116 - Acceptable In The 80's...

Golf Whine Monthly ran a number of features about the range of new conforming wedges that have flooded the market since the USPGA banned the use of u grooves. Every manufacturer is bringing new kit out that is trying to stretch the rules as much as they possibly can yet the most popular wedge on the tour this year could be a 20 year old chipper from Ping. Intrigued?

To recap, u shaped grooves are wider and deeper than the v shaped type that professionals must use on their wedges now. The powers at be decided the professionals are receiving too much help allowing them to produce too much ball spin giving them too much control around the green. Apparently the change is designed to emphasize golfers' skill over technology. Hmmm...

Players being professionals are trying to get any advantage they can and it seems that Phil Mickelson has found a way to stick it to the man. There is a loophole that states that pre-1990 wedges – resplendent with the dirty, illegal u grooves – are exempt from the new cull in the US and can be used in competition. Queue ‘Lefty’ chipping with gay abandon at the recent at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego using a 20 year old Ping Eye 2.

It is fair to say that this didn’t go down well with Mickelson’s fellow professionals.

Lee Westwood and and American Scott McCarron were two players who spoke out against Mickelson's decision to use the club with McCarron labelling the former world number 2 a “cheat” – harsh words indeed.

McCarron has since apologised for his outburst but it is clear that use of the club is causing bad blood.

Mickelson has since said he would not use the club as a sign of respect to his fellow professionals, who rallied in support of him last season when his wife Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer. "I like and respect these players out here and when my wife and I were at one of our low points, the players came together and did one of the nicest things that could have been done to show support and it meant tons for me. Out of respect for them, I do not want to have an advantage over them, whether it's perceived or actual. My point's been made, I won't play it."

The American has now demanded that the USPGA close the loophole. "I have been very upset with the way the entire rule change has come about, and its total lack of transparency. This has got to change. To come out and change a rule like this that has a loophole... is ridiculous. It hurts the game and you cannot put the players in the position to interpret what the rule means. This should have been decided well before this came out. It put me and it put all players in a bad spot and it needs to be changed."

So after all the design, manufacture and testing work the club makers have gone through it is ironic that the best piece of equipment to use if you are a professional is a wedge from the 1980’s If you have an old Ping Eye 2 wedge in decent condition why not stick it on eBay where there is a chance to fleece a couple of hundred pounds out of one of the mega rich Tour Professionals hoping to get an edge.