Both sides have come out swinging in this golf fight The San Diego Union - Tribune; San Diego, Calif.; Dec 12, 2000; Tod Leonard;

Abstract:
Golf has reached its fork in the highway because company patriarch [Ely Reeves Callaway], with the endorsement of icon and USGA Membership chairman Arnold Palmer, thumbed his nose at the USGA in an effort, he says, to tap a large market of so-called "recreational" golfers who would like to hit the ball just a little bit more like Tiger Woods.

Ely Callaway was in a particularly feisty mood Friday. Early that morning, the USGA, in e-mails to its members and a posting on its Web site, reiterated its stance on the ERC II, warning that using the driver and posting a score at a USGA-affiliated club was strictly forbidden.

"Callaway manufactured this golf club knowing that it would be deemed illegal by the USGA," [Mike Mathison II] said. "Isn't that a slap in the face of the USGA? ... The USGA really needs to take a firm, hard, tough stand on this one."

Full Text:
Copyright SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY Dec 12, 2000

Bruce Miller was fidgeting with anticipation. The 60-year-old auto broker from Oceanside was about to stand up in front of his fellow members at a recent Torrey Pines Golf Course men's club meeting and say his piece about Callaway's controversial ERC II driver, the one outlawed by the U.S. Golf Association.

Miller, a staunch traditionalist, was vehemently opposed to the use of the driver, but he didn't know what the reception would be from the other golfers. Still, he spoke emotionally, passionately, asking the membership to "keep the mystery alive" in golf.

When Miller's speech was over, not a peep was heard. "I thought I might get catcalls," he said. "I thought somebody would stand up and oppose me. There wasn't a one."

A minor miracle, because these days getting even a small roomful of people to form a consensus on the ERC II is like getting the same people to agree about the recount of the presidential vote in Florida. Good luck. Seldom in the 105-year history of the USGA has a debate been so rancorous, so heartfelt, as the one currently being waged about Callaway's driver. It has divided golfers and teaching pros, merchants and manufacturers. It has shaken the game to its foundation and, some say, threatens to change it forever.

"We are at a crossroads," is the way Pete Coe, the head professional at La Jolla Country Club, puts it.

Golf has reached its fork in the highway because company patriarch Ely Callaway, with the endorsement of icon and USGA Membership chairman Arnold Palmer, thumbed his nose at the USGA in an effort, he says, to tap a large market of so-called "recreational" golfers who would like to hit the ball just a little bit more like Tiger Woods.

The ERC and ERC II drivers have been deemed non-conforming by the USGA because of an excessive "trampoline effect" created by a large, high-tech, abnormally thin clubface. Some professionals claim to have driven the ball 30 yards farther with the ERC II, although some tests have placed the advantage at 10 yards or less.

The Callaway clubs didn't bother the Royal & Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews -- the body that governs the rest of the world's golf -- which said, after much study, the trampoline effect and extra distance were not a threat to the game and allowed such big-name pros as 1999 British Open champ Paul Lawrie to use the ERC II in overseas events. The R&A decision also opened the door for Callaway to sell the drivers worldwide and, ultimately, make the decision to market them in the U.S.

It was an audacious, unprecedented move by a large company in a sport that more than any other prides itself on playing by the rules. "Probably 95 percent of the people out there would like to get more enjoyment out of their game," said Ely Callaway, who believes golfers "absolutely" should be allowed to post scores using it. "They love the idea of every now and then hitting to a place on the golf course they've never hit before. We don't think that's bad for the game."

Ely Callaway was in a particularly feisty mood Friday. Early that morning, the USGA, in e-mails to its members and a posting on its Web site, reiterated its stance on the ERC II, warning that using the driver and posting a score at a USGA-affiliated club was strictly forbidden. It is that specific issue that is Callaway's biggest hurdle to massive sales of the ERC II, because there are millions of golfers who have never played in a tournament, but still post every score to maintain a handicap and compete with friends.

"I have a buddy who will absolutely not play me for money if I use that driver," said Chuck Skillern, a Pro Golf Discount general manager who received his ERC II free from Callaway. "He says no way. Even after all those 3-foot putts I've given him ... "

So it becomes a choice: post a score or get extra yards off the tee and deal with the possible stigma that comes with it.

