USGA and Manufacturers: A Cozy Arrangement

Filed in archive Golf Equipment on February 1, 2008

I was whacking some balls at a nearby golf dome the other day with my teaching pro and buddy, Mark Greenwood from Swing Machine Golf Canada.

Over a coffee later, we talked golf, of course, and the subject of interchangeable shafts came up. This new technology was the runaway hit and major talking point of the recent PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.

I expressed my view - posted here a week or so back - that this latest "innovation" in equipment isn't really anything more than smoke and mirrors.

In short order, out came the conspiracy theories.



Why would the USGA offer up a rule change that doesn't do diddly for 99.9% of amateur players or pros but creates a whole new marketing angle for manufacturers?

Certainly, it's the equipment makers who stand to benefit as they spin the wonderful new opportunities in their coming advertising material.

With a nod and a wink, Mark and I both agreed that USGA honchos clearly have very friendly relationships with the club makers. To wit: the USGA missed the boat on COR with drivers, thus avoiding a potentially messy lawsuit and maintaining good relations; it's missed the boat on the golf ball but it has ruled that square grooves in wedges are too much of an advantage for the game to handle.

Now tell me with a straight face that everything is above board!

Anyway, for what it's worth, here's a supporting viewpoint from Brandon Tucker over at World Golf.com:

"So what was the big buzz at the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show?

Aside from Golfweek's scandalous cover shot that dominated headlines and show floor gossip, it was adjustable golf clubs. They were approved by an expert panel to be allowed by the USGA, so long as not adjusted during the round.

The obvious question: Wasn't allowing 14 clubs in your bag long ago the original "adjustable club" ruling?

"The significance of the adjustable club ruling is that it gives the average player a chance to enjoy the same benefits as the Tour players enjoy," said the USGA's Dick Rugge last week at a symposium.

What is perplexing is who this ruling really benefits. Considering most tour players have equipment sponsors in their back pocket, they could just keep 20 drivers and a dozen sets of irons in their trunk.

On the other end of the spectrum, the vast majority of amateur golfers still have horrific slices, can't make four-footers consistently and don't even sniff 100. Metal woods, cavity backs, titanium and lower MOI's haven't changed that one bit. Now adjustable clubs are the answer?

It seems adjustable clubs will help the microscopic percentage of golfers who are good enough to perceive a benefit to slightly altering their clubs based on conditions, but are not good enough to get club sponsorships.
That is, unless the manufacturers can fool the consumer into believing that they need to change out their clubs based on conditions. But golf will remain a mysterious game played between the ears, and adjustable clubs will only cloud most players' quest more.

The honest truth is that the golf industry has run out of ideas for the time being. Last year the "buzz" was square drivers - which seem to be failing. Apparently few of us like hitting a club that looks like a brick and sounds like a cow bell.

So we'll see if the golfing public follows the adjustable club carrot that will surely be dangled in front of us during every commercial break of a PGA Tour event soon."

Amen.