Leading Edge

Srixon Sports announced the launch of the new Trispeed and Trispeed Tour golf balls.  

The new TRISPEED golf ball is a premium three-piece distance ball designed for all types of golfers. The construction combines a soft mid-layer with a large and highly resilient Energetic Gradient Growth core to produce a high launch angle with low spin that results in extreme distance and great feel with any club. The larger core coupled with the 324 dimple design promotes a penetrating ball trajectory that is unyielding to windy conditions. The Trispeed is a low compression ball designed to produce low spin off the driver. This low spin performance will produce more distance for most golfers, who tend to produce too much spin off the driver. Compared to the original Trispeed, which was widely known for its exceptional distance, the new Trispeed boasts a thinner cover and bigger core. This combination will produce more ball speed aiding the golfer in achieving more distance. 

The Trispeed Tour offers a nice complement to the new Trispeed. The Trispeed Tour is a premium three-piece distance and control ball with tour caliber performance for all types of golfers. The overall performance maximizes spin without sacrificing distance by combining a thinner and softer cover with a slightly higher compression core. The core uses Energetic Gradient Growth core technology to optimize driver distance and greenside spin control. With its softer cover and firmer core compression, the Trispeed Tour will produce that additional spin around the greens and on approach shots that certain golfers demand in their ball. 

“The new Trispeed and Trispeed Tour golf balls bring added performance without sacrificing distance,” said Chris Beck, Brand Manager for Srixon. “With these two new offerings, golfers can find an upgrade from the 2-piece ball they are currently playing without having to pay the higher costs associated with urethane balls.”

The new Trispeed and Trispeed Tour golf balls will begin shipping immediately to retailers and will carry a suggested price of $29.99.

In response to the discussion relating to the groove regulation and the use of Ping Eye 2 irons manufactured prior to April 1, 1990, Ping chairman and CEO John Solheim issued the following statement Monday:

Over the last several weeks we’ve watched with great interest the impact of the Ping Eye 2 and its role in the USGA’s 2010 groove regulation. We’ve read and heard numerous inaccurate reports from various sources, including several PGA Tour professionals, about the new groove regulation, specifically that “U” or “Square” grooves are “banned” as part of the regulation. As the USGA states on its Web site:

“A common misconception is that “V” shaped grooves will be required under the new specifications and that “U” shaped grooves will no longer be allowed. This is not the case.”

This misconception has contributed to Ping Eye 2 irons being characterized as “non-conforming” or “illegal” and has created a division among many of the players on the PGA Tour.

We’re thankful that the PGA Tour helped clarify this issue in a statement last weekend:

“Under the Rules of Golf and the 2010 Condition of Competition for Groove Specifications promulgated by the USGA, pre-1990 Ping Eye 2 irons are permitted for play and any player who uses them in PGA Tour sanctioned events taking place in jurisdictions of the USGA is not in violation of the Rules of Golf; and

Because the use of pre-1990 Ping Eye 2 irons is permitted for play, public comments or criticisms characterizing their use as a violation of the Rules of Golf as promulgated by the USGA are inappropriate at best.”

Naturally, this entire episode takes us back more than 20 years when our company took a stand against both the USGA and PGA Tour over their attempts to ban Ping Eye 2 irons because of the grooves. In an effort to protect the interests of the millions of Ping Eye 2 owners who had purchased their clubs in good faith and for the good of the game, we negotiated an agreement with the USGA which “grandfathered” all Ping Eye 2 irons manufactured prior to April 1, 1990.

In 1993, the PGA Tour agreed they “will not in the future adopt or attempt to adopt any separate PGA Tour rule which would prohibit the use of U-grooves on any golf club if such PGA Tour rule differed from a USGA rule.”

When the USGA proposed the new groove rule more than two years ago, we reminded them of their agreement relative to the Ping Eye 2 irons. At the time, I was vehemently against any new groove rule for a variety of reasons and advised both the

USGA and PGA Tour in a letter dated July 31, 2007 that what is happening on the PGA Tour today was very much a possibility.

The recent statement from the PGA Tour and several PGA Tour players that they could invoke a “local rule” required us to remind the PGA Tour of the terms of the agreement which prohibits them from straying from a rule that “differed from a USGA rule.”

