We have received a few emails asking us what our groove policy is for 2010. Our official groove rule is as stated:

In 2010 Open Golf Atlanta will not adopt the 2010 groove changed initiated by the USGA and implemented  by the PGA, Nationwide and other professional golf tours. We feel in the spirit of providing a truly “Open” environment, implementing this change would limit the number of players who would otherwise want to compete. Conforming equipment is hard to come by in the early stages of this rules change ad until this changes we will continue to allow grooves that conformed prior to 2010. This policy will remain in effect for 2010 and will be reevaluated before the 2011 season begins.

Open Golf Atlanta has always existed to complement the bigger “mini” tours and provide a place to play for individuals who may not be able to play full time on the EGolf, Hooters, or other professional tours. To help our players we have compiled a list of tours with the dates of when there groove policy will go into effect. If you have any other news pertaining to this with sources please leave a comment below or email us at cody@opengolfatlanta.com.

Here are the rules from the PGA and main mini tours that effect US players for 2010*.

PGA TOUR Qualifiers
PreQualifiers: n/a
Qualifiers: Need to be conforming

Nationwide Tour Qualifiers
Need to be conforming

US Open Qualifying 2010
Local: n/a until 2011
Section and Open: Effective Jan 1.

Hooters Tour Groove Policy
Qualifiers: Not Certain, but probably by July 2010
Regular Season: July, 2010.

EGOLF (Tarheel Tour) Policy
Effective June 1, 2010,
-46 degrees and up.
2011 season
-25 degrees and higher.

Gateway Tour Policy
Effective April 21, 2010
-45 degrees and higher.

Canadian Tour Policy
Qualifiers and Q School: N/A until 2011
Regular Season: effective June 1, 2010

*unless otherwise stated it is assumed that the rule applies to all clubs.

If you need to check and see if your irons are conforming you can go to USGA’s Informational Club Database (click here) and enter in the proper data.