Mickelson shelves controversial wedge

Phil Mickelson has bowed to pressure from the media and fellow pros and shelved plans to continue using the Ping Eye2 wedge that led to accusations of cheating – but only for the moment.

Mickelson is firmly of the opinion that the new USGA rule is ridiculous but feels his point has been made. The player has now called on the loophole to be addressed one way or another, but hopes that other players will continue to use the club in order to keep the issue in peoples’ focus.

Mickelson is one of five players to have used the wedge in competition in 2010 but is by far the most high-profile, and his use of the Ping Eye2 led fellow pro Scott McCarron to claim Mickelson and those who used the wedge to get around USGA rules were cheating. McCarron has since withdrawn any accusation.

McCarron isn’t alone with his thoughts either, and there are several players on the tour who believe the use of the wedge is against the spirit of the USGA’s intention in bringing in the new guidelines.

The whole furore surrounds the issue of the Ping Eye2 having grooves which under USGA guidelines are illegal, but are also subject to a lawsuit by Ping which does allow their use and so supercedes the USGA rules.

Mickelson takes advantage of grooves loophole

Phil Mickelson, amongst others, has taken advantage of a legal loophole surrounding the USGA’s new regulation that bans square grooves on irons and instead insists on ‘V’ grooves. ‘Lefty’ has got round the regulations by putting an old Ping-Eye 2 lob wedge in his bag.

Eagle-eyed golfers and equipment experts will no doubt be aware that the Ping-Eye 2 strictly doesn’t adhere to the USGA regulations as it has square grooves. However, the Ping-Eye 2 doesn’t fall within the guidelines as Ping have a longstanding lawsuit against the USGA which was settled 20 years ago and states that any Ping-Eye 2 made prior to 1st April, 1990 is allowed.

Mickelson isn’t alone in using the Ping-Eye 2 wedge. John Daly, who collects Ping-Eye 2s in recent months used one in Honolulu earlier in the season, as did Dean Wilson. Brad Adamonis and Hunter Mahan also have played Ping-Eye 2 wedges in recent tournaments.

Mickelson had several wedges from when he played Ping clubs at Arizona State as a freshman. He and he had Callaway – his current club manufacturer – bend from a 60-degree to a 64-degree club.

Some pros, have however, criticised Mickelson and other players who have adopted Ping-Eye 2 wedges as violating the spirit of the rule and gaining an unfair advantage. Mickelson has defended himself by claiming he has submitted groove designs that are legal according to USGA specifications but have been declined for play.

Mickelson has discussed the issue with the PGA and USGA, so, while they might not meet USGA guidelines the Ping-Eye 2 is indeed a legal club and fair game for him – and others- to use, providing they can find them, as Ping are unable to reproduce the pre-1990 design.

Cink has new groove regulations taped!

With one eye on the USGA’s upcoming rule change regarding the grooves found on iron clubs, British Open champion Stewart Cink developed a novel method of practising by indulging in an experiment with his wedges.

While waiting for a new set of clubs to arrive which conform to the new guidelines, Cink reacked for a roll of duct tape and used it to cover the club heads in order to practise with clubs which produced much less spin than normal – and he didn’t like it!

Little wonder, as it turned out there was no spin at all! According to Cink, he played a full round of golf with the duct tape applied, as well as practicing with the clubs for a week in order to see what it was like with no spin. In his own words: “it was really not fun to play golf that way.”

Cink also figured that using the duct tape would make him feel like the new wedges would produce more spin than they did.

Pat Perez used clubs fitted with the new grooves during Tuesday’s Chevron World Challenge Pro-Am and afterwards stated that golf “was a new game.”

The new regulations apply to clubs manufactured after January 1st, 2010 and is designed to increase the challenge of playing shots into the green by reducing the amount of backspin generated on approach shots. Clubs which currently conform to the existing V-grooves will continue to conform under the new rules, although the new rules do not mandate the use of a V-shape. The new regulations permit club designers to vary the width, depth, spacing and shape of the groove, with irons from number five up to wedges being affected.

The Return of the Flyer: New Rule on Grooves to curtail Backspin

From 1st January 2010, a new V-groove rule will come into effect which will limit the amount of backspin a player can generate with iron shots from the rough.

The rule will be implemented by three associations – the United States Golf Association (USGA), the Royal & Ancient (R&A) and the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA), and has been several years on the drawing board. The rule has been developed to bring back the challenging aspect of playing shots from out of the rough, which Tour officials across the three associations felt was being lost due to players’ ability to stop the ball close to the hole, despite playing from deep rough when missing a fairway.

The change in the rules will affect all iron clubs, but most effected will be the high-lofted clubs and wedges. Currently, most iron clubs have wide U-shape grooves which minimise the effect of grass between the clubhead and ball on impact, in order to ensure the best possible contact.

But while the change in grooves will have little effect on iron shots from fairways, there will be a definite effect on shots played from the rough, says Tiger Woods’ coach, Hank Haney. Haney believes the change will herald the return of the ‘flyer’ – a incidence where enough grass gets between clubhead and ball to prevent sufficient spin being applied, resulting in the ball travelling farther than anticipated.

“When you’re hitting off the fairway, you don’t typically get flyers,” Says Haney. “You can, but you don’t see it too often and especially on the fairways the pros play on because they’re mowed so closely. But when you get in the rough and you get grass between the club and the ball, with less spin possible, all of a sudden that 6-iron you might hit 175 (yards), might now go 200 — 25 yards over the green.”

Haney also believes the rule change will see players switching to a softer ball in order to compensate for the lack of spin; sacrificing distance for accuracy and control.

Several players have already begun to play using irons fitted with the new groove design in order to better prepare for the rule change, although clubmakers will have to work closely with the associations to ensure their grooves conform with the rules. Phil Mickelson has already fallen foul of the regulations after intending to use a prototype set of irons made by Callaway golf at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but was informed by the USGA that the grooves did not meet guidelines laid out by the association.

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