'Golf is hot as a pistol' - Donald Trump welcomes pause in ball roll back bid by governing bodies
US President hails announcement by game’s governing bodies as a ‘big victory’
Donald Trump has welcomed a decision by golf’s governing bodies to pause an effort to roll back the golf ball, calling it a “BIG VICTORY”.
In a joint-announcement by The R&A and USGA on Wednesday, it was revealed that a proposed staggered start for the implementation of a roll back had been shelved.
Instead, it has been decided, with backing from the golf industry, that a single-date implementation is now being targeted for 2030.
US President Trump, a huge golf fan who owns two courses in Scotland, praised the decision to pause the efforts to roll back the golf ball in a Truth Social post on Wednesday evening.
"Congratulations to Commissioner Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour, and the Governing Bodies, and also, the Great US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, for a BIG VICTORY where the USGA wanted to roll back the distance of a golf ball, for whatever reason, and now they are precluded from doing so, at least for a long number of years," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
‘It was a ridiculous idea’
"It was a ridiculous idea, that nobody wanted, especially PGA Tour Players, and people that don’t want to go to a course to be told that their drives will be going 20 yards shorter.
“What the USGA should do is agree that, far into the future, they will not allow the current ball to go further. In other words, they will keep the ball the same! The game of golf is ‘hot as a pistol’.
“The last thing we should do is tell people that, for no reason whatsoever, you will not be able to hit a ball as far as you used to. Has anyone ever heard of anything so ridiculous?"
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