Types of Golf Grooves

The proper spin rate and ball flight will allow your golf shots to hold the green. Backspin is largely determined by angle of attack and club head speed. However, the types of grooves you choose to play will also be a factor in the amount of backspin you get with each shot. The benefits of the right type of grooves become apparent when playing from the rough. Grooves channel moisture away from the club-face ball impact area. Not only the moisture on the grass itself, but the moisture within the grass. Increased moisture channeled away is accomplished with larger grooves, which leads to better contact and increased backspin. A few main types of grooves exist in the golf world.

Square Grooves (U-Grooves)

After years of watching professional golfers spin the ball back like a yo-yo the USGA has finally taken notice, banning the use of square-groove clubs by 2010. With thorough research and testing the USGA found that U-grooves gave players an unfair advantage out of the rough and sand when using urethane-covered golf balls. Square grooves and the resulting increased spin rate make it easier to stop the ball on the green, which shouldn’t be the case from poor lies.

The new regulations won’t actually limit the shape of grooves, but will require groove edge sharpness to be no more than 0.010 inches. The size of grooves will also be restricted with the formula – cross sectional area of a groove divided by the groove pitch must be 0.0025 square inches per inch.

Ping was the pioneer in square groove technology with their Ping Eye 2 irons in the late 1980′s. After the USGA allowed the use of square grooves in 1981, Karsten Solheim of Ping began making conforming square grooves. Soon after he began hearing that his grooves would damage soft, low compression golf balls like the Balata. He changed the groove shape slightly by rounding the corners a little. This increased the spin rates dramatically, even from poor lies. So much so that square grooves were banned in the early 1990′s. After legal dispute Ping Eye 2 irons and square grooves made a quick comeback.

So why is the story being revisited 20 years later? We now have more comprehensive and accurate testing equipment. In 1990 we lacked the equipment needed to properly gauge spin rates on a consistent level. The USGA revisited the square groove issue, testing each type of groove and found a competitive advantage for square groove clubs out of the rough.  For professional golfers U-grooves will be illegal to use by late 2009. For amateur golfers the ban will come later on in 2010.

V-Grooves

These types of grooves will replace the controversial U-grooves (Square grooves) by Jan 1, 2010. As the name implies the grooves form a “V” shape. These grooves allow a fair amount of spin to be applied to the ball according to the USGA. In tests between U-Grooves and V-grooves, perfectly struck golf balls received identical amount of backspin from fairway lies. However, out of the rough U-grooves put more backspin on the ball than V-grooves. This is why the USGA ruled that square groove clubs gave an unfair advantage.

If the V grooves do come back into play, that will be a great barometer to see how good these players are with their touch and their feel and their imagination. Understanding the spin of the golf ball.  Its not just a pure given fact if you hit it in the rough, it just drops on the green. That’s not going to happen next year. -Greg Norman