In the late 80s, PODS Championship winner Mark Calcavecchia was at the top of his game. He was so good, in fact, that some competitors started to complain about his equipment. That may have been one reason why the USGA looked at square grooves for the first time.
"Pretty ridiculous, actually," Calcavecchia said when the issue came up at his PODS Championship press conference last week. "That actually was a shot I hit at the Honda Classic that Jack and Tom Watson and a few other guys went berserk over when I gashed it out of the right hay and sucked it back on the 16th green."
The USGA has recently released guidelines for phasing out square or U grooves in irons and wedges. Critics have complained that the grooves help players get the ball out of rough more easily, thus losing the half-stroke penalty that an inaccurate hit into the thick stuff is supposed to cause.
"It's a non-issue to me now," he said. "Everybody's grooves are pretty much the same, Blades, or Pings or Callaways, whatever.
"It's not the grooves. It's the ball. You hit a slice out there and it starts dropping to the
left, not like the old days with the woods and balls went everywhere. Duck hooks, guys used to hit it all over the place. Now it's bombs away and straight and far."
STRAIGHT AT ALL COSTS: Some changes are for the better with new club technology. At 50 and 47 years, respectively, shorter hitters Fred Funk and Corey Pavin are still making their way on tour. Funk won the Mayakoba Golf Classic two weeks ago; Pavin won the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee last year and tied for sixth in the AT&T Pebble Beach last month.
"I definitely hit it further than I used to, no doubt, with the equipment," Pavin said. "My swing is better, I'm stronger.
"You know, I'm going with the equipment, I'm changing my swing, I'm working on that. I'm trying to get every inch I can out of hitting it. It's harder to curve the ball now than it used to be. So I have to play differently than I used to. I just have to keep evolving.
Pavin said that with the new equipment advances in recent years he's seen less emphasis on working the ball. In fact, he says, there aren't many players on tour who still do.
"A few guys out here that -- some of the younger guys, that do shape shots and hit shots. Granted, they are probably bigger and stronger than me. There are some guys that do that. But it's quietly becoming fewer and fewer for sure."
LEARN TO LOVE THEM: When Cameron Beckman first laid eyes on the TaylorMade r7 TP irons, he thought the head was too large. He almost decided to give them a pass, until TaylorMade reps convinced him to give them a try.
"I'm hitting perfect shots," he said, after trying them on the driving range for a few minutes. "It feels like I'm cheating."
Beckman asked TaylorMade to make him a complete set and put them in his bag for the first round of the PODS Championship.
After missing the cut at the Honda Classic, Beckman finished in a tie for 43rd at Tampa.
TaylorMade reps also reported that Kenny Perry used a new Burner 10.5-degree driver after testing several shafts and lofts in both the SuperQuad and Burner. Jason Gore moved back to TaylorMade with r7 425 irons, an r7 3-wood and a Rescue TP 19-degree for the first time. He's also testing Burners, r7 SuperQuads and r7 Quads.