While I fully expect the PGA Tour to honor this agreement, I’m willing to discuss a workable solution to this matter that would benefit the game and respect the role innovation has played over the long history of golf.”

ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s a testament to Randy Myers’ skills as a fitness trainer to PGA Tour stars.

Boo Weekley’s seeking his help in a bid to avoid the shoulder malady that plagued him last year.

“Boo's focusing on being more into fitness and health,” Myers said from the PGA Merchandise Show, where he was working the True fitness exhibit. “Boo is what I would call country strong, but he’s getting older and he just needs somebody to tend to his body.”

Myers helped develop the TrueStretch Golf Regimen. Stretching’s a major part of Weekley’s new golf training routine. Weekley was diagnosed with a labrum tear in his left shoulder last summer and Myers has helped him avoid surgery through a workout and stretching program.

“His shoulder's fine,” Myers said. “He just needs to be stretched consistently.”

Myers, who also was at the PGA Merchandise Show endorsing Nuun, a sugar-free hydration product, is the director of fitness for Sea Island Resorts in Georgia. His golf clients also include Davis Love III, Lucas Glover, Zach Johnson, Jonathan Byrd, Charles Howell III, Bo Van Pelt, Brandt Snedeker, Dustin Johnson and Steve Marino.

ORLANDO, Fla. – It should come as no surprise that Ping Chairman and CEO John Solheim doesn’t believe Phil Mickelson’s a cheater.

Of course, he doesn’t believe Mickelson’s violating the spirit of the Rules of Golf, either, by using Ping Eye 2 wedges with square grooves.

But Solheim isn’t surprised grooves are becoming such a divisive issue within the PGA Tour family.

He remembers the painful division within his own family after Ping settled its lawsuit over square grooves with the U.S. Golf Association and later the PGA Tour.

“It affected my relationship with my dad,” Solheim told GolfChannel.com during Friday’s PGA Merchandise Show. “He wasn’t happy with me settling the lawsuit. It was more for me to settle it with my dad than it was with the USGA. That was the harder part of getting the agreement.”

Karsten Solheim, John's father, introduced square grooves to his Ping Eye 2 irons in 1984. The USGA would later ban those grooves.

Twenty years ago, John spearheaded the negotiation that led to Ping settling out of court. That settlement’s at the heart of the debate raging within the PGA Tour ranks over whether Mickelson’s use of Ping Eye 2 irons with square grooves violates the spirit of the Rules of Golf. Though square-groove design violates new rules in effect this year, the out-of-court settlement makes Ping Eye 2 irons manufactured before March 31, 1990, approved for play. The square grooves in those clubs are grandfathered into the rules.

John said his father wanted to keep fighting the USGA and PGA Tour until a legal victory was won.

“He was pretty tough,” John said. “A lot of why he was so tough is that they were leaving engineering principles totally behind. That just ripped his guts out.”

Today's debate conjurs memories of old wounds.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Not often do you ever here the words cute and golf in the same sentence together, but these bag covers from MiniZoo, LLC could possibly make even a grown man say “awwwww.”

A fully functional bag cover, including the head cover for when the rain starts to fall, the animal shaped bags come in sizes to fit any bag on the market. There are also zippers for easy access to all the normal bag compartments.

Can you expect to see these on the PGA Tour anytime soon? Probably not, but you never know when the Pink Panther herself might want one.

John Spitzer from the U.S. Golf Association spoke to Golf Channel staff today to further explain the new groove rules. I felt this reasoning cleared up what perhaps is a common misconception.

Spitzer said they did not put the new grooves in place to simply penalize golfers from missing the fairway. If that was the case the USGA would have moved the out of bounds stakes closer to the fairway and would’ve just assessed a penalty stroke. In the same token, they didn’t want to grow the rough either by a few inches to cause an automatic disadvantage to the golfer. Instead, they wanted to add the question back into it. When a golfer is out of position off the tee they want the golfer to assess his options instead of just gouging the ball out of the rough and finding the green.

After testing an array of scenarios (U groves, V-like grooves, and no grooves) with players of all levels, the USGA, jointly with the R&A, determined that the V-like grooves are the best way to add the question back into the game.