U Grooves Compliance Testing?

Mike Johnson over at Golfworld blogs on the subject.

At last week's Ginn sur Mer Classic players were greeted with a notice saying the USGA was collecting data on grooves between Monday and Wednesday. The memo went on to explain that a small plastic mold impression would be made on the faces of irons and wedges from a variety of manufacturers. The test would take about eight minutes and not leave a mark on the club. Only 40 sets of irons were tested.

"We were looking for additional information," said USGA senior technical director Dick Rugge, who added the procedure was done in response to manufacturer comments on the anti-bomb 'n gouge proposal to modify groove shape. Indeed, the USGA has spent nearly three years reviewing grooves and their diligence is commendable. But one of the concerns voiced by clubmakers has been that the proposed rule is unenforceable. But Rugge dismissed that an enforcement protocol was the reason for the research. "The measurement work was conducted to collect data, not to practice the measurement technique," Rugge said. Still, if a plastic mold can be taken on site without taking the club apart, it is not difficult to think enforcement could be one step closer.

That means, we do not have all of the pieces put together on this grooves stuff. At least, I think that's what it means if I am reading between the lines correctly.

And, for the first time in the history of me writing about golf - I think - I agree with the manufacturers. Why? This:

Some manufacturers have suggested that instead of implementing a rule right away the USGA should make the groove proposal a condition of competition (putting the groove statute in effect solely for the tour without it actually being added to the Rules of Golf). That would allow time to determine whether or not the proposal would have the desired effect of returning accuracy to the game.

There is no point in implementing a rule of golf without piloting it against the very players it is intended to impact most. We may as well see if bomb and gouge golf is impacted for at least two years on the professional golf tours to see if grooves modifications will produce what us traditionalists are hoping. We will have to see what kind of research the USGA puts out as they gather more data and commentary on their initial research. This may give us a better clue as to what the USGA's final story will be...and that they will stick to as a guide for their decisions.

I personally don't understand the grooves approach and still consider the golf ball to be the culprit. After all, even with all of this good reporting on grooves (lookee here!), the proposal still does not address that players could still crush the ball a lot further than they could 10 or 20 years ago. And that means this proposal would just render gouging more difficult in the long run. It would not address bombing, per se, other than to make players slightly more accurate off the tee and play to medium rough at worst.

I know the manufacturers probably don't want any kind of rollback, but they would certainly stand to benefit most from a grooves rollback given that a lot of our clubs would become instantly illegal. The amateur golfer is always buying golf balls. They are rarely buying golf clubs. Also, the ratio of retail price to actual cost for golf balls is much lower than for golf clubs. That's very cynical, I know, but it is true - at least the second half of the paragraph.