With all the talk this weekend about” Groovegate” and some professional golfers getting called cheaters, I thought I would weigh in on this new groove situation. Do you understand the rule?What is this loophole that Ping is involved in? What does all this mean for the recreational golfer. I will attempt to answer all of these questions as I see it and help to simplify it for all of you players out there in Guru Nation. First off, The new grooves essentially cut down on the amount of spin that a player can create out of the rough. This will put a premium on straighter driving rather than the old “Bomb and Gouge.” The new condition of Competition concerning grooves applies to play on the professional tours and a small selection of other elite tournaments in 2010. For the vast majority of the golf played around the globe, the grooves in your current clubs are authorized by the ruling bodies until at least 2024. So unless you are reading this and are playing a professional tour, you can relax for a bit longer.
THE LOOP HOLE– As you probably already know, The Ping Eye 2 wedges before 1990, are considered legal because of the box groove law suit won be Karsten in 89′. This is what some of the pros have in their bags (namely Mickelson) because they are considered legal for the time being. I think that Mr. Karsten should just go ahead and write the letter allowing the USGA to make these illegal as well, just my opinion (and apparently Johnny Miller as well). Make it equal across the board and lets see who is the best. It was nice to see that Scott Macarron did apologize to Phil about calling him a cheater for using this wedge. He is not using it this week however. It will be interesting to see if and how this changes the game. One thing is for sure, we will see the pros working on there short game and their driving. Here is a picture of the difference in the old and the new grooves to give you a better understanding of what we are dealing with. See you on the lesson tee and oh, don’t forget to breathe.
God Bless,
Guru
The Golf Guru Show 