It didn’t take long for the recently implemented Groove Rule to cause controversy on the PGA Tour. Props to Phil Mickelson for being the first player to publicly bash it. The word is other players are not particularly fond of Lefty, but I could care less. Mickelson has always shown his appreciation for fans of the game, and been true blue to whoever has chosen to pony up as his endorsees.
If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you know I strongly opposed the Groove Rule. If you are new to “Open to Buy”, I suggest you go to the Contact page of my web site and download the full version of “Another Dagger.” That piece is a series of articles which not only foretell the negative effects of this ruling on the industry, but also offers an alternative solution which would produce a similar result for tournament golf and bring innovation and new product creation back into the equipment industry. Win-win.
In light of the most recent flare up regarding this rule, the thought occurred to me that it might be a good thing to try and measure effectiveness of the Groove Rule. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Right here, every week. My initial thought is to evaluate straight hitters vs. long hitters in the most meaningful stat category of them all….Money. If the Groove Rule is working as intended by the USGA and the PGA Tour, the straight hitters should gain some ground on the bombers. I will be using official stats, taken right from the PGA Tour’s web site. This should be interesting….stay tuned. I’ll do my best to update this information every week. As always, thanks very much for stopping by. And don’t forget to tell someone. Peace.