Course at St. Andrews, the universally acknowledged home of golf in Scotland, the most influential course in the world is in Georgia. Since Dr. Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones transformed Fruitland Nurseries into a golf course that opened in 1932, it has been revered.
Only a privileged few get to play on the holy ground, but tens of millions of people see it every year on TV and think, “Now that is what a great golf course is supposed to look like.” The green fairways are lush and devoid of weeds, the edges of the bunkers are…
Source : yahoo
