CARNOUSTIE, Scotland _ Better golf through technology?
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club wants to make sure that doesn't get out of hand. The R&A confirmed reports that it has randomly tested the drivers of 30 golfers playing in the British Open to make sure they conform to standards. In that group were seven major champions, including Brooks Koepka and Keegan Bradley.
It's not unusual for the R&A to test clubs, but the random testing is new.
"We take our governance role very seriously, not just on the rules of golf and amateur status, but also equipment standards, and we felt it was an appropriate next step to more actively seek to test players' drivers straight out of the bag," said Martin Slumbers, R&A chief executive.
The R&A and U.S. Golf Association are working together on a distance insight project to determine whether improved technology is affecting the game in a negative way.
Slumbers said that, as it was a year ago, the R&A is still "concerned where the preliminary numbers were going, and that our concern was based upon ... whether the balance between skill and technology for the recreational game and the elite game was appropriate."
He added: "Golf is a game of skill, and long may it remain being a game of skill."
