"Goodness gracious, we left here for the British Open, changed to a small ball, used seven clubs from a different manufacturer, changed in a day and went and played the tournament"

Steve Elling talks to Jack Nicklaus about player complaints related to the burden of changing to new grooves next year, and reminds us that he had to change balls and clubs for the Open.

"The guys are talking about, 'We don’t have enough time to practice enough with these new V grooves for next year,'" Nicklaus said recently. "'Are we going to have enough time to really get ourselves ready?'"

Nicklaus believes the adjustments won’t prove much more than a tiny bit difficult. After all, he made them every year and won three British Open titles.

"Goodness gracious, we left here for the British Open, changed to a small ball, used seven clubs from a different manufacturer, changed in a day and went and played the tournament," he said.
Now many associated with the tour are wringing their hands because years of lead time players and clubmakers have had to prep for the rule change -- the proposal was first floated by the USGA in 2005 -- isn’t enough time to make a smooth transition?

"'Is really another year enough for us to get used to it?'" Nicklaus said, parroting the current question. "That’s how long it takes -- it takes a day or two to get used to equipment.