The best thing I have read regarding the new V-Groove Rule.

[nututhugame]

you have to elaborate Fish. Just how will the grooves do all that? Any player who it will clearly hurt is good enough to change their game to fit.

 

[fisher]

The reason I think the single digit guys will be hurt the most is that they are good enough to take full advantage of the current grooves from out of the rough. No doubt the current grooves are a big advantage to the single digit player.

There is no good way to adjust to a ball coming out of the rough with substantially less spin with V-grooves. If you hit it in the rough you will drop strokes, its as simple as that. From the rough you will be much less likely to land the ball on the green and stop it. You will also have a much more difficult time controlling carry distances from out of the rough.

Something else I just though of. For the casual golfer who shoots 120 on any given day and struggles to get the ball airborn to begin with. What will the effect be on this player's ability to get the ball airborn with V-grooves and reduced spin? Won't the rolled back grooves hurt this player who does not make solid contact or chunks many of his shots? Will this player get frustrated with the game and give it up? I would think any fat shot would be made even worse with V-grooves. Just a thought.

 

[Laser]

At some point we need to change the gear, as that is easier than changing the courses.

It's not a situation that is unique to golf.

Clubs and balls need to be in somewhat correlation to the track.

I should not be driving greens on 315 yd par 4's. Yes it's exciting, but I never use mid irons on many courses any more.

I played Saturday and never touched the 5 or 6 iron.

 

[fisher]

At some point we need to change the gear, as that is easier than changing the courses.

It's not a situation that is unique to golf.

Clubs and balls need to be in somewhat correlation to the track.

I should not be driving greens on 315 yd par 4's. Yes it's exciting, but I never use mid irons on many courses any more.

I played Saturday and never touched the 5 or 6 iron.

I believe the best way to accomplish what you say is by changing the ball or limiting the size of driver heads. Really the game is difficult enough though as it is.

 

[Fourputt]

The reason I think the single digit guys will be hurt the most is that they are good enough to take full advantage of the current grooves from out of the rough. No doubt the current grooves are a big advantage to the single digit player.

There is no good way to adjust to a ball coming out of the rough with substantially less spin with V-grooves. If you hit it in the rough you will drop strokes, its as simple as that. From the rough you will be much less likely to land the ball on the green and stop it. You will also have a much more difficult time controlling carry distances from out of the rough.

Something else I just though of. For the casual golfer who shoots 120 on any given day and struggles to get the ball airborn to begin with. What will the effect be on this player's ability to get the ball airborn with V-grooves and reduced spin? Won't the rolled back grooves hurt this player who does not make solid contact or chunks many of his shots? Will this player get frustrated with the game and give it up? I would think any fat shot would be made even worse with V-grooves. Just a thought.

This sort of illogical rationalization is just nuts. I learned the game with blades with V-grooves. I didn't get frustrated and give up, I just played golf. Everybody who took up the game before me, and for quite a while after me did the same. Golf was steadily gaining in popularity long before Ping started the groove revolution and rolling them back isn't going to make a particle of difference. Golf has been in a decline for a few years now, and the that isn't due to anything much more than players who jumped on the Tiger bandwagon have found that it isn't as easy as it looks. The current state of the economy isn't helping that situation either, but even the fact that the grooves have changed will never even be noticed by 90% of the golfing public.

Addressing the part the I put in bold type: All this will do is put more of premium on course management. Play the shots that keep the ball in play. Play to the correct side of the fairway to give the best angle on your approaches. Learn that being in the rough extracts a price. Good players should be able to make these adjustments. I'm only a 12 handicap and I can make such adjustments, anyone in single digits or better certainly should, or they don't deserve the handicap they carry.

You have to be the most paranoid player I've seen anywhere on any of the DB's I participate in. You start these threads and dogmatically parrot anything that Frank Thomas writes. I've already played with clubs which conform to the new groove configuration and it really, really aint that big a deal.

