Pushback on Grooves change . . .

[Rob Rigg]

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2009/6/24/if-there-are-enough-rumblings-it-wouldnt-be-out-of-the-realm.html

Interesting tweet from Mr Shackelford

Pretty late to be pushing back - no?

Man, I was sooo looking forward to this - bring back the skill and a softer ball with more spin for the pros!

[Phil_the_Author]

It makes me VERY tempted to enter U.S. Open qualifying next year and then challenge every professional playing and demand that they be disqualified for using illegal equipment.

I say let the PGA Tour NOT adhere to the new rules and I BEG the USGA to stand up to them and enforce them for the Open!

[PCCraig]

Rob-

I think this is going to dramatically change the game for many of the players on the Tour. The younger guys who have never used anything but the new grooves are going to either have to switch to a high spin/less distance ball or have one hell of a touch around the greens to keep their low spin balls and new grooves.

Many players are going to have to start thinking twice before firing at the pins and shortsiding themselves if they miss.

[JohnV]

I hope the PGA Tour doesn't wimp out on this.  I'm sure that, if they do, the USGA will almost assuredly go along with them for the Open.  While the USGA sets the rules, they do tend to go along with the tours at the Opens on some things, which is why they still use the older form of pace of play enforcement at the US Open.  They don't want to force the players to learn a new system or get new clubs just for one event.

[Jim Franklin]

I see no problem with square grooves. Let the club companies work their technological magic to help my game and I am fine with that. So what if Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson can spin a ball from the rough.

[PThomas]

I see no problem with square grooves. Let the club companies work their technological magic to help my game and I am fine with that. So what if Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson can spin a ball from the rough.

Hi Jim

i have to disagree with you here....i think that square grooves lessen the value of hitting one's ball in the fairway...shouldnt a player be rewarded if he hits the fairway?

[Garland Bayley]

Posted to Geoff's site.

Notice that some of the manufacturers have begun to provide three piece balls for slower swing speeds. Bridgestone is the obvious example as they have been promoting this for a while. What does this mean? Some slower swing players benefit in distance by increased spin off the long clubs. I haven't been following that closely, but do the ball offerings go so far as to offer such spin? If so, there it is. The tour ball that will spin off of V grooves.

It would be enormously funny to me if the tour pros ended up using the ball originally targeted at us old folks.

[Mike Benham]

a.) Does anyone think the grooves change will effect the way courses are set-up for tournaments?

b.) Will Mike Davis set-up a US Open course different?

c.) Will any superintendent change the way the routinely maintain their course, the length of rough, the width of fairways because of the grooves change?

[Chuck Brown]

a.) Does anyone think the grooves change will effect the way courses are set-up for tournaments?

b.) Will Mike Davis set-up a US Open course different?

c.) Will any superintendent change the way the routinely maintain their course, the length of rough, the width of fairways because of the grooves change?

a.) Many of us have presumed, for as long as the gorrve rule has been proposed, that it was a roundabout way to get tour players to demand spinnier balls from their sponsors, and that distance on tee shots would be thereby reduced.  So yeah, course set-ups could change.  We might see a self-imposed distance rollback by the players.

b.) I think Mike Davis would probably say, "Every Open course requires different individual decisions.  I won't do things the same way at Merion and at Oakmont.  Torrey Pines is different from Pinehurst."

c.) Most superintendents at most recreational golf courses will have no reason to do anything differently.  Because the groove rule has little application to recreational players.  They aren't good enough to know the difference.  They weren't 'obsoleting' their home courses, as tour players and top amateurs were.

[Jim Franklin]

I see no problem with square grooves. Let the club companies work their technological magic to help my game and I am fine with that. So what if Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson can spin a ball from the rough.

Hi Jim

i have to disagree with you here....i think that square grooves lessen the value of hitting one's ball in the fairway...shouldnt a player be rewarded if he hits the fairway?

Good for you. I find it enjoyable watching the tour guys control it from the rough as well. Plus, I don't hit that as many fairways as apparently you do so I need the help. I see nothing wrong with technology helping golfers out. More people are quitting this game because it is too hard not because it is too easy. The tour guys make it look easy and that is a credit to them.

[Doug Siebert]

Jim,

Apparently you are under the misapprehension that golf is supposed to be an easy game, where the player should be able to lean on his equipment to overcome his shortcomings as a player.  I for one think that golf is supposed to be challenging and should be about one's skills (or lack of skills) and choosing different equipment (other than getting properly fit with the correct length clubs etc.) should not affect the results of one's shots in any material way.  If you can't stop the ball on the green when you hit into the rough then you should either not hit into the rough, learn to hit it really high so you don't need spin to stop it, or figure out a good bailout place where you can get it up and down from and play there.

BTW I probably hit fewer fairways than about any 5 handicap you've ever seen so it isn't because I'm always playing from the center of the fairway that I say this.  Far from it! (pun intended)  BTW, my irons are actually so old they have V grooves because that's all there was back then   Not because I refused to buy U grooves on moral grounds or anything crazy like that, just because I'm too lazy to go through the work of testing out new irons and finding ones I like the feel of.

I'm so sick of the way technology is slowly by steadily taking the skill out of the game.  Before metal woods, it used to be that the ability to hit a driver well at all was the mark of a reasonably accomplished player, but its a complete joke now with the 460cc clubheads, that's by far the easiest club in the bag to hit for both good players and 30 handicappers.  If you don't believe the latter, watch some hackers sometime they can at least make solid contact with that huge clubhead off the tee (even if it may go some crazy direction because they their swing won't allow them to square the face)  Once off the tee when they start trying to hit reasonable clubhead sized woods or irons they are topping and chunking their way to the green!  With the modern ball there's much less skill required for driving into the wind, you can hit a mile into the air and still get quite reasonable distance - I know, I've never been able to hit my driver low as used to be required and the new ball completely covered up that flaw in my golfing skill set!

Now the pampered pros are whining because golfers with actual shotmaking skills like Tiger are going to have a greater advantage over the huddled masses who just let technology do the work for them when they are hitting out of the rough.  Cry me a river!