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McCarron On Phil

Not very happy on the McCarron comments. Phil is not "cheating", he's using clubs that are approved for play. Phil doesn't even like the rule, but he's getting "slandered" publicly.

BTW, I did like Chamblee's comment on the belly & long putters though!
 
When you are a mediocre professional player at best, you have to get your attention somehow. McCarron is a putz!
 
From what I just heard Fred Couples is bringing out his old Ping for the Seniors, (Stated on GC). Another comment was that McCarron has gained a lot of support from the other tour players on this. They sighted it to an "Anti Phil" mentality on the tour?
 
If the old industry guys, like Callaway, were still alive, they may have taken Ping's route by suing the USGA over the groove issue. Ping embarrassed the USGA with this loss in court. Honestly, I was surprised that the USGA would even revisit the groove issue again after Ping beat them last time. I suppose the USGA figured corporations own most of the golf equipment companies now and they are not likely to sue. Not good to explain to your board or Wall Street. Its all about profits now, not principles.
 
I often wonder what would happen if PM, and maybe a few others decided to get into that Race to Dubai, played the Euro tour full time, and left the Scott McCarrons of the PGA to decide their own American PGA fate. I often wondered if something like this were to happen, how badly sponsorship, and prize money would actually suffer. I wonder what the tour talk would have been if TW decided to use Ping wedges. Obviously he would not need to, just a what if. The GC could start running a whole new list of shows. Shows like "As the PGA Turns", or maybe "The Young,and Restless of The PGA". Perhaps "One PGA Life to Live" or "All My PGA Children" could replace some of those pesky infomercials. :D
thedue said:
From what I just heard Fred Couples is bringing out his old Ping for the Seniors, (Stated on GC). Another comment was that McCarron has gained a lot of support from the other tour players on this. They sighted it to an "Anti Phil" mentality on the tour?
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provisional said:
I often wonder what would happen if PM, and maybe a few others decided to get into that Race to Dubai, played the Euro tour full time, and left the Scott McCarrons of the PGA to decide their own American PGA fate. I often wondered if something like this were to happen, how badly sponsorship, and prize money would actually suffer. I wonder what the tour talk would have been if TW decided to use Ping wedges. Obviously he would not need to, just a what if. The GC could start running a whole new list of shows. Shows like "As the PGA Turns", or maybe "The Young,and Restless of The PGA". Perhaps "One PGA Life to Live" or "All My PGA Children" could replace some of those pesky infomercials. :D
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Prov, that was hilarious! I just had no idea Phill was disliked by anyone other than Tiger Woods. He seem's like a bit of a mommy's boy to me, with hugh arms and a great game, but sounds like a lot of nay sayers.
 
Greg Norman lead a rebellion during his heyday that got the tour's attention when he tried to put together a "world tour" of elite golfers. I think it scared the tour into doing some things to allow players more lattitude to play overseas. If Tiger and Phil started the same movement, it might knock some sense into the also rans who have ridden their coat tails into much better purses.
 
Don't hate the player, hate the game and the rules!
 
I am lead to believe (and I don't know for fact) that there is more to this story than Phil putting a Ping wedge into play. I have heard it suggested, and there is no doubt Phil has a deal with Callaway calling for, I have read, 13 Callaway clubs in the bag under the terms of his contract, but that Callaway is at least in part, behind this situation given the fact they have had several wedges recently rejected as none conforming while trying to get something approved for Phil to use.
There could, or could not be a hidden agenda in all of this between Phil, Callaway, the PGA and the USGA. I think Phil (and Callaway) is making a point in all of this to make the USGA look bad while trying to push them to get some of this wedge business clearned up right asap. Just a thought....
I think Phil has simply agreed to be a pawn in all of this for Callaway's sake.
 
More Players Contemplate Using Ping Wedges

Has all the furor surrounding Scott McCarron referring to using Ping Eye 2 wedges with square grooves as "cheating" given players cause of pause? If the talk on the range today at Riviera CC is any indication, not quite.
Tour reps report several players expressing interest in how to acquire the wedges, while three-time major winner Padraig Harrington spent much time practicing with two Ping Eye 2s that he may put in play this week.

