Iron men: New rule change separates pros from joes

For the rank-and-file chops, our U-groove clubs have been grandfathered in for handicap play and amateur competitions at the local levels through 2024. While that might prove to be a boon for our pocketbooks, since we won't have to buy new sticks unless we want to, it also means people will potentially be competing with different clubs for decades.

Even top-level amateurs will be using different sticks. The USGA announced that its major amateur events, including the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women's Amateur and the two junior championships, will be conducted solely with V-groove clubs beginning in 2014.

The gradual implementation will make it easier on consumers who care about posting legitimate handicaps, but it renders the proverbial playing field uneven.

Say you play a 3-handicapper and he competes in college events, or national events. He's going to be using an entirely different set of engineering dynamics when trying to recover from shots in the rough or around the greens.

It's mildly akin to the use of aluminum bats in the amateur or college baseball ranks, versus the wooden bats of the pros. It's the same game, sort of, but it sure sounds different.

With the Tuesday groove change, the USGA acknowledges its primary target: "The initial focus of the new rules will be competitions involving highly skilled professional golfers and will have little impact on the play of most golfers."

Well, unless we buy a set of irons somewhere between 2010 and the time we croak. Then we might notice a demonstrable difference. Most amateurs have extreme difficulty spinning the ball, even with U-grooves, which have teeth so severe, it can peel paint off the golf ball.

The central point is, rules of competition should be uniformly applied throughout the game, as they have been for centuries. If not, what next?

"This is the beginning of bifurcation," Thomas said. "We avoided it for years. Once we have done it with clubs and grooves, I see no reason why they won't be doing it with balls. The door is open for a tour ball."

The great part of the game is that it was always the same for everybody, that a garden-variety chop could get a few shots per side when playing a handicap match against, in theory, Tiger Woods. Now they aren't playing with the same ammo -- and it's not only been sanctioned, but codified.

Separate but unequal? There had to be a better way.