Golf’s governing bodies announced a new local rule Tuesday that will reduce the maximum length of driver shafts from 48 to 46 inches.
The rule, which goes into effect Jan. 1, will allow the various tours the option to implement a local rule (MLR G-10) that will cap driver length at 46 inches.
This proposal was first announced in February and widely seen as a response to Bryson DeChambeau’s recent distance gains, though the USGA and R&A said that research into the topic first began in 2014. A proposal to limit the length of driver shafts was put forward in 2016 but shelved a year later once the governing bodies dove into the Distance Insights Project.