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2010/02/-pacific-palisades----has.html


This is getting better by the minute.I hope there will be 60 players using some type of ping club
 
thedue said:
From what I just heard Fred Couples is bringing out his old Ping for the Seniors, (Stated on GC). Another comment was that McCarron has gained a lot of support from the other tour players on this. They sighted it to an "Anti Phil" mentality on the tour?
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Couples is playing at Riviera this week on the regular tour. He is rumored to be bringing Ping i2 wedges and so is Harrington.
 
I saw some headlines Monday on a sports website. Although Ben Cranes's win was at the top of the list, the one that stood out was "Phill Cheats, Daly Quits; And Tiger Who?" I don't know if it stood out was by design, or not. PGA drama at it's best I thought. Nothing in the article about guns in the locker room as yet. I read another story some where that these three guys were pro golf's current "Big Three" in popularity, but for all the wrong reasons.

I am sure this will all get hammered out amongst the PGA membership with in the next few weeks. I don't however think the rule on the new grooves will be changed. With the "spirit of the game/rule" being the war cry of the PGA membership, the rule is good for the game.

Mr. McCarron will have had his time in the lime light.

Perhaps the PM's Callaway wedges will miraculously become conforming after a second look by the ruling body.

JD will come back and win the last two Majors of 2010.

TW will return and win four straight tournaments out of the gate, and eventually the FedEx....again.

Well two out of three might be feasible.:D
 
BigLeftyinAZ said:
More Players Contemplate Using Ping Wedges

Has all the furor surrounding Scott McCarron referring to using Ping Eye 2 wedges with square grooves as "cheating" given players cause of pause? If the talk on the range today at Riviera CC is any indication, not quite.
Tour reps report several players expressing interest in how to acquire the wedges, while three-time major winner Padraig Harrington spent much time practicing with two Ping Eye 2s that he may put in play this week.

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2010/02/-pacific-palisades----has.html


This is getting better by the minute.I hope there will be 60 players using some type of ping club
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All in all, I'd say that this is turning into quite the marketing coup for Ping, wouldn't you say?.



Gee, I wonder if they realized that would happen?

(clearing throat)


-JP
 
USGA has opened a can of worms...
IMO it wasn't a good thing to start with.
Maybe the deal was "we'll stay away from ball technology but you have to give us wedges"...conspiracy theorist
 
What I fail to understand is a statement made last night in McCarron's latest statement. He say's this very senario was pointed out to the USGA and PGA last year. They were told about the Pings and did nothing to address it.

If all of that is true, the USGA should be the "ONLY" ones taking heat for this. IMHO, but as more comes out, I realize I don't really know squat, lol.
 
Just briefly listening to the GC this morning McCarron said that he will not be silenced. They then went on to say that they believe that there will be legal action. They then talked about Harrington and Couples playing Pings this week but also mentioned that the vast majority of players are saying 'just shutup and play."
 
I fall into Phil's way of thinking on this. The rule is black and white which makes the wedges legal. The idea of these guys to just shut up and play seems like the way to go right now.
For the record, I also hate this whole wedge situation. To me the USGA changed the rule because a couple of thousand professions around the world were making it look to easy, so they change the rule and the rest of us that are not so good will suffer for it come 2024. I can hardly spin the ball as it is so it will hurt me and how ever many millions of everyday recreational players there are in the world. Thanks USGA.
What it is, is what it is. 2024 is a long way off.
 
some big names will be slinging pings... freddy... paddy... phil...
and mccarron is supposed to be generating more support?
wow... this is getting ridiculous... he should just call all of them out so freddy and paddy and others can lawyer up and bleed scotty dry
 
This just in...

The Ping marketing department gets hefty pay raise and Tiger Woods comes back to the tour sporting a Louisville Slugger for fear of attack and gets approved for use by the USGA since it has no grooves.
 
