Tour Monitoring Ping Loophole Situation

That's what John Paul Newport reports.

In settling a 1990 lawsuit with Ping, the USGA agreed to treat all Ping Eye 2 clubs built before then as "conforming" in USGA competition in perpetuity. The PGA Tour, which follows USGA rules, said Friday it was aware of the loophole and will "monitor the situation."

Lawyers, rules junkies and other experts: could the PGA Tour insitute a local rule banning the wedges in a way that effectively supersedes the USGA-Ping settlement?

Newport also uses his Saturday column to explain the groove rule change and writes:

But in rolling back existing technology, as with the new groove ruling, the USGA and R&A have entered new territory. One concern is that if the rank and file of golfers object to losing performance characteristics they once enjoyed, and continue to play with nonconforming equipment, the regulators will lose authority. "The only power the USGA has is the consent of the governed," said Frank Thomas, Mr. Rugge's predecessor as the USGA's technical director, "and the game of golf needs a strong governing body."

I'll take this opportunity to suggest that rank and file golfers have never had greater performance characteristics and yet play has been stagnant for years.