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Legal Driver?

Posted by: user77192 | Sat 12th Jan 2008 05:50 | Last Reply

Played earlier in the week, and my partner was informed that his driver was now illegal...........is yours?

Here is a link to the R&A for more details

http://www.randa.org/index.cfm?action=rules.equipment.confdrivers

re: Legal Driver?
user80414
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 10:25

Just wondering with regards to the above, how many of you will/have change drivers due to the new law?

Also how many clubs are cracking down and checking the drivers before a medal or other events? 

Cheers

 

 

 

re: Legal Driver?
user33026 [FORUM MODERATOR]
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 11:45

I changed mine.  However when you consider they announced the rule change would come into force back in 2004, I don't think anyone has the right to complain if they are found to have an illeagal one and get disqualified from a comp. 

re: Legal Driver?
user50354
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 17:01

Well I hope you are all on parade at the forth coming North v South match ready for kit muster .

And woe be tide if Darren finds anybody handling illegal weapons...

It will be straight into the cooler dear chaps if he catches ya....

NWOT.........

 


Last edit : Mon 14th Jan 2008 17:01
re: Legal Driver?
user33026 [FORUM MODERATOR]
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 17:20

Question is, what will happen if someone turns up to North v South with an illegal driver?  Will they just be instructed to remove it from their bag before teeing off? 

Interestingly, a lad at work who is playing off 4 showed me his sand wedge which he has just had, in his words, 'regrooved'.  I checked the rules because I thought that this was governed as well and he has effectively converted his wedge into an illegal club!  He didn't realise, but has played in a couple of winter comps with it like that. 

So here's a question.  We expect drivers to be checked at all comps for at least a couple of months, but when the fuss dies down, how often will one of us play with a club in our bag that is illegal without knowing and get away with it because they haven't been checked?

re: Legal Driver?
user52922
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 18:47

Chris, the likely scenario is as you stated, no one will be even thinking about it and IMO the rule should only have been applied to the professional game. It is unfair to expect the amateur to discard clubs which cost around £300 on the whim of some authority.

An illegal club gives no advantage whatsoever to the average amateur.

 

re: Legal Driver?
user50354
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 18:50

Probably won't get checked Chris unless someone is screaming it off the tee ( and winning ) or someone recognises the sound of a particular driver that is banned.

NAFCIH....................

Nice and friendly chap indeed honest....

NWOT.................

re: Legal Driver?
user23840
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 19:47

I was thinking the same John. What good is a driver with a springy head, if it only sends you 30yards further into the trees?.

I'll just stick to my 3 iron. Hit it 250yards today. 

re: Legal Driver?
user9368
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 20:02

Woohoo just checked and mines alright. Now i just have to learn how to hit it

re: Legal Driver?
user52922
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 22:20

Your argument is fine, in principle, Chris, but don't you think that manufacturers of golf clubs should be forced to build them to the specifications laid down at the time.

The rule should have been made that any future clubs have to conform to the regulations, not backdating something which only costs the amateur and no one else.

IMO these so called illegal clubs should be allowed to be used until they are no longer usable, after all, people have paid good money for these clubs.

I would love to be able to avail myself of the rules that the professionals seem to get away with. I too have played many Pro-Ams, probably far more than you, Chris, and I have seen them make up their own rules for each specific tournament.

re: Legal Driver?
user52922
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 22:21

Danny, that is an impressive distance with a 3 iron, but then I don't doubt it having seen you play. Fifty yards past my driver.

re: Legal Driver?
user52922
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 22:41

You drive much longer than me, have a lower handicap than me and you are still complaining.

It is a good thing Danny's wedges also go 250 yds or we would really be in trouble.


Last edit : Mon 14th Jan 2008 22:47
re: Legal Driver?
user52922
Reply : Mon 14th Jan 2008 23:14

But David, you know the answers, don't you.

re: Legal Driver?
user23840
Reply : Tue 15th Jan 2008 08:50

My putting is ok, thats the crazy thing. Played yesterday and chipped and pitched well, for the 1st 3 holes, then it went pear shape again.

re: Legal Driver?
user33026 [FORUM MODERATOR]
Reply : Tue 15th Jan 2008 09:35

What I can't figure out is as they announced the rule change in 2004, why were all the manufacturers still designing and producing new clubs that they knew would become illegal until the last minute.  All comes dwon to one thing - money.  Produce and sell an illegal one then tell the poor golfer he has to replace it a year after he bought it. 

What they should have done is ban the introduction of new designs that were illegal 18 months before the became illegal.  That would have saved some of us from expensive investments with a limited lifespan. 

Anyway, the new rules only make the drivers illegal in competition so you can still use it for a social round and drop it out for a comp if you can't afford to replace it yet.  You may lose out a little on distance by having to use a 3 wood off the tee, but the gain in accuracy may well make up for it.  I watched a PGA event in Spain late last year and they commented that the pros only used their driver twice per 18 anyway. 

re: Legal Driver?
user33026 [FORUM MODERATOR]
Reply : Tue 15th Jan 2008 13:10

Can't remember where it was, but you could well be right.  The commentators were saying that they were regularly sacrificing 30 yards to lay up and give themselves a chance of making the the green in regulation. 

re: Legal Driver?
user25268
Reply : Wed 16th Jan 2008 20:14

Has anyone any knowledge or experience of the Slazenger K 1 speed driver advertised on Setanta golf, is it as good as Sam Torrence say's it is, bearing in mind there giving away a fairway wood and a dozen balls with it. 

re: Legal Driver?
user52922
Reply : Wed 16th Jan 2008 20:46

I have read that the head it is prone to splitting.

re: Legal Driver?
user52922
Reply : Wed 16th Jan 2008 23:05

It seems to me that when these cheap clubs are new that they give as good a performance as any of the well known makes, but the bottom line is, one only gets what one pays for.

Myself I prefer to buy secondhand on ebay, then if it does not do the trick I am not that much out of pocket. Having said that, I now have three drivers, one of which is illegal (I think) and of the other two one has a stiff shaft and one a regular shaft and they are both as bad as one another. Unfortunately a sad case of operator error I'm afraid.

re: Legal Driver?
user79538
Reply : Thu 17th Jan 2008 16:30

I changed my driver at the beginning of January, from an illegal King Cobra, to a Ping G10.  Both clubs were bought 2nd hand from members of my Golf Club, and both were very nearly new when I bought them!  It seems some golfers don't believe in trying before they buy!

I knew the King Cobra was going to be illegal when I bought it 3 years previously, but as Club Secretary, I'd heard all the discussions at County level, from which it seemed the R & A would not bring the rule in for anyone other than "elite" players (i.e. it would not become a rule of golf). When it was originally put forward, Counties could decide if they would introduce the rule straight away for their inter County matches. Where one of the Counties was applying the rule, but the other wasn't; both Counties in a match would have to conform.

One of the teaching Pros at my Club commented that a surprising number of players had already changed their drivers, and I know the first stock of G10's they had went very quickly, and they also have a large stock of legal King Cobra's and other drivers, which are moving well.

Our first competition of the year was on Sunday 6th Jan, and anyone with any doubt came and saw me in the Club office, where I have a print-out (47 pages long!) of the list of illegal drivers from the R & A website.  At least 2 had to leave their drivers in the car!  As everyone has said though - golf is very much self-policing, so all we are doing as a Club is making sure the notice is displayed that players are responsible for checking their clubs are legal, under penalty of disqualification.


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