Nice to see Phil yesterday in his interview saying he had made his point and would not have the Ping wedge in play this week. However, he did also say that if something was not worked out, he would more than likely add the wedge back to his bag down the road.
I for one am happy Phil made the stand he made, to prove the point the whole thing is screwed up. Something needs to be worked out between the PGA Tour, the USGA and Ping and I'm enough of a optimist, that I think they will come to some kind of agreement pretty quickly. They really don't have much choice and I think in the end if it does get worked out, that many will be thanking Phil for making his point.
 
I'm starting to think that really the whole wedge issue in the first place is wrong. If I understand the stance correctly the USGA felt that players were not being pentalized enough for bad tee shots as they were able to dig out with the higher spinner wedges. If this is correct I would think that the USGA and PGA needs to understand it not always what they want but rather what Joe Fan wants. The galleries love to see these guys reach out with big long bombs and if that's not the pureist side of the game well they need to evaluate what sells. The game needs help right now in marketing and I'm not sure this is the right way to market it. Seems in the end to be much to do about nothing.
 
LefTe said:
I'm starting to think that really the whole wedge issue in the first place is wrong. If I understand the stance correctly the USGA felt that players were not being pentalized enough for bad tee shots as they were able to dig out with the higher spinner wedges. If this is correct I would think that the USGA and PGA needs to understand it not always what they want but rather what Joe Fan wants. The galleries love to see these guys reach out with big long bombs and if that's not the pureist side of the game well they need to evaluate what sells. The game needs help right now in marketing and I'm not sure this is the right way to market it. Seems in the end to be much to do about nothing.
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Maybe some fans enjoy the whole "Bomb and Gouge" approach to golf but overall I think that ship has sailed. People have had more than a few years to be awed by the mile-long tee shots followed by the "miraculous" recovery from deep rough and I think they're getting bored with it.

Granted, I can't speak for everyone and this is just my opinion, but the people I've spoken to as well as the overall tone of posts both here and on other golf forums seems to suggest that fans want to see a return to shotmaking and are tired of watching balls spin back off of greens after being hit there from six-inch deep rough.

I think the public is beginning to understand that there ought to be more to golf than just a driver, a wedge and a putter and I agree with them and welcome any changes made to that end.

But that's me.


-JP
 
JP,
I agree with you I'd rather see a more skilled game but I get a gut feel and I could be out in leftfield on it but Joe Fan doesn't.
 
LefTe said:
JP,
I agree with you I'd rather see a more skilled game but I get a gut feel and I could be out in leftfield on it but Joe Fan doesn't.
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You're probably right because judging by what's on TV these days, most people seem to be very easily entertained. I grew up in the era of Nicklaus, Watson, Weiskopf, et al and maybe I was spoiled by that.

But I'd rather watch a guy thread a long iron around some trees to a tight pin than to watch someone take a shovel and hit a 50 yard "approach" shot ten yards past the pin and have it suck back nine yards.

But that's me.


-JP
 
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JPsuff said:
You're probably right because judging by what's on TV these days, most people seem to be very easily entertained. I grew up in the era of Nicklaus, Watson, Weiskopf, et al and maybe I was spoiled by that.
But I'd rather watch a guy thread a long iron around some trees to a tight pin than to watch someone take a shovel and hit a 50 yard "approach" shot ten yards past the pin and have it suck back nine yards.
But that's me.
-JP
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I agree. I grew up in your era as well. However.....I tend to play the more modern brand of golf myself, missed fairway, wedge into the green from the rough...only without the "suck it back" ten yards part. Many everyday players need the added spin of our current wedges and it will be "us" that suffer the most come 2024 by this change. The pro's will make the adjustment quickly but there are no world class players playing where I play. Why change the rules to hurt millions of players, just to make it harder for a couple of thousand pro's worldwide. That could have been done with firmer greens at the tour stops. JAT
 
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