Rate it!

1 votes

It's not often that golf club grooves come into the golfing spotlight, but late on Tuesday night a decision on grooves was made which will change the professional game for good.

That's because the US Tour decided they would embrace the R&A and USGA's new regulations - something which was in doubt until the 11th hour - and introduce a ban on players using so-called box grooves as of next season.

For the benefit of those not possessing a PhD in impact physics, box grooves help clubfaces grip the ball significantly better from the rough than old-fashioned v-grooves, since they channel more debris away from the ball.

They give players roughly 60 or 70 per cent more spin from the rough than they would otherwise get, allowing them - so the theory goes - to smash the ball as hard as they like from the tee, knowing that they'll be able to hit a perfectly good approach shot even if they miss the fairway.

This is not conjecture: it's a fact that over the last 10 years, the statistical correlation between driving accuracy and overall success has completely disappeared.

Missing the fairway used to make golf substantially more difficult. The best players of the 80s - Greg Norman, for example, or Nick Faldo - were also invariably among the most accurate.

Those who weren't accurate - like Seve Ballesteros - made up for their shortcoming with exceptional recovery play and miraculous short game ability.

Recently, though, the combination of balls which fly further and grooves which help spin the ball better has led to players bombing drives as hard as they can and then relying on their wedges to get them out of trouble.

It's not that being in the rough is no penalty at all - it still makes things harder - but with the way things are, hitting the green after finding the rough is much easier, making the potential benefit of being 20 yards closer a risk worth taking.

And if you're really close to the green, then a wedge out of the rough is much better than a seven-iron from up the fairway.

This 'bomb and gouge' golf, as it's become known, can be spectacular - but it's also one-dimensional and diminshes skill, like using long ball tactics in football or relynig solely on a huge serve in tennis.

Yet there's no doubt that like long ball or big serving, it's incredibly effective: at the 2004 Grand Slam of Golf, for example, Phil Mickelson shot a round of 59 in which he hit just five fairways.

The idea of a ban on these grooves is an attempt to bring back some of the lost skill element. As such, it's something which threatens the way modern professional golfers approach the game - and not surprisingly, many US Tour players (no to mention club manufacturers) tried to block the change of regulations, which had originally come from the R&A and the USGA.

But the players, and the Tour, have backed down, and as of next year their members will no longer be permitted to use the contentious grooves.

It's unlikely that players will risk not being able to get enough spin, incidentally: instead, they will use softer balls which spin significantly more, in order to give them the best chance of controlling the ball from the rough.

And that will have an added benefit, since it will go a little way to tackling the excessive distances which are rendering some of the best golf courses in the world obsolete.

Softer balls are also harder to control, and don't fly as far. The excessive distances currently achievable with modern equipment will be rolled back slightly, and the more skilful players - i.e. those able to control the ball's spin more effectively - will enjoy greater advantage over their less-skilled colleagues than has been the case.

The groove technology levelled the playing field for lesser players, pandering to the lowest common denominator on Tour.

Getting rid of it is a great move for the good of the game - and an even better move for the R&A and USGA, who have shown that they do still have the power to change the game when they put their minds to it.

Because while the groove changes are relatively subtle, they show determination to keep the game true to its sprit, and stop it becoming a long driving contest.

Moreoever, the fact that they've managed to force the changes through - despite grumbling Tour pros and the ever-present threat of litigation by manufacturers - is a huge relief to those who thought that the guardians of the game had lost all power. The new regulations are, if you'll pardon the pun, the thin end of the wedge.

There is one footnote to add: one player on the US Tour already plays with the sort of very high-spin golf ball that the other players will likely use next season.

That player is Tiger Woods, who already uses soft balls. He alone already sacrifices a few yards for the sake of having more control.

So come January next year, Tiger will enjoy a massive advantage over many of his peers in that he'll not have to make so much of an adjustment to the new gear.

If ever the great man is going to pick up a calendar Grand Slam - the achievement he covets more than any other in the game of golf - then maybe that extra little edge might just help him on his way.

Watch the AT&T National LIVE from 8pm on Thursday and Friday and 6pm on Saturday and Sunday on British Eurosport 2 (Sky 411 / Virgin Media 525); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe.

Bunker Mentality / Eurosport