Will The R&A's New Man Tackle The Distance Issue?

With the gradual transition from Peter Dawson to Martin Slumbers about to officially commence and the R&A moving The Open to Sky Sports, there has been a collective question in administrator circles: why has Dawson left his successor so little to do?

Sure, Slumbers could undo the unnecessary new bunkers to the Old Course or get his members to stop waiving their ties at St. Andrews University principal, but most of the big ticket business items that a businessman would tackle are off the table.

After last week's first sitdown with the new man, Golfweek's Alistair Tait wonders if the R&A has cleared the table for Slumbers to tackle the golf ball and distance issue that has, miraculously, not gone away for everyday courses or tournament golf despite the plateau effect repeated pointed to by Dawson. And shockingly, the game has not prospered or even shown signs of stability in the hyper-distance era as predicted largely by those who did not want to take action. 

The R&A recently announced plans for a new equipment testing centre at Kingsbarns. The 22,750-square-foot facility will house the R&A’s Equipment Standards department under the direction of Dr. Steve Otto, director of research and testing at The R&A.

There have been rumblings from St Andrews recently that the R&A is set to do something about the ball. Is that the reason for the new equipment facility?

Could Slumbers be in for a potentially bigger challenge than anything Dawson faced?