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Who's saying what about the new grooves?

I hope I live long enough to have to make the switch!

If you buy new clubs 5 years from now they will have the new grooves. 2009 was the last year that they could make clubheads with the old grooves, and 2010 is the last year that they can assemble and sell them. That is, it's the last year for a person who plays by the rules. I can tell you that it just isn't a big deal. My Titleist AP2 irons (I've played them for the last year) already conform, and that includes all of my irons except for my GW and SW.

I can still spin the ball just fine with my AP-2 PW, even with a half swing pitch as long as I have a good lie, so all the fuss is just a lot of anxiety over nothing.

Under the "old rules" the pros were able to hit shots from the rough with square grooved clubs and get good spin on the ball. The V grooves don't impart as much spin as the square ones, so keeping the ball the fairway will become more important.

Mahalo kakou!

It sounds like it's not such a bad thing: We should be penalized for not keeping the ball in the fairway, right?

What's the fuss about some players using the Ping Eye 2 wedges? Are these clubs a loophole in the new rule on tour?

There's a lawsuit out that, due to conditions that I won't comment on, "grandfathers" the Ping Eye 2's made before 01April1990. From my understanding, this is a permanent setting until the USGA, other governing bodies of the golf world & Ping get together and iron (no pun intended) it all out.

As for the players... ... that's an interesting subject what with all the flap going around this past week about the world's #2 carrying & using one. I agree with Phil, though. If it's a legal club, no matter what the reason that makes it a legal club, if it'll help your personal game by all means use it.

i also argree with phill also the usga needs to calm down about it with the new grooves the golf channel said that it is only making a difference 1 to 2 feet of where the ball stops on the green

Bull! They may be saying it, but it's not what I'm seeing so far. I'm seeing flyers sailing over the green, and balls rolling 15 or 20 feet where they used to stop dead or back up. Exactly what should be happening with the new grooves.

If they are just talking about the 60° wedge, then it isn't the USGA that needs to calm down, its Callaway, the media, all of the squawkers on internet golf forums, etc. who need to calm down. The USGA hasn't really said a word about it. There may be some discussions going on behind closed doors, but they haven't been yakking it up like Phil and Callaway have. Phil is finally backing off, and the rest of us need to just sit it out and wait for something concrete to come out the negotiations.

Just FYI... Phil wasn't using a 60° anyway. He has his Eye2 bent to 64°. As far as I'm concerned, if Phil has to use gimmicks like this 20 year old 64° wedge to save his short game, then he isn't the wedge magician that he's always been touted to be.

it looks as though you guys haven't hear the phil isn't goign to be useing the ping anymore. here is an article from espn.

Phil Mickelson pulls disputed wedge out of bag, accepts Scott McCarron's apology - ESPN

A club is either legal or it's not. And Phil's old club is legal. That's not cheating.

I've heard that Phil is not going to use the club now. And I really hope he doesn't sue that fella over those comments.

And I am all for making the game more difficult for the pros. But I don't know what that would be. There are just SO many that are SO good now.

Hey Rick-

In one post you are saying that the new grooves perform about the same as the old, and then in the next post you say that you see flyers all over the place. Are you saying it's not a difference for the recreational player, but that it is for the Pro's? I have yet to try a new wedge, but I don't get a lot of backspin on the ball as it is using square grooves.

I hear on PGA tour network that a lot of players say it's a Huge difference and they have to allow for the runout now. I thought Phil's reason was that he was protesting Callaway being turned down on their new designs? If so that makes sense to me.

Yes. I was talking about my own experiences vs. what the pros are experiencing. When I get a flyer it isn't as exaggerated because I just don't swing the club as hard as the pros do. I used to get low spin and flyers from the rough with the old grooves, so I don't see as much difference from the new ones, and that is going to be the case with most amateurs. We just don't swing as hard or strike the ball as precisely as the pros do. That is one reason why amateurs shouldn't to be all that concerned about the new grooves. The pros are experiencing quite a different result on shots from the rough, and that too is as the USGA had hoped.

When I play a shot from the fairway, there is really no difference at all between the old and the new. I've been playing my Titleists with the new grooves for a year now, and my approach shots stop just as quickly as they ever did with the old grooves.

Don't forget that towards the end of Phil's comments in the press room was that if the USGA & other governing bodies of the golf world couldn't get this whole debacle calmed down & figured out, he would put that club back in play.

I don't have square grooves in my Irons or wedges but does that mean that my V grooves are also non-conforming?

For amateurs, anything that was conforming before now is still conforming. The prohibition on the old grooves is a condition of the competition for the PGA Tour. As casual amateurs we have until 2024 to wear the old clubs out and replace them.