Newsmakers 2007: Crackdowns

By E. Michael Johnson

Photos By Jim Herity

November 23, 2007

Golf equipment got smacked around in 2007 -- and not only during the collision between club and ball. Nonconforming drivers and grooves both came under fire. In February the USGA proposed a grooves rollback; the next month the equipment police blew the whistle on nonconforming drivers in the marketplace. The latter involved four major manufacturers. "It's been a long year," said USGA senior technical director Dick Rugge -- in March. The grooves proposal, which would be the game's first equipment rollback since the 1930s, essentially would return clubface channels to early-1980s configurations. Some thought the move overdue; others likened it to having the NFL bring back leather helmets. Although a rule had not been implemented at press time, if adopted as proposed, the PGA Tour would play with the new grooves starting in 2009, while clubmakers would manufacture to the new specs starting in 2010. A lengthy grandfather period (at least 10 years) for everyday golfers was included in the original proposal. The association also played the role of enforcer as well as legislator. After a competitor complained to the USGA that its square-shaped Sumo² drivers were illegal, Nike Golf announced that it had indeed found an "unauthorized manufacturing variance" that pushed the club over the allowable limit for Characteristic Time (which measures the springiness of the clubface). During the next two months individual lofts of Callaway's Big Bertha, Cobra's HS9 and Cleveland's HiBore XL were caught speeding and put on the USGA's nonconforming driver list. And although no manufacturer has been caught with an illegal driver since late May, the fact that six months later there still is no testing protocol for drivers already in stores (something the USGA and R&A have been working on) remains troubling. Also disturbing to manufacturers and golfers who want their equipment left alone is that the USGA has been studying golf balls that fly shorter. Then there are the words of Jim Vernon, the chairman of the USGA's equipment standards committee and nominee to be the association's next president. "Our work doesn't end with grooves," Vernon said at the USGA's annual meeting earlier this year. What exactly does that mean? Stay tuned.