Kapalua, Day One Groove Comedy

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I've only caught a few minutes of the SBS Championship from Kapalua and it happened to be after Kelly Tilghman and Nick Faldo started talking about grooves. Kelly reported that she was subjected to a USGA briefing in which they were told how driving accuracy has not correlated to money won but armed with less spinny-grooves, the USGA believes players will have to be a lot more accurate off the tee this year if they want to enjoy success.

Faldo went on about how giddy he was at this development, then Frank Nobilo chimed in with some comments about the impact being greater around the greens as Bo Van Pelt was trying to get up and down on No. 8. That was followed by Mark Rolfing's thoughts on how different things will be.

Cut to Angel Cabrera pulling out driver and having a go at the 398-yard par-4 sixth.

"Most of the issues we've had could have been solved by better agronomy. Trust me."

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Thanks to reader Brad for making sure we didn't miss Paul McGinley's insights into grooves and the possible impact of this year's rule change. McGinley is one of the players I'd most trust to offer perceptive reasoning on the change and how it will impact play. Dermot Gilleece does the reporting and features extensive comments from the possible future Ryder Cup captain. Highlights:
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"The new standard golf ball has eliminated from the top-notch ranks the mechanical golfer of the past and the skilled shotmaker will now reap his deserved reward"

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I know many of you are tired of hearing about grooves already and you've got nerfs lined up to toss at the television for every announcer declaring a non-spinning shot to be a product of the rule change.

But (A) it beats talking about Tiger and (B) it will be fun to see if the as-advertised impact on skill and power will really happen. It's also fascinating because this is a fairly unprecedented rollback. Oh, and (C) have you seen the field list for Kapalua? Grooves look darn interesting in that context!

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"If we play with a golf ball that is 10 percent rolled back and we used to hit it 300 yards, now we're hitting it 270 yards. Well, fans that come to a tour event are not going to be impressed by that."

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Phil Mickelson's comments to E. Michael Johnson about equipment in the new Golf World prove short-sighted and frankly, disappointing.

What do you think of two sets of rules on equipment?

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"It'll be a change, but it's not like you're going to watch something different next year."

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Rex Hoggard is at the Disney event and does some research on the grooves issue. Early conclusion? Too early to tell for the most part since manufacturers have been slow to ship conforming clubs to players.

The new rule applies to all clubs, but most players already play conforming grooves in their irons. The only adjustment for the lion’s share of Tour players will be in their wedges and most agree the impact will be negligible.

From fairway lies, tests indicate a Tour player gets 3 to 4 percent less spin with the conforming grooves, which are smaller than the old grooves and not as sharp along the edges. “You really can’t tell the difference,” said Heath Slocum, who put the new wedges in play at the Frys.com Open. “Maybe a foot of extra roll on the greens. I couldn’t tell any difference.”

From the rough, however, there is a tendency for the ball to roll up the clubface, creating a shot with less spin that comes out higher than players are used to.

“You’re going to see players go to wedges with less loft,” said Todd Anderson, the swing coach for Charles Howell III and Charles Warren. “A guy will go from 60 (degrees) to 56 (degrees) to control shots better.”
Touch shots from the first cut of rough are also a concern for some players.

“From 80 yards out of the rough it’s going to be tough to control,” said Warren, who is 144th in earnings and did not switch to the new grooves at Disney as he attempts to break into the top 125 and secure his ’10 Tour card.

David Dusek offers this analogy from Davis Love:

But anyway, it'll be a change, but it's not like you're going to watch something different next year. It's like watching Talladega with a tiny bit smaller restrictor plate. To us fans it looked like the same race. It was just a little bit slower, but it looked like the same race. 
It's going to look like the same race next year. You just might see one ball roll a little bit farther on a chip and it'll just be because a guy played a different shot.

Taylor Made Appealing USGA Wedge Ruling

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Jim Achenbach reports on Taylor Made's struggle to get its "exchangeable face technology" wedges approved by the USGA.

Frankly, I'm just shocked that a wedge where you the owner can easily exchange face plates from conforming to non-conforming grooves would cause a problem. Shocked!

TaylorMade immediately appealed the USGA decision, and chief technical officer Benoit Vincent traveled to USGA headquarters in Far Hills, N.J., in October to present his case. Vincent said he would discuss the wedges after Nov. 9, when a ruling on the appeal is expected.

The wedges, from 50 to 64 degrees, are scheduled for release early next year. A face plate can be removed and replaced in a few minutes, using the same torque wrench designed for TaylorMade drivers.

Equipment appeals are heard three times per year by the USGA, during regularly scheduled meetings of the Executive Committee and the Equipment Standards Committee.

TaylorMade’s argument is simple: Golf club manufacturers are allowed to produce wedges with larger, aggressive grooves during 2010, so TaylorMade should be allowed to sell face plates with the same grooves during the same period.