With the new groove change I thought I would further clarify the rule change. Below is from the PGA of America and it outlines who the rule change will affect. The change will no doubt put more pressure on the ball manufactures to continue to improve the golf balls spin rate. I personally want to see what happens in the U.S. Open when the rough will be very penalizing. Next week I will report on the new equipment for 2010.
The early weeks of the 2010 PGA Tour season have included considerable discussion about the new groove changes implemented by the USGA (and adopted by other governing bodies, including The PGA of America for its Championships). With that in mind, The PGA wants to ensure that its Professionals are prepared with answers the questions about the changes that are likely to be coming from club members, customers and even fellow Professionals in regards to how they will be affected.
In a nutshell, the impact on PGA Professionals will vary depending upon who they teach, and in what events they play. Let's start with the two main points:
- As you can see in this attached Q&A prepared by the USGA, the vast majority of golfers will not be affected in the slightest. Whether they carry a USGA handicap or not, amateur golfers can continue to play with their current clubs until at least 2024, unless they intend to try to qualify for the U.S. Open, the U.S. Women's Open or the U.S. Senior Open. Furthermore, even if they did switch to the new conforming grooves, most would see little to no difference in shots from the fairway or the tee. The new groove rules are intended to reduce spin on shots from the rough, and it's likely that not many of the amateurs you come in contact with are spinning shots from the rough onto the green very often anyway.
- How the new rules affect PGA Professionals who play in competitive events will depend upon what levels of competition you aspire to. The PGA has adopted the new rules as a condition of competition only for the PGA Championship, the Senior PGA Championship and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, and has recommended their adoption for the 2010 Ryder Cup in Wales. For the foreseeable future, the condition of competition will not be in effect for any of the PGA Member Championships, including the PGA Professional and Senior PGA Professional National Championships, the PGA Winter Championships, the Tournament Series, Junior events and the Playing Ability Test.
Those two points certainly seem to narrow the scope of PGA Professionals who will be directly affected by the rules changes to the following: those who teach elite players who plan to play in events where the new rules are included as a condition of competition; and those who intend to play in those events. Let's look at those two categories first.
Of the former, Joe Hallett, PGA General Manager of the PGA Center for Golf Learning and Performance in Port St. Lucie, Fla., says that due to the rules change on Tour, PGA Professionals who work with elite players are studying changes to strategy, set makeup and swing techniques in order to "find repeatability and reliability" in how the ball reacts once it hits the green.
"Elite players need to know, when they make their swing, is the ball going to hit and spin back a few feet on the green, or is it going to release and run after impact," say Hallett. "Predictability is their goal, and the PGA Professionals working with them might be telling them, 'O.K., when we're coming out of the rough we're not going to fly it past the flag anymore, but rather hit a lower shot that lands short and releases.' The end result may call for a shallower swing plane, a less lofted club or some combination of both."
The main change – and ultimate intention of the new rules – may not be seen in the shots that players hit from the rough, but in the shots they hit before they end up in the rough. "Proper course management will be rewarded and the benefit of simply blasting the ball as far as possible and still being able to control the ball into the green will be marginalized, so teachers, caddies and players collectively are going to be rethinking strategy on many layouts," notes Hallett.
A prime example of the latter, a PGA Professional who will have to contend with the rules change for his own game, is reigning PGA Player of the Year Rick Schuller, a two-time PGA Championship participant who is preparing to play in a Nationwide Tour event this spring. Schuller says the changes should add "another degree of difficulty" to preparing for a professional tour event, but, at age 47, thinks players of his era might initially have an advantage in adjusting to the change because of their familiarity with the V grooves.
"I have many memories of having to read lies carefully before taking a swing, so I'm sure they will come back to me in short order," Schuller says, adding that his sponsor, TaylorMade, has provided him with a set of conforming irons to use in anticipation of playing in upcoming events where they are required (he expects the same will apply to all 20 PGA Professionals who qualify for the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits this August). Still, he echoes Hallett in noting that "you have to put the time in to know how the ball is going to react," and, with wedge shots in particular, "might have to change your trajectory in order to hold greens."
As noted earlier, all PGA Professionals are likely to be asked about the groove changes, and therefore the changes should be viewed as an opportunity to further enhance your position as an expert on all matters relating to the game and business of golf, including equipment issues. In this case, positioning yourself as an expert can also lead to some instant business, as Eric Hogge, PGA Director of Club Fitting at the PGA Center for Golf Learning and Performance, explains.
"The new groove rule has caused quite a stir and confusion for most players," notes Hogge. "The philosophy is to make shots from the rough more difficult to control for the elite player, but the question on the mind of the golf masses is, 'how this is going to effect play for our games at the local level?' The short answer is that it will not affect the average player and the weekend games played with friends. As a club fitter, though, I'm using the opportunity when asked about the grooves to recommend that they change their grips about three times more often than they are currently."