"I don't think anybody who plays with our club should be branded a cheater or a second-class citizen," said Callaway, whose initials -- Ely Reeves Callaway -- grace his new club. "That's bad for the game. The USGA should be encouraging people to play the game, not discouraging them." Club professionals are the red bandana tied to the middle of a rope in this gigantic tug-of-war. Their parent organization, the PGA of America, has predictably sided with the USGA, and the pros are expected to teach and uphold the rules of the game. But if their members and students demand to buy and use the club, what are they supposed to do?

In Coe's case, he tells them they'll have to get the ERC II somewhere else. As the owner of the pro shop at La Jolla CC, he has refused to sell the driver.

"I'm not selling clubs out of a big warehouse downtown," Coe said. "I'm with my members every day. I give lessons. I fit people with equipment. I just think it would be hypocritical of me to sell them something that is nonconforming, and then turn around and say that they can't post scores or use it in a club tournament.

"If I'm losing business because I'm not carrying the club, that's all right. I'm proud of the decision I've made."

For the same reason, Warner Springs head pro Mike Mathison II said he wouldn't stock the club.

"Callaway manufactured this golf club knowing that it would be deemed illegal by the USGA," Mathison said. "Isn't that a slap in the face of the USGA? ... The USGA really needs to take a firm, hard, tough stand on this one."

There are other pros who have had no problem drawing the line between the rules and commerce.

At Rancho Santa Fe Country Club, head pro Chuck Courtney said he doesn't agree with Callaway's decision to market the non-conforming driver, and he has told members they can't use it in competition. But his pro shop already has sold out its first allotment of 10 ERC IIs. "It's not that big of a deal," Courtney said. "I think they've made a mountain out of a molehill myself. These golfers want to hit the ball farther. The club works."

John Mason, the head pro at Encinitas Ranch, has a similar approach. "I have no problem with the club in an amateur's hands," Mason said. "Anything that gives the amateur more enjoyment, I'm for it." It's that kind of philosophy that makes Coe angry.

"They might as well be politicians and run for office," Coe said, "because they're just trying to keep everybody happy." There are some who believe the USGA has picked the wrong time and the wrong issue on which to take a stand.

A rule against using clubs with an excessive "spring-like effect" was created in 1984, but a test for it wasn't put to use until September 1998, three months after the USGA announced at the U.S. Open that it would crack down on manufacturers due to concerns that long hitters would eventually threaten the "sanctity of par."

The USGA tested all clubs at that time, firing balls at a fixed clubhead. The speed at which the ball came off the face -- an occurrence that takes about three-millionths of a second -- should be less than 82.2 percent of the incoming speed. Balls off the ERC II clubface exceeded that.

By the time the USGA acted, though, it was clearly playing catchup to the largest clubmakers, who had invested millions in research and development to create better products in a brutally competitive business. Average driving distance on the PGA Tour already had gone up by almost 10 yards during the 1990s.

"The USGA has a habit of Monday-morning quarterbacking," said Lee Trevino, a 33-year professional on the PGA and Senior PGA tours. "They come into a situation too late. These companies do a tremendous amount of R&D, they come up with these great golf clubs, and then the USGA looks at them and says, `Oh no, you can't have this one.'

"Right now, if I were the USGA, I would step away and leave it alone, because it's their fault. You can't buy the kind of publicity Callaway has gotten from this. It's like the Casey Martin thing. I begged the (PGA Tour) commissioner to leave it alone. Because whether you win or lose, you're the bad guys. It's a no-win situation."

Dean Knuth, the USGA's director of handicapping from 1981-97, agrees. He recently wrote an article chastising the USGA for jeopardizing its entire handicapping system over such a highly technical issue.

"The USGA has drawn a line in the sand and put it in the wrong place," Knuth said. "The (handicapping) system is near and dear to my heart, and using it as a hammer against these non-conforming clubs is a big mistake."

