USGA Testing Rolled Back Balls On Canadian Tour's Finest?

Tim Campbell reports that the USGA may be preparing to do some testing with the rolled-back balls submitted for testing by manufacturers in an unofficial Canadian Tour gathering. It'll be a rigorous amount of data to collect, but I'm sure over one round they'll get the answer: everything is A-okay!

Asked about an unofficial upcoming dialed-back ball day, Tour deputy director Dan Halldorson threw up his hand like a stop sign last week during the Players Cup at Pine Ridge. He said he couldn't speak about it.

What we do know is that the Tour, after one of its events next month, is going to have a couple dozen of its players come back on a Monday for some research.

They'll play in what could be termed a one-day tournament. It might be better termed a lab experiment, and they'll all play with the same kind of golf ball -- one of these less-zippy models.

Word is these "prototype" balls will be anywhere from 10 to 20 per cent shorter, with the 20 per cent figure applying only to the hardest-hit and longest shots from the driver.

The group of pros will include Wininpeg's Adam Speirs. They will have just played a 72-hole tournament and will have assembled a good diary of information about distances and clubs hit.

But just one round with the rolled back ball? Really?