As of January 1, 2010 all tour players will need to abide by the USGA’s updated rules regarding the depth of grooves you can have on irons. From their website:

What are the basics of the new groove regulations?   

Although the complete technical specifications of the new groove requirements are more detailed, the following statements summarize the key changes:

• The volume of grooves is reduced.

• Groove edge sharpness is reduced for clubs with lofts greater than or equal to 25 degrees.

A common misconception is that “V” shaped grooves will be required under the new specifications and that “U” shaped grooves will no longer be allowed.  This is not the case.  However, any “U” shaped groove must conform to the new specifications for both cross sectional area/spacing and edge radius.

It’s staggered out more for most of us, top amateurs have until 2014 and everyone else has until 2024. Why does it matter? Deeper, sharper grooves grab the ball and spin it out of the rough. This makes it less of a penalty for good players to hit it in the rough – as they’re able to spin it almost as well out of the rough to stop it on the green as they could from the fairway. We’ve all seen Tiger Woods do this on TV – hit a 6 iron out of the rough from 200 yards and stop it on the first hop.

Here is how I see it impacting the game of golf:

On the tour – I do think we’ll see more players put a premium on hitting the fairway by taking more controlled swings off the tee. However – I also see this really encouraging another major trend right now: the hybrid / rescue club. These clubs are of the same loft of irons, but their structure lends itself to a higher, softer ball flight. This means that as players lay further back to hit the fairway they may find themselves needing to hit something from a long ways out that will still stop on the green: enter the high trajectory hybrid. Another interesting possibility (credit for this goes to Golf Digest) – players will resort to softer balls to get more spin, resulting in less distance off the club. This could lengthen courses back out a bit without having to move tee boxes back.

For average golfers – I think this rule will actually HELP most golfers. That’s right, the rule put in place to roll back performance on the course will actually be a benefit to most average golfers. You see, we all think of spin like we see it on TV – high wedges hit in behind the hole spinning back to within a few feet for a sure tap in birdie. However – spin is not the friend of the average golfer. You see, that 10 yard fade you see when you hit your pitching wedge is also caused by spin — sideways spin. If your grooves aren’t as deep and sharp, you won’t spin it as much, and that wedge you sliced into the bunker this season may just catch the fringe when you change wedges.

How do you see the new groove rule changing golf?

Categories: Golf News

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 10:18 AM and is filed under Golf News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.