Jim Kobylinski
Super Moderator
1) Any current wedge/iron made before 2010 is "grandfathered" in for professional players until the year 2024. So essentially this whole groove scenario really won't make any difference until around 2010 when some OEMs *might* force staffers to change irons as they come out with new models so they might end up with different grooves, but i'm willing to bet players will stockpile the pre-2010 wedges.
2) If you force players to play irons/wedges that spin less than they are used too this will cause the following to happen:
- It will push golf ball engineers to design balls that spin only MARGINALLY more when hit off the driver but spin more off the short irons to make up for the groove changes.
- It will push driver head engineers to design heads with COGs even lower and deeper to reduce the spin of the higher spin ball to keep the distance off the driver that players are accustomed too
So in my opinion, this rule change really won't change anything. Players and engineers will adapt and i truly believe you still see the best players bombing driver and hitting the balls out of the rough with similar spin that they are used to once they figure out the equiptment.
This happens a lot in the racing world (pick your organization), bunch of racers/crew chiefs figure out how beat the pants off everyone with sneaky setups that pass current rules but basically blow away the competition. Organization changes the rules to narrow the field but those same racers/crew chiefs just think smarter and work harder to create a new setup around the new rules to continue to dominate. To be very specific this was scene a lot with turbocharged motors taking over, well almost everywhere. First they took away the electronic boost controller, then they limited the size of the turbo, then they made those cars weigh more and i could go on; however the teams just got smarter. When they took away the electronic boost controllers they came up with pressurized versions of them that worked almost identical but within the rules, when they limited turbo size, the wheel manufacturers just made more efficient designs to create more CFM with smaller size wheels due to fin design, couldn't do much about the weight though lol.
So i hope you all see my point, this rule change really won't change the game much. Mark this post, maybe we'll revisit in a few years to see if it comes true or i look like an idiot
2) If you force players to play irons/wedges that spin less than they are used too this will cause the following to happen:
- It will push golf ball engineers to design balls that spin only MARGINALLY more when hit off the driver but spin more off the short irons to make up for the groove changes.
- It will push driver head engineers to design heads with COGs even lower and deeper to reduce the spin of the higher spin ball to keep the distance off the driver that players are accustomed too
So in my opinion, this rule change really won't change anything. Players and engineers will adapt and i truly believe you still see the best players bombing driver and hitting the balls out of the rough with similar spin that they are used to once they figure out the equiptment.
This happens a lot in the racing world (pick your organization), bunch of racers/crew chiefs figure out how beat the pants off everyone with sneaky setups that pass current rules but basically blow away the competition. Organization changes the rules to narrow the field but those same racers/crew chiefs just think smarter and work harder to create a new setup around the new rules to continue to dominate. To be very specific this was scene a lot with turbocharged motors taking over, well almost everywhere. First they took away the electronic boost controller, then they limited the size of the turbo, then they made those cars weigh more and i could go on; however the teams just got smarter. When they took away the electronic boost controllers they came up with pressurized versions of them that worked almost identical but within the rules, when they limited turbo size, the wheel manufacturers just made more efficient designs to create more CFM with smaller size wheels due to fin design, couldn't do much about the weight though lol.
So i hope you all see my point, this rule change really won't change the game much. Mark this post, maybe we'll revisit in a few years to see if it comes true or i look like an idiot
