Japan's hot drivers turn up heat - Brief Article

Golf Digest, June, 2000 by Jerry Tarde

You feel you're hitting the ball farther even if you're not

The rumors started coming out of the East.

First, one or two Japanese companies were making thin-face drivers that violated the U.S. Golf Association's ban on "spring-like effect." Then it was four Japanese companies, and the names were being whispered in the inner sanctums of golf: my favorite was the exotic-sounding Katana Sword.

The clubs, even if they failed the USGA test, were still legal in Japan because USGA rules only apply in the U.S. The rest of the world is governed by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, and the R&A was trying to develop its own test to determine if clubs "trampolined."

While St. Andrews dithered, a couple of more Japanese companies introduced so-called "hot-face" drivers. The clubs were beginning to leak out of Japan. By at least one count, 10 professionals in the Players Championship used the "illegal" drivers (allowable because the USGA had not yet officially notified the PGA Tour).

Callaway became the first American company to announce that it has an entry to compete in this Japanese market. Callaway's club, called the ERC, is made by a foundry in Australia that specializes in forging a titanium alloy strong enough to flex without breaking (retail price: $1,000). It took and failed the USGA test.

Competitors marveled at how Ely Callaway had perfectly positioned his product and put the governing bodies on notice. The strategy he denied, but we surmised: Build demand, flood the market, gain public acceptance, move from Asia to Europe to America. Callaway stock, unmoved by his golf ball launch, leaped 25 percent at the notion of a Hot Bertha.

So what does this really mean, and what must be done about it?

I needed to get a science lesson first. When a clubhead strikes a golf ball, I was told, the ball deforms and, thus, loses energy. If the face could be made thin enough to act like a spring, more energy would be transferred to the ball.

These Japanese clubs made of forged beta titanium are believed to give you about six yards more than standard models when swung at 109 m.p.h.; maybe 10 to 12 yards extra at the high tour speed of 120 m.p.h. You have to strike the ball on the sweet spot to gain the bonus yardage, making them more beneficial to tour players, but some amateurs say they have a noticeably "hot" sensation at impact, so you feel you're hitting the ball farther even if you're not.

Many manufacturers believe the USGA should back off the rule and allow innovation in the interests of the 99-plus percent of golfers who don't hit it 300 yards. "Clearly the spring-like rule was meant to bar explosive devices, gunpowder or moving parts," says Callaway's chief designer, Dick Helmstetter. Nevertheless, the R&A is moving closer to accepting the USGA conclusion, if not its precise test. An official list of USGA nonconforming clubs was sent to the tours in April, and the R&A will soon follow. Next will come a rule that says you cannot alter the face of a metal wood in any way (for example, filing it down) or it will be considered nonconforming.

But until the USGA and R&A are in alignment, there remains a de facto double standard for drivers. This is not acceptable in a golf world without national boundaries. As a friend of mine says, there is no such thing as e-commerce. E-commerce is a 20th-century term. It's just commerce now. You'll be able to plug into the Internet and order a club from a Nevada Bob's in Singapore delivered by express mail and paid for on your credit card. It'll be as easy as sending flowers.

On the pro side, players of every nationality play on all tours all the time. The LPGA, for instance, plays six events outside the U.S. "It puts us in a somewhat difficult position," says Commissioner Ty Votaw. Then there's the Ryder Cup and other international events where USGA and R&A rules co-mingle.

It makes no sense to have equipment regulated today by two governing bodies. The only solution is something being called The Bermuda Project: a joint venture to create one equipment testing entity. It should be made up of representatives of the USGA and the R&A, with consulting members from the major tours and PGAs, the architects and a rotation of manufacturers. It should give manufacturers what they want and deserve: representation and due process in an open forum. Where to put it? Bermuda--thus, the name.

Any alternative only encourages golf to go in the direction of a recent truckers' tournament in North Carolina, which had the simple slogan: "If you ain't cheatin', you ain't winnin'." Maybe so, but that's not the game most of us want to play.

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