"It had a pop when you hit it, like a gun going off," Smith recalled last week.
After
a few more swipes, Smith handed the ERC II to Evans. Even with his old
driver, Evans routinely bombs tee shots to the far end of Talamore's
range, 280 yards away. But with the ERC II, he bounced one off the
second floor of a house that sits 30 yards beyond the end of the range.
He and Smith stood there in disbelief.
"We thought it was a fluke," said Smith. "So Keith hit another one."
Bam. Same house, same spot.
"I can see why the USGA made it illegal," Smith said. "God forbid Tiger Woods should get one of those things in his hands."
If the U.S. Golf Association has anything to say about it, Woods won't, and neither will you.
Because
of the ERC II's combination of space-age materials and high-tech
construction, Callaway's latest offering to golfers has been declared
"nonconforming" under the rules of golf by the USGA and banned from any
and all competition, professional and amateur, from the U.S. Open down
to casual rounds among friends. In recent weeks, the USGA has gone so
far as warn golfers nationwide not to even post a score toward their
handicap if they use the club.
Not even Callaway makes specific
claims about how much farther the ERC II enables a golfer to hit a ball -
anecdotal reports say anywhere from 10 to 30 yards - but the USGA says
the increase is enough to render many golf courses defenseless and
jeopardize the integrity of the game.
What has set the golf world
on its ear in recent months is that California-based Callaway, one of
the largest, most influential and generally respected manufacturers in
the golf industry, is fighting back.
"Nobody likes this kind of
confrontation, but they [USGA] have a bad cause here," Larry Dorman,
vice president of Callaway, said last week. "We are going to continue
this fight, and we are going to sell these products."
Not
surprisingly, Callaway is quick to point out that the game's two top
governing bodies do not agree about the club. While it is banned by the
USGA, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of Scotland, which rules golf
elsewhere in the world, reviewed essentially the same data and concluded
that the club was no threat to the game. The ERC II remains legal
outside the United States, even on the European PGA Tour.
Callaway
also points out that the USGA has been wrong before about improved
technology spoiling the game. During the 1920s, the USGA resisted for
five years as the game was seeing a transition from hickory shafts to
metal. The USGA caved in only after it found itself being largely
ignored by clubmakers and golfers.
But at the heart of Callaway's
argument is that the USGA is out of touch with ordinary golfers in this
country. As Callaway sees it, the USGA is concerned only with protecting
the game from the likes of PGA Tour pros to the detriment of the masses
of recreational golfers.
Fine, don't allow the ERC II in
tournaments, concedes Callaway. But why make it illegal for the hapless
bloke struggling to break 100 or even get the golf ball airborne?
"There
is no threat to the game, at least not from 98 percent of the people
who play it," said Callaway's Dorman. "The USGA is trying to protect the
game from an elite few, but why impose the same rules on everybody?
There is no good reason to restrict people from hitting the ball a
little farther."
Meanwhile, caught in the middle of this clash of
titans are the thousands of golf professionals from coast to coast who
are beginning to stock their pro shops for the coming season.
Do
they toe the USGA line and refuse to sell a banned club? Their own
professional association, the PGA of America, has said it's a decision
that's ultimately up to the individual pro, while at the same time
stating publicly that its loyalties lie with the USGA.
"Quite
honestly, it puts the PGA pro in an awkward situation," Jack Lutz,
executive director of the Philadelphia section of the PGA, said last
week.
Many club professionals suddenly find themselves in the
position of telling their members and customers that they will not sell
the club, at least not so long as the USGA says it is illegal. Lutz also
worries that pros will be cast in the role of police officers, having
to check golfers' bags for the ERC II during club tournaments.
The
ERC II is readily available in most golf discount stores and from
mail-order catalogs and internet golf shops. At Washington Golf Center
in Conshohocken, owner Ken Chung said the ERC II sales had so far been
fair since he got the first shipment of a dozen in early December.
"We've
sold about half of them," he said. "A lot of club pros won't carry
them, and that's an advantage for us. But I think members of private
clubs are hestitant to buy them."
But by Callaway's own
accounting, only 11 on-course pro shops in the area stock the ERC II or
are awaiting delivery of a shipment. Forty to 50 other pro shops have
said they will begin stocking it in the spring or will place a special
order if a member requests it.
"I don't know anyone in this area
who's carrying it," said John Allen, head pro at Sunnybrook Golf Club in
Plymouth Meeting. "If a member asks me to get one, I'd have to tell
them I wouldn't. I've got to stick with the USGA on this."
At
Whitemarsh Valley Country Club in Lafayette Hill, head pro Jim Bromley
sent a letter before Christmas advising members that he would not sell
the club, that members could not post a score if they used the club, and
that the club would not be allowed in tournaments at Whitemarsh.
"It
was an easy decision for me," said Bromley. "The club is illegal. I
sent the letter out because I didn't want somebody's wife to buy them
the club outside of Whitemarsh and give it to them for Christmas."
Smith,
at Talamore, is one of the few area pros who is stocking the ERC II,
even though it will be banned in club tournaments. He decided to do so
only after meeting with the members of the club's golf committee.
"I asked them what they thought, and no one voiced a major problem with me carrying it," Smith said last week.
He
ordered two clubs, both of which sold quickly to elderly members. "Both
of the guys who bought it are very casual golfers," Smith said. "They
don't post scores, and they don't play in tournaments. For them, a few
extra yards is the difference between having fun and not having fun.
"I'm not doing this to rock the boat or make anybody mad, I'm just trying to do what the members want me to do."
Still, Smith concedes that he is walking a "fine line."
"I
consider myself a traditionalist," he said. "But my bottom line is, if a
guy doesn't care about posting a score, doesn't play in tournaments,
just wants to have fun, God bless him. I think I'm doing what the USGA
and PGA stand for, which is to promote the game and help people enjoy
it."
