But that’s not why I’m writing. Greg Norman recently finished his press conference and I think what he had to say regarding grooves might interest you. He wasn’t even asked about grooves. He was asked if he felt he had another great championship in him and he offered up this:
“To be honest with you, I’m looking forward to St. Andrews, before I even tee it up tomorrow, because I really think St. Andrews, the way it played a couple of years ago, suits my [game], especially with the new groove technology coming in next year. I think the younger generation have never experienced it, don’t have a clue as to what is going to happen to their games. . . . When you go to the British Open where you can’t spin the ball as much, the whole game of golf is different. Andy North said yesterday to both Tom [Watson] and I, ‘You guys should both start playing more golf because you know in the early part of next year when the guys are trying to make the adjustment, the more experienced players are going to have an advantage over the younger players because of their lack of control over the golf ball. So I look forward to that more than I do this year.”
The Shark seems to be sounding a bell that the grooves situation is going to have more impact than many players believe. Those we have spoken have mostly taken a matter-of-fact approach, saying they will figure it out. But when a man of Norman’s smarts and experience talks, I tend to listen. Still, I’m not so sure all of a sudden the David Toms’, Davis Love III’s and others in their 40s are going to be cleaning up on tour next year while the young guns fall off the map. An adjustment? To be sure. But it’s not an insurmountable one for these guys. Or is it?
GOUGE: You deserve a month's worth of golf on the Scottish or Irish coast. But next time, I want to get a spot on the travel team.
Let me tell you a story about grooves that Terry Dill relayed to me as we were working on an article on grooves that will appear in the September issue of Golf Digest. Dill, who's played professional golf for five decades and is still coaching and teaching in the Austin, Texas area, believes the rule change will mean a return to the unpredictable flyer lie. He thinks that will be great for golf, and he agrees with Norman that many young players might not understand what they're getting into. Dill went to Colonial earlier this year for the Crowne Plaza Invitational and talked with dozens of players about the new rule. One was the original Bomb & Gouger, J.B. Holmes, who told Dill: "I am looking forward to the change. I played V grooves through college. I believe the change will help me overall."
Fair enough, thought Dill. Then he watched as Holmes played the 565-yard par-5 1st hole at Colonial. "He had just hit a 320-yard drive, about 15 yards into the light rough. I looked at his lie and determined that the ball was sitting up but with some grass behind it. It was a classic 'shooter' lie. He hit a high 5- or 6-iron about 220 yards right into the middle of the green and it stopped in about four feet. From my experience, that ball with V-grooves might have flown 20-25 yards farther, which would have put his ball almost on No. 2 tee."
The whole point of the groove exercise is to return a relatively extreme (not crippling, mind you) advantage to hitting the ball in the fairway. What the less effective grooves might mean for some is a measure of uncertainty. I think if you think you know what's going to happen with this new rule, whether you're Greg Norman or J.B. Holmes, you either have an unusually large sense of your ability to predict the future or you ought to be using that talent to rake in money on Wall Street and/or Las Vegas.
But I also think this could happen: The old-timers like Norman and Dill might be overestimating the effect. First, let's not forget that the standard was softened slightly from its original guidelines. Second, let's also realize that many tour pros will have the opportunity to have their grooves milled into the face at the most precise measurements, which could give them a slight advantage over the grooves in the investment cast irons sold to the general public. Third, the golf ball is not the golf ball of Norman's day or Dill's day. It's much better aerodynamically. It will be interesting if similar lies next year will produce results that Norman and Dill are remembering from back in the day. I have seen testing that shows a range of differences between prototype grooves and current grooves in terms of spin and distance. I do not see a consistent pattern that a player can point to and rely on every time from every lie in the light rough.
And I guess that's the point of the change, isn't it?
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