BOMB: Although I write about golf for a living, I play the same game as most of you -- namely, that I am thoroughly convinced I can buy a better game and because of that, I like to experiment with different equipment in search of that better game. For me, being an equipment editor truly is a dream come true and sometimes the science projects work. A 17-degree 4-wood instead of a 3-wood, a draw driver with an X-flex shaft to combat the cut off the tee--but not too much, and the four wedges spaced at 4-degree increments all have helped shave strokes.

But with that dream comes some nightmares. Because I have more opportunity to dabble with bats and balls than most, I'm also more susceptible to over-thinking it. As I prepared to leave the office Friday for a long weekend in which golf was heavily involved, I saw a 73-degree wedge from Feel Golf propped up against the wall of my cubicle. I started thinking about how a club could come in handy on my home course, Rock Ridge CC in Newtown, Conn., where the greens are often severe and any pitch from a short-sided approach is nearly impossible to get close. So I grabbed the club, put it in my bag and prepared to dazzle my buddies with a short-game display that would be Mickelsonian in nature.

Opportunity came quickly. After airmailing the fourth green, I had a short shot to an elevated green with the pin only some 15 feet on the green. Taking the wedge, I gave it a mighty swing and watched as the ball slid up the clubface and moved all of two inches. Another try advanced it about a foot. Yet another failed to reach the putting surface. Two holes later, a similar situation and a similar result, including a divot the size of Rhode Island flying some 20 times farther than the ball. "You OK?" one of my playing partners asked, not used to seeing such ineptness.

On the next hole I did hit one successful shot, a high flopper from about 10 yards that stopped where it landed, giving me hope I just needed to work with the club. But four more failed attempts ensued and the club was banished forever. A great idea in theory, but one that failed in practice. If Dick Rugge and the boys at the USGA want to limit loft on wedges, well, OK by me.

That said, that 25-degree hybrid sitting in the corner looks interesting ...

GOUGE: No announcement yet on whether the USGA and R&A plan to go forward with another rollback by attacking maximum loft on wedges. It's an area of research, and one might argue a loft limit might be a more interesting way to attack the fearless/wreckless/non-traditional way most of today's elite players bludgeon a golf course. And it would be a hell of a lot easier to enforce and, of course, provide less hardship for manfufacturers than the current scenario, which as we've noted recently is probably unnecessarily complicated and ultimately will have no discernible effect on the game.

But your sentiment about new equipment lust certainly gives me pause. Do golfers even have that sense any more? That rabid enthusiasm and powerful (though groundless) hope in the game-saving salvation of a new ball or driver or set of irons has been seriously called into question by the industry's sales trend. By one estimate, nearly 50 percent of the drivers purchased today go for less than $200. The highest consumer interest these days is in drivers at this price point and in irons at the sub-$500 price point. Look at how much traction for instance Callaway has gained with its X-18R iron set for about $400. And there's a reason that one of the first things you see on golfsmith.com is a column marked "Savings Center." Which all says to me, of course, that golfers are still juiced about getting new game-saving products, provided they pay half price.

But with all the attention the discounted models are getting, I am left to wonder whether there's really any consumer enthusiasm for the latest and greatest. Seriously. Do any of us who might be in the market for a new car really believe the new version will get us to work faster? Of course not. It might make the ride smoother. In fact, it probably will. Well, that precisely is what the newest golf equipment is designed to do—make the ride smoother.

Maybe there would be if more golfers got to experience life the way we do. In other words, it's a blast to play the new Ping G15 driver, the Titleist AP1 irons and latest insert putter from Odyssey. You believe again in miracles. Why should the average golfer believe the new clubs are better? He shouldn't. He should simply strive to try them and see for himself. It's what we do. And the good news is we can streamline that process with our annual Hot List, set to appear again in the February 2010 issue of Golf Digest. (Indeed, we're already reviewing candidates and we'll be making our choices over the next few months.) But thanks to you, partner, we're already tipping our hand for the 2010 Hot List. It's a fair bet to say that there won't be any 70-plus-degree wedges making the list.

