Workin' on a groovy thing
Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I can guarantee one thing we'll be talking about next month.
Anonymous Pro: Not Tiger Woods, I hope.
Van Sickle: No, grooves.
Anonymous Pro: The new grooves rule goes into effect on Jan. 1, and grooves are going to be a bigger deal than the players thought. I tried out some [2010 conforming irons] in California on a course with firm greens and couldn't believe how little spin I got on greenside shots. I've already decided to switch to a softer ball.
Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: At the Pebble Beach Invitational, I walked a couple of holes with four pros using the new grooves. They all said it brings back the high, soft shot, and at a place like Pebble, where the greens are spongy in the winter, you're trying to take spin off shots. The feeling was, players will adapt. The sluggers with mediocre short games will be hurt the most.
Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: The players with better short games will be that much better.
Van Sickle: You mean like Tiger and Phil?
Hack: Exactly. That said, I'm not going to lose any sleep over grooves as an issue.
Anonymous Pro: The new grooves are a night-and-day difference. I hit a chip to one green, and you could literally read the label on the ball it was spinning so little. We're going to have to use height and gravity instead of spin to stop shots. That's old school. I think the rule is going to be a good change. Square grooves spoiled us.
Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: That's so true. More than ever before, players are technocrats. They've got everything so calibrated. You're right in their office with this change. It would be like our bosses saying, You guys write on Macs, but now you're going back to manual typewriters. How ya likin' it? Not so much.
Anonymous Pro: Before players adjust their distance control on flyer lies from the rough, marshals should issue hard hats to the fans.
Shipnuck: The biggest news is that the grooves change is a de facto rollback. Nike's Tom Stites told me that the guys who've switched to softer balls are losing about 10 yards off the tee.
Van Sickle: Wow! There are definitely going to be players moaning about that. At least I hope so.
Second to one
Anonymous Pro: Phil Mickelson is back. I've always been a big Butch Harmon fan, and Phil's work with Butch has really paid off. Phil's misses with his driver are playable now. You didn't notice his swing improvements because they were overshadowed by his abysmal putting. Now that Dave Stockton helped his stroke, Phil has so much confidence, he doesn't care where he drives it. Yeah, that's the old Phil we know and love. He has his swagger back.
Bamberger: Phil will have a great year, but it will be a weird year because he always has weird years. He looks like Nicklaus, then he misses putts and starts switching clubs. At the end of the day, he never looks as ready to win every time out as Tiger does.
Van Sickle: Is Phil ever going to get that U.S. Open?
Bamberger: He had a beautiful chance this year, didn't he?
Anonymous Pro: I see Phil contending at the Masters and the PGA. In fact, I think Tiger will have a tough time beating Phil in Augusta. Phil has to be the favorite.
Hack: I like Phil at the Masters too. Making putts and beating Tiger, head to head in the same group at the Tour Championship — that has to build confidence. I don't know if making that kooky short-game video for hacks like me, pun intended, helped solidify his technique, but if he believes it did, that's the same thing. He'll play his best golf since 2004.
Shipnuck: I don't think there's any doubt that Phil will be a force this year. Tiger has never been more vulnerable. If Phil is ever going to knock him off the pedestal, 2010 is the year.
Hack: I don't see a changing of the guard. The best player in the world still wears red on Sundays.
Who's on third?
Van Sickle: We know Tiger and Phil have historically been a cut above the rest. Who's really No. 3?
Anonymous Pro: Right now it's Steve Stricker. My only question is, at 42, how much longer does he keep pushing? He's gotten pretty close to the top of his mountain. He might be the most normal guy on Tour, and if he decided to spend more time at home, I wouldn't be shocked.
Bamberger: It'll be Rory McIlroy by the end of the year. I watched him play a lot of golf. He's world class at everything except — and this is serious — putting. He's not yet ready to win at Augusta National, but he's solid. If he rises to a Stricker–Justin Leonard level of putting, he could have a Phil-like career.
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