Reducing driving distances: Golf's great debate over the introduction of a new ball has taken a surreal twist after it emerged that the game's governing bodies have produced a larger ball in an effort to solve problems caused by the greater distances achieved by the modern player.

After years of speculation in golfing circles that the Royal & Ancient (R&A) and the United States Golf Association (USGA) were involved in a search for a so-called "magic ball", Steve Otto, a former Nasa scientist now working in the R&A's research department in St Andrews, confirmed yesterday that scientists at the USGA headquarters in New Jersey have produced a wide range of experimental balls aimed at reducing driving distance.

"We wanted to see if there was a magic ball out there," he says. "People thought there might be a solution out there that would keep the game the same but also address this question of distance.

"We looked at making a bigger ball and a lighter ball, we looked at balls made from different rubbers and at balls with different dimple patterns," Dr Otto said, adding some experiments were more successful than others.

"The larger ball was not a great triumph. The difficulty with a much larger ball is that it floats, so if you hit your golf ball into a water hazard then it's moving on by before you get to it."

In the end, the governing bodies were forced to concede there was no such thing as a "magic ball", and asked leading manufacturers to produce "rolled back" balls which fly 15 yards and 25 yards shorter than current balls. So far only two manufacturers have complied. Their balls are undergoing testing by the USGA as part of a research project into the possible introduction of a new ball.

The outcome of that project is eagerly awaited by those who argue that the modern ball is largely responsible for the prodigious distances achieved by professionals, rendering many of the game's great courses obsolete.

The ball manufacturers, on the other hand, are vehemently opposed to the introduction of a new ball, insisting that other factors, including the greater athleticism of the modern player, are responsible for the greater distances.

The R&A and the USGA have publicly maintained there is no need for a new ball. But some administrators are believed to support change.

News that the two bodies have produced their own experimental balls will be unwelcome to the manufacturers, for whom a new ball might have enormous commercial significance.