 

[fisher]

The reason the USGA is making the rule change is to make the scores of better players go up yet you want to deny that it will have an effect on people's scores. To me that is irrational.

I also happen to think the rule change will have a bigger effect on the low handicapper than it will the tour pro. Keep in mind that the tour pro plays this game as a full time job and they have all the manufacturers resources behind them to find ways to overcome the rule change. In the end it may actually be the tour pros who are affected the least. Its the old rule of un-intended consequences.

 

[slickpitt]

I think you guys are giving this groove thing waaaaaaaaaaayyyyy too much credit. I'm willing to bet every one of us won't be able to tell a bit of difference in U or V groove clubs.

 

[nsherman2006]

My grooves are solidly filled with junk because I haven't cleaned my clubs in ages...does that mean my clubs are conforming because they have no grooves?

I know what happened here...I stopped buying clubs, the entire golf industry tanked, taking the rest of the world economy with it. This entire groove controversy was secretly designed by President Obama to ensure that I have to get back into buying clubs to revive the global economy from depression.

It all makes sense now. Does this mean I'm a conspiracy theorist?

 

[eclark53520]

It all makes sense now. Does this mean I'm a conspiracy theorist?

No, that means you forgot to take your meds this morning.

 

[PINGELI]

The first poster stole my thunder . I posted this on Golfwrx and called it the best thing I have seen regarding the groove issue as well.

An easy solution is to grow the rough higher for tournaments. Once you're out of the fairway, make the grass high (increase length of first cut, second, etc). I talked to a PING rep this morning and he said PING (and othe rOEM's are fighting this thing hard). he also said the 2024 deadline is FAR from final and this may get pushed even more or abolished altogether.

 

[TheTrueReview]

... I talked to a PING rep this morning ... he also said the 2024 deadline is FAR from final and this may get pushed even more or abolished altogether.

But will the wedge manufacturers make two lines of wedges from next year? (v grooves for pros & u grooves for us) I think not.

Fisher was correct when he pointed out that us weekend golfers will be punished by a rule aimed at the pros.

 

[Highdraw34]

Making a rule that makes the game harder for amatures is a tremendously retarded idea. I work at one of the busiest golf courses in the country, we do 70k rounds a year. Implementing a rule that will make the game harder will do two things. First it will adversely affect the pace of play. It's simply add more strokes = take more time. Second it will dissuade those people who can only enjoy things they are remotely good at. New golfers who are constantly facing high scores will turn away from the game. With the state of the economy that is bad news. For that reason the USGA should table this idea for the time being. Of all the problems with golf in the world today the scoring of the gifted few is the most miniscule. Worry about growing the game though technology, teaching and improved agronomy practices. This is a head planted firmly in ass decision.

 

[Fourputt]

Have any of you who are doing all the bitching actually played a single stroke with clubs conforming to the new grooves???? I have, and it made absolutely no difference in my game or how well I scored. My current handicap index is 11.3, and using new grooves or old grooves hasn't made any difference at all. All this griping and panic is very premature.

My suggestion is to just hold off on all the whining until you actually have data that applies to your own game to input into the conversation. All this discussion sounds like is Chicken Little telling everyone that the sky is falling. :deadhorse:

 

[xamilo]

Wait until 2012 when the "Y" groove is going to be approved and stop the whining...

 

[TheTrueReview]

Have any of you who are doing all the bitching actually played a single stroke with clubs conforming to the new grooves???? I have, and it made absolutely no difference in my game or how well I scored. My current handicap index is 11.3, and using new grooves or old grooves hasn't made any difference at all. All this griping and panic is very premature.

...

So you've played one round with v grooves?

Perhaps then, your round isn't as relevant to the current argument as you may think (with all due respect).

Relevant factors -

What were the clubs with the v grooves?

Did you only hit shots from the fairway?

Did you hit shots from the rough?

Did you use wedges with v grooves from other than the fairway?

How deep was the rough?

Was the rough wet? (eg. from morning dew etc)

What is the condition of your short game?

What was your final score?