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Notebook: The * Open Hot Drivers at St. AndrewsBy Jaime Diaz
 The July 20-23 British Open should be a classic. The tournament will be at St. Andrews, on the Old Course. This Open, the 129th, will be Jack Nicklaus's last, and his final walk up the 18th fairway is sure to be emotional. To celebrate the new millennium, all 27 of the living past winners have been invited to a nostalgic four-hole exhibition the day before the first round. Despite all that, this year's British Open might wind up as the one with the asterisk because the winner used a driver subsequently found to be in violation of the Rules of Golf. The USGA has tested 11 thin-faced, titanium-headed drivers and ruled that they exceed the limit on the so-called springlike effect and are therefore illegal in the U.S. and Mexico. But the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, which administers the game in the rest of the world, said last week that it won't have its own testing procedure for springlike effect in place until October. So while the R&A sides with the USGA philosophically on hot drivers, the R&A will not be able to ban them until well after the British Open. The news is sure to produce a rush in Europe and Japan to use the outlaw clubs. The maker of one of them, Callaway, claims that 19 players used its ERC driver at last week's Benson & Hedges. The number of players with hot clubs is expected to be higher at the British Open. Vijay Singh was working with one on the range at the Nelson with an eye toward St. Andrews. All of which leads to the question: If the R&A does eventually concur with the USGA on the drivers, and the winner of the British Open used a club that was later declared nonconforming, will that player's victory be tainted? "I think it will be," answers five-time British Open winner Tom Watson. "The USGA is doing the right thing. So, yes, to me there would always be a question mark if the winner won using one of those drivers." But Watson was in the minority among the players we asked. "If it is legal at the time, there won't be a problem," says Colin Montgomerie, who is paid to play Callaway clubs and has been practicing with that company's hot driver but has not used it in competition. Says Davis Love III, "It makes sense to play the club if it is within the rules." Adds Loren Roberts, "If everyone has the same opportunity to use the club, what does it matter?" It appears likely that the 156-man field at the British Open will be split into two camps: those who play hot drivers and those who don't. The public will be curious to see if those playing hot clubs have an advantage. "If a guy is hitting it noticeably farther than normal, people may wonder if there should be some kind of Roger Maris asterisk attached to the victory," says David Fay, executive director of the USGA. "The rules are supposed to eliminate those kind of philosophical questions, and that's why the ruling bodies are frustrated." The Royal Canadian Golf Association has already broken ranks with its governing body, the R&A, and sided with the USGA in outlawing hot drivers. Last week Callaway sued the RCGA over that decision. "What it comes down to," says Fay, "is two words: legal issues." Fay explains that while the two governing bodies have achieved uniformity on almost all the rules, those relating to balls and clubs are problematic because any evidence showing that the associations have colluded on a decision that negatively affects an equipment manufacturer could be grounds for an antitrust suit. "The American legal system makes it important that we do our investigations independently," says David Rickman, rules secretary of the R&A. Adds Fay, "It may look like there is a split with the R&A, but it's more that we have to take divergent and time-consuming routes to get to the same place."
High on Lead Hand Low Slowly but surely the cross-handed putting grip -- a.k.a. lead hand low or left hand low -- is becoming the technique of choice instead of the grip of last resort among pro golfers. Top players like Fred Couples, Jim Furyk, Scott Hoch, Lee Janzen, Vijay Singh, Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb putt cross-handed, and lately practitioners have been storming the leader board. Singh won the Masters, and three weeks ago both golfers in the playoff in Houston, Robert Allenby and Craig Stadler, went left hand low. At New Orleans, Blaine McCallister added his own twist, putting left-handed with his right hand low. The trend has also reached the college and junior levels. Officials estimate that about 10% of the top amateurs putt lead hand low. "Five years ago you barely saw any young players going cross-handed," says Oklahoma State men's coach Mike Holder, who has guided the Cowboys to seven NCAA titles in a 27-year career. Why the switch? Dave Pelz, who teaches the cross-handed as well as the traditional method at his short-game schools, believes lead hand low is sounder biomechanically. "It's more instinctive," says Pelz, who in the '70s taught a college class for beginners in which half his students putted conventionally and the other half lead hand low. The lead hand low group had better results every semester. "The power hand -- the right hand for a right-hander -- is passive because the left hand stays in control leading the putter down the line," says Pelz. The smoother and faster greens get, the more popular lead hand low putting will become, predicts Pelz. "The question is not if the majority of touring pros will be doing it," he says, "but rather when will they." Issue date: May 22, 2000
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