Columnist Dean Juipe: Pros don’t have best foot forward

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1999 | 10:44 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

It's a sound heard only at professional golf tournaments.

Clickety clack, clickety clack. It's the noise of metal spikes meeting cement and it's noticeable every time a player steps on a cart path or other hardened surface.

It's soothing in a sense and not the least bit offensive. Except: Tour pros are the only players in this country still permitted to wear metal spikes and it seems about time they made the transition to the more course-friendly soft spikes that the rest of us have been wearing for two or three years.

There is a sign on the door or behind the counter at every golf course: Soft Spikes Only!

But when the pros are in town, as they are this week for the Las Vegas Invitational, the rules do not apply to the favored sons.

Better than 50 percent of the players on the PGA Tour continue to wear metal spikes in spite of the fact soft spikes are less weighty and therefore more comfortable, let alone indistinguishable from metal spikes in terms of performance.

So why shouldn't the leading and most visible players in the world voluntarily make the switch? Or why doesn't the tour mandate soft spikes, given the undeniable fact metal spikes cause considerable harm to the greens?

"It's strictly tradition," said Los Prados pro Keith Flatt, who is caddying this week for local touring pro Bob May. "It's all in their minds."

As any golfer can attest, if there is someone on the course wearing metal spikes it'll be obvious to those unfortunate players who are playing behind the culprit. Metal spikes create indentations that, in turn, leave grass particles sticking up from the surface.

They're a nightmare to putt over and impossible to putt around. And on the professional tours, players are not allowed to repair spike marks until they've completed the hole; most simply don't make the repairs.

Lee Trevino, now on the PGA Senior Tour, is a soft-spike advocate who once offered a compromise, rule-book solution to the problem. "Let the players wearing soft spikes tap down spike marks, and don't allow the players wearing metal spikes to tap down spike marks," Trevino proposed, knowing every player would immediately agree to wear soft spikes.

Flatt said the only situation in which metal spikes might be preferable is when playing on soft, moist or wet greens. Nonetheless, the man who's employing him this week will wear metal spikes during tournament play, although he had soft spikes on Tuesday for a practice session at the TPC at Summerlin.

"Metal spikes may not be as comfortable but they provide better traction," May said. "They give you a better grip."

Asked if he thought the PGA Tour would ever outlaw metal spikes, May said "no."

If that's the case it's shortsighted and Neanderthal.

The pro tours should enforce the highest standards and set only the best examples, yet they're remiss on this particular topic. They should mandate soft spikes, with a wet-weather exception if need be.

Given the money they play for and the destruction metal spikes cause, it's a wonder the players aren't pushing for reform. But apparently they're not, so it's up to those who set the rules to take the initiative.

The rest of us have adjusted to soft spikes, quite nicely as a matter of fact.

It's time for the pros to do the same.