Golf about to enter brave new world of wedges

Mike Dudurich

Posted 2009-09-04

So, while sitting at a table in a fashionable steakhouse recently, the topics of conversation among five golf-type guys were varied.

But it always came back to golf. And then, just before dessert was served came what sounded like a bombshell.

One of the most highly-respected club professionals in the country, Bob Ford of Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh, said the following.

“Boys, I got a box in the mail today from TaylorMade. There was a wedge in the box.”

We chuckled, knowing there must have been more to the story because golf professionals get equipment from club companies almost daily.

“The wedge had … interchangeable faces. Honest.”

We all thought it must have been a prototype of some sort for a future release. Nothing could be farther from the truth, however. The word is on the street and soon so will the multi-faced wedges.

TaylorMade, which made a big splash in recent years with golf club adjustability, will introduce wedges for which golfers can install fresh grooves whenever they like. The face plates – which are expected to retail for approximately $39 – will be able to be removed and installed using the same torque wrench that can change flight trajectory and ball flight on TaylorMade drivers.

The hype on the clubs is that they are very clean looking and seamless.

Another unique aspect of the clubs is that they’ll be available in both old and new groove configurations.

Callaway Golf is also about to get into this game as well, introducing its Jaws line of wedges. Those will have Callaway’s Mack Daddy grooves, which are described as aggressively-sized but conforming grooves that maximize spin, trajectory and distance control.

Because of the impending change in which grooves are legal and which aren’t for the pros, any wedges or irons with aggressive box grooves have to be introduced by the end of 2009. And since those clubs can’t be manufactured after 2010, these Jaws will be closed after a shelf life of just over a year.

These new clubs create an interesting sidelight to the more comprehensive USGA ruling that the bigger, wider grooves that the pros have become so efficient with out of the rough would be replaced with smaller and more shallow as of Jan. 1, 2009.

Generally speaking, the rough has become less and less of a hazard for today’s bombers and gougers. The bigger grooves allowed the tour pros to not only extricate their errant drives from the rough, but do so with a great deal of accuracy and, even more importantly, allow them put spin on those shots.

Early indications from testing that’s been done on the new grooves are that those shots are going to be much more unpredictable for the best players in the world and that “fliers” could become much more prevalent.

"Our research shows that the rough has become less of a challenge for the highly skilled professional and that driving accuracy is now less of a key factor for success," said USGA Senior Technical Director Dick Rugge. "We believe that these changes will increase the challenge of the game at the tour level, while having a very small effect on the play of most golfers."

Phil Mickelson, one of the best short-game artists in golf, was in favor of the new rules when word of the change came out last fall.

“I have no problem with that because I feel like it's a challenging thing for a player to judge shots out of the rough. Is the ball going to spin? How is it going to come out?” Mickelson said.

His rah-rah endorsement of the new policy ended, however, when he and Callaway thought they had come up with a set of wedges than conformed to the new rules, only to have those clubs ruled non-conforming by the USGA.

“Our grooves are conforming, but they’re not being approved,” Mickelson said during the PGA Championship at Hazeltine. “Which makes me think something funny is going on. If they’re changing the rule three months from implementation, they’re incompetent.”

He continued with his rant.

“Our grooves conform with their specifications. Dick Rugge (USGA Senior Technical Director) and Jay Rains (USGA vice president and chairman of the Equipment Standards Committee) are reserving the right to approve whatever clubs they want to approve, regardless of whether or not they conform with the regulations they set forth. With three months away from implementation and nobody knows what they can or can’t do, what to make, because they won’t set the rule and stand by it … That’s where we’re at.”

Let the pros worry about all of that. Very soon, we the recreational players, will have access to interchangeable face plates and for the forseeable future, we’ll be able to play with the much more forgiving grooves.

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About Mike...
As a sports writer for over 35 years, Mike Dudurich has seen a lot of great things, covered spectacular events, but his passion is, and has been golf. He recently ended a 29-year career at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and will now be a frequent contributor on GolfGearReview.com. Mike hosts a weekly golf radio show on 1250 ESPN in Pittsburgh from the beginning of April through the end of August. The show airs Saturdays from 8-9 a.m. and can be heard online at http://stations.espn.go.com/stations/espnradio1250/show?showId=insidepghgolf - Listen to Mike Here!.

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