DETROIT: Two former players disagree over whether this week’s announced rule change restricting the use of square-grooved irons will have much impact on the professional game.

Kiwi Frank Nobilo believes the change is huge, while Australian Ian Baker-Finch thinks it will have only a marginal effect.

Golf’s two ruling bodies, the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient, have announced that, starting in 2010, five irons through wedges must have smaller, less sharply edged grooves. This should make it more difficult to obtain backspin out of the rough, which should subsequently put more emphasis on driving accuracy, because the penalty for finding the rough should become more severe.

“Getting out of the rough was a skill in days gone by,” Nobilo said. “I think it will bring a lot more skill back into the game.

“I don’t think it necessarily will affect the top five or six players in the world. If anything, they’re going to win tournaments differently. You’re going to see tournaments lost the way they used to be, by [a player] hitting a flyer down the stretch.

“All you need is one flyer and in the back of his mind he’s going to be frightened.”

By “flyer”, Nobilo was referring to a shot from the rough that flies much further than usual because grass or water gets between the ball and the clubface. Such “flyers” have become few and far between in the modern square groove era.

Nobilo thinks the rule change will coax players to gravitate to balls with a higher spin rate, even though such balls do not fly as far. Recently, most have preferred balls with a low spin rate, in the search for driving distance, but once square grooves are restricted, Nobilo believes balls with a high spin rate will come back into vogue, even at the expense of distance, and thereby eliminate the need to continually build longer courses.

“The trade-off is you’re going to have a groove that spins less, so to get the same control, you’re going to have to revamp the ball to spin more, which Tiger already uses,” he said, invoking a tennis analogy.

“The big racquet was designed for the average player and then the professionals got hold of it and it just became a how-hard-can-you-serve-it game. That’s the way golf’s morphed into the last 10 or 15 years.”

But Baker-Finch, the 1991 British Open champion, is not as convinced as Nobilo that the rule change would make much difference. “I think some of the guys who have trouble spinning the ball [out of the rough] may go to a ball that spins a little more, but I don’t think it will make a huge difference,” he said. “I do agree it’s a good move, though.”

interesting topic. Wonder if it will become enforced though.

It won’t change a thing.

It won’t change a thing.

Home on The Range

I think it might. The bomb and gouge guys won’t be able to keep it as close out of the rough.

Does that mean we will all need to go buy new irons in 2010?

From what I’ve read today, it only applies to irons manufactured from 2010 onwards and doesn’t apply to amatuers.

Thats what I was going to say.

Like the ‘hot’ drivers there is an amnesty.

The real joke is that the amnesty is for the next 15 years!

For the full story read the link at the R&A’s website

The questions needing answered are is it ok to use a club made in 2008 up to 2024 even if the grooves are re-scored every 3 weeks?

For the vast majority of us it will never be a problem, however, some may want to purchase some wedges to save for the future! The “Mac-Daddy” grooves may be a thing of the past!