Remembering What The Tour Is Dealing With, John Solheim Edition

It's been suggested by PING that they warned the USGA and PGA Tour of the potential for a groove rule debacle on several occasions. Those were private letters, but in CEO John Solheim's lengthy, rambling and at times bizarre June, 2009 statement voicing opposition to the grooves, he did not warn of any potential oddities with interpretation of the rules.

He did, however, offer some really strange excuses for shelving the groove rules and they are worth reading to better understand how complicated the USGA and PGA Tour's negotiation over the 20-year-old settlement with PING could become.

Oh, and in light of the ebay sale of PING wedges, Solheim certainly got it wrong about resale value:

7. What happens to hundreds of millions of "Used" golf clubs - which have always been an important asset in golf. I believe it is important to many golfers, particularly PING customers, that their used clubs maintain a great trade-in value, often for twenty or more years. I am concerned that declaring that hundreds of millions of previously approved clubs will later be non-conforming will impact the resale value of those clubs. It is wrong to diminish the value of these previously approved clubs purchased by hardworking men and women simply because a few Tour pros (who get their clubs for free) seem to complain that "golfers today have it too easy."