The USGA "eased fears" yesterday by announcing that
"virtually all" clubs now in use or on the market should
conform to a proposed new testing procedure that will
measure the "spring-like" effect in club heads, according to
Leonard Shapiro of the WASHINGTON POST. At a press
conference at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, the USGA
said that it will release to manufacturers over the next two
weeks the specifics of its new procedures, based on the
"rebound velocity" of a golf ball off a club face. It will
convene a meeting this fall to get further input from the
industry on testing protocol, "then hold a final meeting of
its Exec Committee to approve a specific set of standards."
USGA Exec Dir David Fay said that the organization "was not
influenced by the possibility of litigation from [golf]
manufacturers," but Shapiro adds that public opinion, "may
have played a role" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/18). In Dallas,
Brad Townsend reports that instead of "attempting to scale
back technology, the USGA in effect wants to cap it" (DALLAS
MORNING NEWS, 6/18). In Chicago, Len Ziehm reports that the
USGA considered more radical legislation, including limiting
golf ball technology, reducing the number of clubs allowed
in a player's bag and limiting the length of the club shafts
and size of clubheads, "but instead attacked a poorly worded
line in the Rules of Golf. The rule states that 'the
material and construction of the club shall not have the
effect at impact of a spring'" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 6/18).
E-LYING LOW: Callaway Golf Chair Ely Callaway, a critic
of any potential USGA ban, said yesterday's decision was "a
welcome change in attitude from what we understood it to be
in the middle of May. They felt they had a charter to roll
the game back equipment-wise and ban certain clubs. That
was not the impression we got today" (WASHINGTON POST,
6/18). Callaway stock climbed $1.25, or 6.7%, to close at
$19.81 yesterday on the NYSE (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/18).
BABY STEPS: In Atlanta, Glenn Sheeley said the USGA
announced "a relatively conservative plan," although future
standards "are expected to be tougher" (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 6/18). In Akron, Micheal Weinreb calls the
plan a "modest proposal. ... The question, however, is
whether it will restrict future technology" (BEACON JOURNAL,
6/18). In N.Y., Luke Cyphers wrote that "doomsday seems to
have been averted" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/18). Also in N.Y.,
Dave Anderson writes that "sanity, if not sympathy, has
prevailed" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/18). CNN's Jim Huber called the
move "much ado about very little" ("Sports Tonight," 6/17).
