Yeas, all those pros moving boulders with the help of the gallery (Tiger), taking line of sight relief in order to get preferable lies (Els and others), smoothing the ground behind their ball in waste areas (Cink), entire fields playing lift, clean and place, etc... should really have a problem with somebody playing clubs that SPECIFICALLY were mentioned as being legal for play by the USGA and PGA.... EVERYONE on tour can play these clubs if they like, there is no unfair advantage for one player over another. It would be like a ball company coming up with a legal ball that has better performance characteristics than the competition (a common occurrence), and having somebody on tour (who could play the ball but chooses not to) claiming another player cheated by using this new ball... Tedd
________________________________ From: owner-shopt...@mail.msen.com [mailto:owner-shopt...@mail.msen.com] On Behalf Of Ed Reeder Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 12:22 PM To: ShopTalk@mail.msen.com Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Statement by Ping Chairman John Solheim It was "reported" that Phil did this in response to the USGA disallowing a new Callaway wedge design that, while conforming to the new rules, spun more than the USGA desired. It was said that Phil wanted to "rub their noses" in the rules. I put "reported" in quotes because you never know how factual anything you see in print is. I'm curious if anyone really knows if this Callaway incident is true. From what I've heard, it didn't happen - at least the way it was reported. This would imply that the USGA also has a spin-rate test. TWGT's pre-groove-rule micro-groove wedges, which provide more spin than the old U-grooves, were approved by the USGA. This implies that a spin-rate test doesn't exist. /Ed On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:19 -0800, "Bob Barrette" <golfbu...@yahoo.com> wrote: I agree wholeheartedly with Dave T statement "I am disappointed in Phil M and the others who have switched to the Ping Eye 2 this year; it really smacks of rule-shaving". Golf has always been a gentleman's game, example: reminding your opponent not to forget to move his marker back, after moving it out of your putting line etc. etc .In no other sport do the competitors help their opponents in this way, to the contrary they do what they can to gain and advantage on their competitors. Grandfathered in or not, unless every competitor uses these clubs, the ones that do use them have an unfair advantage, therefore are, in my opinion playing with an inequitable advantage, and I have no respect for them, as they have surely strayed from "the spirit of the game". Just my 2 cents worth. Bob