The Week: Complicated Compromise

An overdue truce between ruling bodies unifies the rules -- in 2008

By Alan Shipnuck

The USGA and the R&A okayed the ERC II for amateurs for five years. Courtesy of Callaway Golf GOLF PLUS EXTRA Big Play: Derek Hardy TRUST ME If there is a conflict next year, Tiger Woods will play the Byron Nelson Classic, not the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open. Woods reveres Nelson and knows it would be a p.r. disaster to dis Lord Byron in favor of a seven-figure appearance fee. NEXT UP PGA: MasterCard Colonial Senior: Instinet Classic LPGA: Asahi Ryokuken International Championship European: Deutsche Bank-SAP Open INSTANT POLL Will you play a hot driver knowing that it will later be deemed nonconforming? Yes No View Results

After four years of posturing and overheated rhetoric, the great driver debate was finally settled last week, and truth be told, the resolution was a bit of a letdown. What was billed as the battle for the game's soul pitted a couple of heavyweights -- tradition and technology -- against each other, but last Thursday the controversy ended not in fisticuffs, or even litigation, but rather in a blizzard of cloying press releases.

Thanks to a historic meeting of the minds between the USGA and the R&A, a so-called condition of competition is expected to be enacted on Jan. 1, 2003, freezing the maximum coefficient of restitution (COR), or springlike effect, for drivers at .830, the legal limit that the USGA established in 1998. This number will apply only to "highly skilled players" -- that is, those who compete at all levels of professional golf and top amateur events, though details are still being worked out on the latter. Between New Year's Day and Dec. 31, 2007, recreational players will be permitted to use hot drivers with elevated CORs of up to .860, creating a five-year window during which, for the first time, touring pros will be playing under a different set of rules than their fans. On Jan. 1, 2008, there will once again be uniformity for all levels of golf, as weekend duffers go back to the future, with their drivers limited to a max COR of .830.

Here are the winners and losers in this tortured treaty.

THE WINNERS

USGA Golf's true believers fought the good fight -- and won. The association's science is now the bedrock of the sport's rules.

Manufacturers Distance-hungry amateurs who were ashamed to use a nonconforming club will be plunking down $500 for the latest atomic drivers. With ERC IIs already rolling off the assembly line, Callaway is well positioned to cash in, but last week TaylorMade issued a press release boasting that it has developed a driver that "bumps up against the new statute of .860." Let the arms race begin anew.

Arnold Palmer Labeled a Benedict Arnold for supporting Callaway's nonconforming ERC II driver, the King will finally get his stated wish -- separate rules for the pros and everybody else. It may last only five years, but vindication is sweet.

Hootie Johnson The hawkish Augusta National chairman can park his bulldozers for a while.

THE LOSERS

Callaway The late Ely Callaway and his people painted themselves as renegades by becoming the only major manufacturer to flout the old rules. Yes, they're going to sell some drivers in the short term, but the company lost the ideological battle, and CEO Ron Drapeau was cowed into promising that in 2008 and beyond Callaway would not market nonconforming clubs.

R&A The venerable ruling body didn't look so royal in its timid refusal to stand its ground against the manufacturers, and now the R&A has conceded the high ground on all matters of testing to the USGA.

The Japanese tour About three dozen regulars play drivers with CORs exceeding .830. Next year these short knockers will have to start downing creatine to make up for downgraded technology.

The ball With the driver issue settled, the ball will be the lone scapegoat if driving distance continues to rise. The Overall Distance Standard is 26 years old, and updating it will be the next equipment battleground. Expect more bloodshed.

O.B.