The Royal & Ancient and U.S. Golf Association announced a rules change yesterday that will reduce the size and shape of grooves in most clubs in 2010, the first time equipment has been scaled back in nearly 80 years.
The change was directed toward elite players and emphasizes the importance of hitting the ball in the fairway.
Research over the past several years indicated that sharper, deeper grooves in irons produced so much spin that players could hit into the rough and still control iron shots to the green.
USGA president Jim Vernon said that although driving accuracy in the 1980s was as critical to success on the PGA Tour as putting, over the past five years, the importance of accuracy was of hardly any consequence.
The R&A and USGA did not ban U-grooves, also know as square grooves. Rather, the size of the grooves must be slightly smaller and have rounded edges instead of sharp edges on wedges through 5-irons.
