Letter From Saugerties, PING Edition

Former USGA Executive Director Frank Hannigan writes in to share some background on the PING-USGA feud that became news this week after John Daly and Dean Wilson used 20-year-old "grandfathered" PING wedges in competition.

Dear Geoff,

For the USGA, the great groove war of the 1980s was never, but never, about performance.

It was on the hyper-technical point that Karsten Solheim had altered his grooves so that there wasn't enough space between grooves to satisfy the Rules of Golf.

When the USGA ruled in 1987 that the Ping Eye 2 clubs were outside the rules it did so because
the rules had been violated.  Solheim had adjusted his clubs in a manner contrary to a hallowed requirement that the space between adjacent grooves be at least three times the width of the grooves. Having perceived that the clubs did not meet its rules, the USGA had no choice but to say so, no matter how minute the violation. It's like the Uniform Code of Military Justice which says "Penetration however slight......"

The  lawsuit that ensued resulted in a settlement whereby all the Ping clubs made prior to April 1, 1990 were grandfathered forever.  But all clubs turned out after that date did conform to the rules because Solheim enlarged the space between grooves, something he said he would never do. He did.

Here is an analogy based on another equipment case. The rules provide that: the diameter of balls must be no less than 1.68 inches. Because of a screw-up in the manufacturing process the balls of a manufacturer once came out as 1.66 inches.  The difference is so small it can't possibly affect performance.

Nevertheless, the USGA had no choice but to say the batch of balls fractured the rules.

Trust me on grooves.   I was an individual defendant in Ping vs USGA.  Suing individuals in addition to the institution is a terrorist tactic.  If the plaintiff is awarded more than the defendant owns, the winner might  then go after the assets of individuals.  Thus, in theory, my house, my car and my dog might have gone to Karsten. No money changed hands in the settlement.

One of the myths of golf has to do with how miniscule changes in equipment can determine
who wins and who loses. But Karsten himself once said it all when asked what the difference was between his steel faced clubs and his copper clubs. He said, "$35 a club."

Frank Hannigan
Saugerties, New York