Knuth said many more rules violations are committed every day with things like mulligans and gimme putts, but he would still rather see players post scores than not. He also believes that, with 17 being the average index for male golfers in this country and 31 for females, a little extra driving distance will not terribly alter the game.

"Do you think the average man or woman in America thinks the ball goes too far?" Knuth said. "I don't think they do."

The USGA, however, has dug in its heels. A reversal of its current stance is highly unlikely.

"Our job is to uphold the rules of golf," said Dick Rugge, who became the USGA's senior technical director last June after working for years on the other side of the fence, as Taylor Made's president of product creation. "I think there is a testing of the rules right now in the guise of these non-conforming clubs. It's a great test, and golf will be well- served by it. And I expect the rules will prevail."

In the ERC II battle, the consumer has spoken loudly. The drivers are selling for $499 at most outlets in San Diego and are being quickly snatched up.

At three Pro Golf Discount stores, 50 ERC IIs have been sold in three weeks. Golfsmith started with 28. They're gone. Golf Mart in Mission Valley: 35. Gone.

"People are buying the club without even swinging it," said Golfsmith sales manager John Jacinto. "They know that it's illegal, so they figure it must be great."

However, an employee at another store, who asked not to be identified, said most of his ERC IIs have been purchased by foreigners who are buying in bulk. There is talk that Japanese businessmen are buying them here and returning to Japan to sell them at a big profit.

"I wouldn't say the club is a real hot item among a lot of our customers," the employee said. "There's been quite a bit of backlash."

That news might buoy the spirits of purists, some who say they are less concerned with the specifics of the ERC II issue than what the longterm repercussions are.

"Callaway has opened up a Pandora's box," La Jolla's Coe said. "Will people want to start using illegal balls now or other illegal equipment? Where does it end? It could have a big snowball effect." Taylor Made, Callaway's Carlsbad neighbor and one of its most bitter rivals, was quick to chastise its competitor after the ERC II bombshell and has since mounted a campaign by posting a "white paper" on its Web site in an attempt to, interestingly enough, discount the virtues of the spring-like effect.

Taylor Made has its own popular line of conforming drivers, the 300 Series, which have produced 22 professional wins worldwide since July. But the company also understands the reality of the marketplace, and last week it introduced for the first time a USGA non-conforming driver in Japan. Robert Erb, Taylor Made's vice president of global marketing, said the company has no plans to market the club in the U.S. But Erb admits he will closely watch the ERC II's sales.

"We can't be in a position of competitive disadvantage," Erb said. "If the clubs aren't enforcing (the rules), if the USGA doesn't come out aggressively against them, then we're not naive enough to sit back and do nothing."

Miller, the Torrey Pines men's club member, is hoping it doesn't come to that. The man who has had two hip replacement surgeries and still sports a 7.2 index laments the quick-fix mentality behind the use of a non-conforming club.

"People like Callaway don't have a clue about the integrity or the original intent of this game," Miller said. "It's changing so rapidly. Why don't we just give everybody a doctor's degree, too. Will there be no more skill involved?"

Miller has urged the men's club to post a picture of the ERC II on the club's bulletin board, although the members won't have to travel too far to see one in person. Across the hall, the pro shop is awaiting a shipment of three of the clubs after Christmas.

That incenses Miller, who says he will continue to loudly decry the driver to anyone who cares to listen.

"The game has an amazing attraction and power that brings us back, because it's so hard to master," Miller said, his voice rising with emotion. "If you keep chipping away and chipping away at it, it might as well be bowling for heaven sakes.

"Hopefully," he added, "we can form a cult of old guys who love the game and will fight for it to the bitter end." What makes it long

Callaway's Variable Face Thickness technology allows for extremely thin areas around the perimeter, creating a trampoline effect in the middle. Internal hosel moves weight away from clubface, increasing clubhead's hitting area and, therefore, its forgiveness.

The 330cc head is approximately 11 percent larger than the original ERC, giving it a bigger sweet spot. An internal weight chip in the rear of the clubhead fine-tunes the center of gravity for higher launch angle and lower spin.

Credit: 3. Lenny Ignelzi / Associated Press
Credit: STAFF WRITER