0 Comments | Florida Times Union, Feb 5, 2010 | by GARRY SMITS
United States Golf Association senior technical director Dick Rugge said the process the organization uses to set equipment standards in golf is designed to protect the game, not “kill” it, as Phil Mickelson said earlier this week.
“The USGA does a lot to improve the game,” Rugge said Thursday. “As far as someone accusing us of killing the sport, I’m not going to get into a response to Phil Mickelson on that. He’s entitled to his own opinion.”
The USGA, established in 1894, is the governing body for rules and equipment standards in America. The PGA Tour follows USGA rules for its competition.
Mickelson, the world’s No. 2-ranked player and the Tour’s marquee star in the absence of top-ranked Tiger Woods, has been an outspoken critic of the USGA since the organization decided last year to ban the use of irons with U-shaped grooves.
The USGA produced data that showed the U-groove irons had become too easy to hit out of rough
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