BOMB: Well, back to work after our trek out west that included a round of golf in 116-degree heat, witnessing a hot-air balloon crashing to earth near a golf course and seeing what the equipment companies will be submitting for this year’s Golf Digest Hot List (and presenting to consumers for next year). And as I rummaged through a myriad of stuff this morning in playing catch up, I came across an article by Rick Young of Score Golf in Canada that got reaction on the groove rule from Ernie Els, who voiced a much different reaction than did Phil Mickelson, who got in the face of USGA equipment czar Dick Rugge at last week’s Barclays voicing displeasure over the USGA’s handling of the groove rule and the prospect of high-lofted wedges possibly being banned in the future.

Els, however, had no such issue. “I can’t wait for it,” he told Score Golf. “It’s going to be good. It’s going to bring a lot more color to the game, so to speak. I think you’re going to see different shots. Guys who have never played V-grooves will see a change. Ball strikers are going to come to the forefront. You’re also going to have to manage your game differently. You can’t just drive the ball all over the place and hit it out of the rough. Strategy is going to change and golf courses are going to show their teeth a little bit more. It’s definitely going to change the landscape.”

But I gotta tell you, partner, after our visits last week it appears that although the USGA has disallowed some proposed designs from Callaway and Nike, some of the things we saw clearly are designed to mitigate much of what the USGA is trying to accomplish. Add in Tim Finchem’s comments at the AT&T National about potentially easier course setups next year and you have to ask whether it’s even going to have a noticeable impact at all?

GOUGE: Well, as we've heard, the intent of the rule is to return performance out of the rough to that of a traditional V-groove. That might happen, it might not. One manufacturer showed us the difference between their 2009 groove and their 2010 groove, and while you might need an electron microscope to see the differences (four percent less volume, maybe 8-14 percent difference in spin, for example), what actually happens in a PGA Tour event in 2010 is about as easy to predict as, well, Heath Slocum and Y.E. Yang.

What struck me from our visits last week, though, and what we've seen in many instances is what can only be described as burgeoning mass confusion in the marketplace. Let me explain: Almost every manufacturer is introducing new irons in 2010 with grooves that conform to the new standard, whether those irons are generally thought of as being for tour players or not. BUT the wedges that companies are promoting and or rolling out in many instances will have the most aggressive grooves currently allowed—but not allowed for use on the PGA Tour in 2010. (The USGA will allow 2009 groove clubs to be assembled and distributed through the end of 2010. Clubs ruled conforming prior to 2010 and distributed prior to 2011 will be considered conforming to the Rules of Golf until at least 2024.). So consumers will be faced with a mixed marketplace for at least another year, and maybe longer as those old groove clubs linger through the 14-year window in which average players can slowly adopt to the rule.

It had me wondering what happens in the club championship in 2012 when Player A is using a wedge he purchased that summer and Player B is going with one of his stockpiled 2009 groove wedges. Is that fair? Not really. Will it matter? Not really. Does there need to be this kind of confusion for average golfers and retailers for the next 18 months or so? Not really. Why are we here? I haven't a clue.

We all hope for the differences that Ernie Els predicts. I just don't think we're going to see them. One player who's won on the PGA Tour, who spent an entire day testing the 2010 groove vs. the 2009 groove counters with the sentiment: "Either there is no difference, or I'm not good enough to see a difference."

By the way, thanks for not mentioning how I ran out of golf balls by the 9th tee of that round of golf in 114-degree heat. But I didn't mind. When you discover a desert oasis like Emerald Canyon in La Paz County, just the other side of Parker, Ariz., you enjoy the ride, rocky though it might be. Sure, we got the $19.75 blast furnace discount, but when the average daily temperature is 100 degrees and the greens are still in better shape than half the courses in Connecticut this summer, you don't mind the temperature. The fact the course is partnering with the Arizona National FIsh and Wildlife Conservation Office to increase the native razorback sucker and bonytail sucker populations through on-course ponds is a bonus, but it's the infuriating 6,400 yards of exposed red rocks and desert canyons that reminds you that while you might have thought you should have done better, you probably shouldn't have. The wind off the Colorado River and firm turf can make it feel like a British Open played in Hades, and while I wouldn't necessarily recommend walking and carrying your bag in late August, I would recommend you finding Emerald Canyon should you ever find yourself owning a one-way ticket to the middle of nowhere.

If anything, it made us forget about all this grooves nonsense for an hour or two. That alone was worth the price of admission.