Why are there grooves on drivers?

[James_Black]

Why are there grooves on the outer parts of a driver?

If your hitting it off the toe/heel why do you need more spin?

[iacas]

Why are there grooves on the outer parts of a driver?

Decoration. Alignment.

Grooves don't give you more spin, particularly for a ball that's sitting on a tee and - one assumes - not wet.

[James_Black]

Decoration. Alignment.

why are there grooves on other golf clubs?

[TourSpoon]

To promote better ball/surface contact by channeling out debris such as grass, dirt, water, etc.

[WUTiger]

Drivers have grooves because they might look too different if they didn't. Golfers might think the manufacturer "cut corners" on design.

[allin]

Originally they were there on metalwoods to strengthen the face. On wooden woods the insert was smooth and flat and it was a way to keep crud away from the ball and perhaps to manage weight and shape.

[JWL1957]

The grooves on the driver are for dispersing water.

[uttexas]

I suppose the grooves help if you can hit your driver off the fairway or from the rough. Off the tee---the grooves are nothing but decoration.

[Zeph]

Some drivers don't have grooves in the middle of the face, where you normally strike the ball. I doubt the grooves do anything when hitting it off the deck. Who hits the driver from the rough? Decoration and alignment sounds like the most reasonable to me.

[captpat]

Originally they were there on metalwoods to strengthen the face. On wooden woods the insert was smooth and flat and it was a way to keep crud away from the ball and perhaps to manage weight and shape.

Wooden woods had grooves.

[James_Black]

Wooden woods had grooves.

yeah, my ones do anyway.

Some drivers don't have grooves in the middle of the face, where you normally strike the ball. I doubt the grooves do anything when hitting it off the deck. Who hits the driver from the rough? Decoration and alignment sounds like the most reasonable to me

"raises hand"

I was in a scramble on a par 5 and my ball was sitting up in the rough. I hit the shot, struck it well but it went right and OB.

[Shorty]

On wooden woods the insert was smooth and flat and it was a way to keep crud away from the ball and perhaps to manage weight and shape.

The grooves were cut right through the inserts on wooden woods. The insert was not flat.

[James_Black]

The grooves were cut right through the inserts on wooden woods. The insert was not flat.

exactly.

Why did they have insert's? Couldn't they make a full all-plastic wood?

[Kcas77]

How come some drivers such as Mizuno and Tour Edge have grooves on the entire club face?

[iacas]

why are there grooves on other golf clubs?

Other clubs aren't hit (nearly exclusively) from the tee.

They're for decoration and alignment on the driver. Nothing more, nothing less.

[tfauss]

Decoration. Alignment.

So if you could hit a ball hovering in midair(with no debris, water, etc..) with two wedges, one with a bare face(no grooves) and one with grooves, they would spin the same amount.

That's what i got from your post and others.

[The Road Dog]

I don't think its possible to hit a ball with a normal swing and not impart some spin, grooves or not. That being said if you grease the face of the driver can you prevent spin?

[Fat Slice]

Who hits the driver from the rough?

On the super rare occasion that I am sitting up in the rough and stuck behind a tree and need to put a big cut on the ball and have lots of room ahead and right (after going left of the tree) I will hit a driver. I don't practice it enough to be good at it consistently, but struck correctly it's a pretty good save shot.