Masters 2018: Why Augusta power games will not just be on the course

At Augusta, the views of the modern generation of elite players will be presented via their tours. Rory McIlroy is the UK’s biggest hitter and feels sorry that many layouts have been rendered obsolete for elite competition.

“Some golf courses can’t stage the big events and that’s a shame because some of the old traditional golf courses are the best and have the best architecture,” the Northern Irishman told BBC Sport.

But he is proud of the prodigious distances he is able to generate and does not feel the golf ball travels too far. “I feel like being able to hit a long, straight drive is the same as being able to hole a six-foot putt under pressure,” McIlroy added.

“It’s a skill at the end of the day. If someone like me who is 5ft 9in and 73kg can hit the ball the same distance as a Dustin Johnson, who is 6ft 4in and is 20 or 30 kilos heavier than me, then everybody has the opportunity to do it.

“I pride myself on the fact that I hit the ball a long way for quite a small frame. It’s something that I’ve worked on, just like I’ve worked on my short game and my putting. It’s a skill that I’ve developed.”

The European Tour is known to be vehemently opposed to any move to dial back the ball and the PGA Tour has shown no desire for such a move.

“We’ve had conversations that precede Augusta,” Monahan said. “I know we are planning to have Mike Davis of the USGA to our player advisory council meeting in May and they will address our players.”

For ordinary amateurs, modern technology makes the game more appealing. The average male drive flies 208 yards, eight yards longer than two decades ago, while women average 146 yards off the tee.

So one option is bifurcation – separate rules for elite golfers and humble hackers. But that destroys one of golf’s central tenets: that it is the same sport played at every level.

Interestingly, though, a precedent is on its way. The newly published rule changes governing out of bounds include a more relaxed approach under a local rule for amateurs.

Is this the thin end of the bifurcation wedge, paving the way for a more radical dual approach to the game’s governance of distance?

It is possible, but any such move faces genuine hostility. The PGA of America, which runs the US Ryder Cup team and looks after the country’s club professionals, published a survey calling for the status quo to remain.

It invited its members to vote on three topics in the wake of the distance report.

Some 68% said they did not think distance increases are detrimental, 81% believed golf ball technology has been beneficial and 70% would oppose rolling back distances.

“Do you really think the rules-makers could make changes without the support of the main tours and the likes of the PGA of America? I don’t think so,” a very highly placed source at the European Tour told me.

“It’ll be at Augusta where we start to thrash all of this out.”

For those who feel courses are too long, that golf takes too much time to play, expanded land is too expensive to maintain and the art of shot-shaping has been lost, a rollback of the ball is vital.

But those who sell the game on its athleticism and the wow factor of the mighty hitting of McIlroy and Johnson take a different view.

David Abeles, chief executive of TaylorMade, says his company “opposes any potential rollback of product performance or bifurcation of the rules in any form as we believe these movements will be detrimental to the game at every level”.

That view is echoed by rival firm Titleist. “Our analysis of the 2017 Distance Report affirms that the USGA and R&A have effective regulations in place to ensure the game’s health and sustainability,” said its boss David Maher.

With the sporting world watching, golf will present itself in rude health at next week’s Masters. The storylines are fascinating.

But beneath the surface, remember the big question marks over its future sustainability. It is why the power games will not just be on the course at Augusta.