Daly, Wilson find groovy loophole

Dean Wilson digs through the barrel in his garage looking to bang the dust off his old Ping Eye 2 wedges. These wedges have box shaped grooves, the type of grooves that are illegal on the PGA Tour starting in 2010. But, While playing the Sony Open this week in Hawaii (pronounced Ha-wa-eeeeeeee), Wilson and John Daly are relying on a precedent set in the 80s where a court settlement said any Ping-Eye 2 made before April 1, 1990, remains approved under the Rules of Golf.

"That settlement still takes precedence over the new regulation," Dick Rugge, the USGA’s senior technical director, told The Associated Press.

Daly stopped by Ping headquarters in Phoenix, AZ on his way to Hawaii and surprised company officials by the number of old wedges he had found. He says he has eight or nine sets.

Even so, he asked Ping for a set of V-shaped grooves that he might use at Torrey Pines later this month.

"A golf course like San Diego, you want V grooves in your wedges because the greens are so soft,” he said. “Here, you want square grooves. I’ll probably go through the year switching a lot."

Wilson said he hasn’t tried to compare the spin rate on the Ping wedges with new clubs.

“I’m not so much concerned with the grooves as I am the design of the wedge,” Wilson said. “If it does create more spin, great. But I can’t tell you it honestly does.”

Daly said he first tried his old wedges when he played in Australia last month.

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