Tue. Dec 3rd, 2024

How Important Are Grooves On A Golf Club?

By admin Sep1,2024

For years I wondered if grooves on a golf club play any significant role. I wondered if it impacts spin because I was always told to keep my clubface and by default grooves clean of dirt. After a fair bit of research, I found the real reasons for grooves. However, the reasons to keep them clear during play is not what I thought at all!

Looking at vintage and hickory clubs. There were many different styles of grooves over the years. Some clubs, which I saw when I played a hickory round with Lorne Emery in the summer, had zero grooves by intention and the players loved the results from each hit. It goes to show that club manufacturers played with different golf club grooves in order to change the dynamics of each club.

You can see that different types of grooves were used of the years and this is just a small sample, but I think you get the idea. The question for most is “what is the real value of grooves on the golf club?”

“A common misconception about golf club grooves is they are meant to give the ball spin.  This was my assumption until I did some digging around and discovered a guy by the name of Ralph Maltby.  Ralph performed an experiment to debunk this by making clubs without grooves and playing with them.

The conclusions of his experiment proved that you could still get spin on the ball even without grooves on the club face.  The grooves were simply there for giving the player the best chance to make contact with the ball in less optimal conditions.  Less optimal conditions would be rain, rough, and or a dirty ball.” (Golfing Tree)

There you have it, the founder of GolfWorks outlines that grooves are designed to remove water and dirt from the clubface on contact. It is interesting that most players think that grooves create spin, but I guess not. One thing I do know, is that keeping the my grooves clean helps with contact. It is something I found over the years and have a routine to clean my clubs after each swing.

Well, I am off the the course right now. I think I will take a quick look at my clubs just to make sure they are clean.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

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