The Hottest Club in Golf? A 20-Year-Old WedgeWhen the PGA Tour announced in 2009 it would implement the USGA's condition of competition for grooves in 2010, everyone knew players would do everything they could to mitigate the loss of spin. What wasn't foreseen was how many players would resort to a loophole that allowed for the use of pre-April 1990 Ping Eye2 wedges and irons. Under an agreement made more than 20 years earlier, those box-grooved clubs remained legal and several players, including Phil Mickelson, put them in the bag early in the year,
sparking a heated debateas to whether using such clubs was in the spirit of the game. Scott McCarron went so far as to say using Eye2s was akin to cheating, leading to a player meeting with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem at Riviera CC in February and McCarron apologizing to Mickelson both in person and on Golf Channel. Ping ended the fiasco (which included Eye2 wedges selling for more than $300 on eBay) on March 8 when the company and the tour released a joint statement that said, "Ping will waive its rights that prevent the PGA Tour from prohibiting the use of pre-April 1990 Ping Eye2 irons and wedges that do not meet the 2010 Condition of Competition."