Nicklaus tells USGA, R&A to 'wake up' amid distance debate

Jack Nicklaus begged the USGA and R&A to come up with a solution for golf's distance issue after watching Bryson DeChambeau launch multiple 400-plus-yard drives Thursday morning at Muirfield Village.

"The USGA's got to wake up sooner or later, the R&A," Nicklaus said during the broadcast, according to Golf.com's Dylan Dethier. "They can't keep burying their head with this. They watch TV ... Guys, stop studying and do something, will you please?"

Nicklaus praised DeChambeau for his remarkable transformation into the longest hitter on the PGA Tour even though the 26-year-old hit a 423-yard drive on the first hole at Muirfield, which isn't how Nicklaus envisioned his hole being played.

However, after the completion of the Memorial Tournament, Nicklaus intends to redesign portions of the course in an attempt to make it more difficult for the modern professional, but is aware it will be challenging.

"You can't keep making golf courses longer, you don't have the land," the "Golden Bear" added, according to The Fried Egg. "And the golf ball is such a simple thing to fix."

Nicklaus added he first approached golf's governing bodies 43 years ago about the potential for distance to become an issue, which in turn, would render many traditional courses obsolete.

Here is DeChambeau's drive that sparked Nicklaus' comments: