RCGA Announces Position to Regulate Spring Like Effect of Driving Clubs

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:42:37

"Mississauga, ON - The Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) announced today it will continue with it's present policy of limiting the coefficient of restitution (COR) of a driving club to 0.83. The announcement follows suit with a recent decision by the United States Golf Association (USGA) to limit the COR to 0.83 for all play in the United States.

This COR limit modifies a joint COR proposal by the USGA and Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (R&A) announced in May to adopt a COR of 0.86 effective January 1, 2003. The May proposed ruling was set to cover a five-year period until January 1, 2008 when the test limit would be reduced back to 0.83 for all levels of play worldwide. This proposal, which went through a customary notice and comment period to garner feedback from interested parties, was subsequently re-evaluated on the basis of confusion and complication on the part of golfers, sellers of golf equipment, club professionals and some manufacturers.

"The RCGA has traditionally adopted the position of the USGA in similar instances," said Jim Fraser, RCGA Managing Director of Rules and Player Development. "Factors such as proximity, players playing on both sides of the border in international or USGA competitions, Canadian players attending US colleges and a desire to have uniformity of equipment decisions in North America all factor in to a decision of this magnitude. It is the balance of these factors that we feel protects the best interests of the game of golf in Canada."

The new ruling will continue to have an influence on the RCGA's handicapping system, which is based on an adherence to the rules of golf. In accordance with current RCGA protocol, scores may only be posted for handicap purposes that have been achieved with clubs having a COR of 0.83 or less.

The RCGA and USGA position differ slightly than that of the R&A, which has established the 0.83 COR only as a condition for "highly-skilled" competitions. This Condition of Competition as introduced by the R&A will only take effect at The Open Championship in 2003 and beyond and will subsequently be recommended for all events on the major Professional Tours. For most competitions and all recreational play under the R&A jurisdiction, there will continue to be no "spring-like" effects test or COR limit until January 1, 2008.

The RCGA, the governing body of men's amateur golf in Canada, determines national policies and standards relating to the game on behalf of more than 300,000 of its members. In addition to conducting Canada's six national amateur championships, the RCGA also conducts three professional tournaments: the Bell Canadian Open, the AT&T Canada Senior Open and the Bank of Montreal Canadian Women's Open."