Comments on Grouchy Golf Blog: Just Groovy, Baby!

Totally agree with enough head speed and perfect "...

2006-03-27T13:39:00.000-08:00

Totally agree with enough head speed and perfect "dry condition", a sweet-spot hitting will generate enough friction on balls. Thus groove is not nessasary.

But I don't see why groove doesn't generate backspin.

My new CG10 wedges w/ brand new grooves will scratch a thin layer plastics off balls, while my older wedges keep balls intact. The comparison result is obvious, CG10 spins!!!

In the real world nothing is really "perfect". Off-center hit, slow head speed, lack of loft, sand, water, and grass all come into pictures in day-to-day play.
Thus groove is definitly nessasary on all clubs other than drivers, and don't you see those off-center grooves on r5 clubface?

(Vijay played #1 driver from rough
or even on the fairway at one time, I'm sure he was hoping there are grooves on the sweetspot also!)

I had seen my friend used a special wedge set with rubber club face. Those things produced crazy spin on any lies, even from bunker!
Well, it is definitely illegal, but let's say it is the ultimate form of grooves.

So back to the beginning of the story, the older man's son is probably right in pointing out that Rich need more backspin to help controling the trajectory of his driving. He might be 100% correct if he recommended Rich to add loft to his driver and choose softier ball.

I don't think I had looked at the face of my drive...

2006-03-17T01:55:00.000-08:00

I don't think I had looked at the face of my driver is a long time. Now according to that last paragraph I don't have to worry about any spin...ever!

Hey I remember that G! Grouchy totally stepped and...

2006-03-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

Hey I remember that G! Grouchy totally stepped and was all "nope; the grooves on drivers are purely cosmetic.." and this elevated to like a friendly heated debate because the guy just couldn't grasp that. Grouchy was fresh off reading all about it and was spitting off references and specifics. It was awesome. I remember they finally agreed to disagree. Then at the end of the round Grouchy got in the last word and says to the group of us "COSMETIC" :)

I looked it up that night and from what I understand, grooves are like treads on a car tire - they just give the water a place to go, or in a golf club's case the smashed grass juice or whatever. Since a driver has the ball on a tee, no grass, no moisture, grooves do nothing.

We'll have to play again this summer G that was fun. I might still have that guy's email address somewhere :)

Your posts are not helping my new Zen philosophy G...

2006-03-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

Your posts are not helping my new Zen philosophy Grouch. Equilibriums and the launch physics are hurting my 'be the ball' mantra.

Well, it is difficult to maintain entirely "dry co...

2006-03-13T11:11:00.000-08:00

Well, it is difficult to maintain entirely "dry conditions" when the ball impacts the clubface. A single blade of grass between the ball and clubface will nullify any initial "dry conditions."

That's why grooves are especially important in rough where there is bound to be some foreign material between the ball and clubface. The more volume of foreign material that can be evacuated by the grooves, the better.

Interesting. So in dry conditions, there technical...

2006-03-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

Interesting. So in dry conditions, there technically really is little to no point in cleaning those grooves, is there? Great! One less thing to worry about. :-)

A square groove of the same depth as a triangular ...

2006-03-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

A square groove of the same depth as a triangular groove has more area (volume, technically) and thus can get more dirt, water, etc. out of the way, thus increasing ball/steel contact.

Is this any different for square grooves? Johnny ...

2006-03-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

Is this any different for square grooves? Johnny Miller seems to be leading a crusade against square grooves because Tiger and the big guys can get the same spin out of the rough with square grooves that they get from the fairway.