Confederation of Professional Golf Adopt Amended Groove Rule for All Tournaments3 min read

The Confederation of Professional Golf have adopted the rule relating to grooves that was effective from the January 1st 2010, as part of the Association’s conditions of competition.

The changes to the Conditions of Competition will take effect from 1st June 2015 for all Professional tournaments organised and sanctioned by The Confederation of Professional Golf.

By adopting the recommendations and introducing the Condition of Competition on its ‘Hard Card’ for 2015’, all events administered by the Confederation of Professional Golf from the 1st of June 2015 will require professionals to use clubs that conform to these rules.

Any Professional wishing to participate in any tournaments on the Confederation of Professional Golf event schedule must ensure that the equipment they use from 1st June 2015 onwards conforms to the Condition of Competition. To that end there are several key facts to keep in mind:

1 –

If you have clubs manufactured before 1 January 2010 you will be able to conduct an on-line search at:

http://www.randa.org/en/Equipment/Equipment-Search/Informational-Clubs.aspx

This should highlight whether the club has been tested for conformity by the R&A or USGA and give the results of that test under the “Meets 2010 Groove Specs” column:

Further guidance on how to interpret the database results can be found at:

http://www.randa.org/en/Equipment/Equipment-Search/Informational-Clubs/Groove-Rules-Explained.aspx

2 –

Manufacturers have been generally making new models of clubs which conform to these Rules since 2010. Therefore, new models of clubs manufactured after 1 January 2010 should conform but will not be listed on the database above since this is only for pre-2010 models.

3 –

All clubs, excluding the driver and putter, will be subject to the Condition of Competition.  This includes individual 1 or 2 irons and wedges, as well as hybrids and fairway woods.

4 –

The responsibility for having clubs which conform to the new specification lies with each competitor.  In keeping with the self governing spirit of golf, Confederation of Professional Golf Staff will not check your clubs unless this is requested but will investigate any questions raised about conformity, regardless of when such a question is raised.

5 –

The penalty for a breach of the Condition of Competition could be disqualification.  The same penalty applies in a situation where the conformity of a club used by a competitor is questioned during competition and the club subsequently fails a conformity test.

6 –

Confederation of Professional Golf staff will not have the ability to conduct a test for conformity at events, although they are available to help with database searches if required and to facilitate communication with R&A staff.

7 –

It is strongly recommended that any doubts about the conformity of clubs be raised well in advance as it can take several days to perform tests.

8 –

Please be aware that the Confederation of Professional Golf reserves the right to have any club tested at any time, even if this involves the club being sent to the R&A at St. Andrews.  When conducting an on-line equipment search, PGA Members who compete in a Confederation of Professional Golf competition must be sure the club being investigated matches the club referred to in the test data.  Additional information to help identification can be found under most entries in the database by clicking ‘Identification Markings’ under the club name.

Please note that the above addition to the Confederation of Professional Golf’s Conditions of Competition does not apply to amateurs participating in Confederation of Professional Golf sanctioned Pro-Am tournaments.