Every BANNED Golf Club You Should Get Your Hands On Explained in 14 Minutes

Every BANNED Golf Club You Should Get Your Hands On Explained in 14 Minutes

Ping 2 wedges. The grandfather claws. In 2010, Phil Mickelson pulled out a wedge that was technically older than some of his competitors. The Pingi 2 with square grooves that spun the ball like it was attached to a string. Back in the 1980s, Carsten Soulheim revolutionized iron design with the I2 square U-shaped grooves. These weren’t your typical V-grooves. They grabbed the ball from rough lies and generated insane amounts of spin. Too much spin. According to competitors who watched balls dance backward on greens like they had magnets underneath them. In 1989, the USGAA declared the I2’s grooves non-conforming effective January 1st, 1990. But here’s where it gets wild. Soulheim didn’t back down. He sued both the USGA and PGA Tour. The result, a settlement that created golf’s strangest loophole, Pingi 2 clubs made before April 1st, 1990, stayed legal in pro play. If you struggle with approach shots from the rough, these vintage wedges will give you significantly more control. The square grooves bite into the ball, creating spin that modern wedges simply can’t match. Just don’t use them in your club championship. Nike Sumo 2 driver, the toaster. Nike released a driver in 2006 that looked like kitchen equipment and sounded like a gunshot. The Sumo 2 was square, boxy, and absolutely massive. Golfers nicknamed it the toaster because that’s literally what it resembled sitting behind your ball. Here’s why it mattered. Most drivers are shaped like teardrops for a reason. They cut through air smoothly. Nike said, “Screw aerodynamics and made theirs look like a brick.” But this weird shape had a secret weapon called moment of inertia, which basically means the club was incredibly stable when you hit the ball off center. Missed the sweet spot? No problem. The Sumo 2 still launched bombs. The club became an instant hit with weekend warriors who couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn. But golf’s governing bodies freaked out. They quickly implemented caps on how stable drivers could be and set strict limits on club head shapes. If you struggle with consistency off the tea, the Sumo 2 is your new best friend. Its forgiveness on mish hits is legendary, and you’ll gain distance simply by finding the fairway more often. Plus, that distinctive ping sound will turn heads at your local MUN. Callaway ERC2 driver, the international incident. Imagine buying a car that’s street legal in California, but gets you arrested in Nevada. That’s exactly what happened with Callaway’s ERC2 driver in the early 2000s, except with countries instead of states. Callaway engineered the ERC2 with an ultra thin face that acted like a trampoline. hit a ball with it and the face would flex backward then snap forward, launching shots way farther than normal drivers. It was like having a slingshot attached to your golf club. American golfers went crazy for the distance gains. But there was one massive problem. The USGA tested the ERC2 and declared it illegal for having too much spring effect. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Europe’s governing body said it was perfectly fine. So you could tee it up in London and bomb drives all day, then fly to New York and face disqualification for using the exact same club. The ERC2 remains one of the longest hitting drivers ever made. If you’re looking to add 15 to 20 yards off the tea without changing your swing, this is your ticket. Just keep it in the bag for friendly games only. Belly putters, the anchor band. Adam Scott was anchoring a long putter against his chest when he won the 2013 Masters. Three years later, that exact putting stroke became illegal, and Scott had to completely relearn how to putt. Belly putters and broomstick putters weren’t your typical putters. They were ridiculously long, sometimes over 4 ft. Players would press the top end against their chest or stomach, creating a pendulum motion that eliminated hand and wrist movement. It was like having training wheels for your putter. The stroke was so stable that players started winning major championships with it. Keegan Bradley shocked the golf world by winning the 2011 PGA Championship with a belly putter. Then Ernie Ell used one to win the 2012 British Open. Adam Scott followed with his Mast’s victory, but traditionalists went ballistic. Tiger Woods called it not in the spirit of golf, arguing that the putter should require skill, not mechanical assistance. In 2016, they banned the anchoring stroke. Not the long putters themselves, but pressing them against your body. If you struggle with the yips or inconsistency on the greens, a belly putter could transform your short game overnight. The anchored stroke removes the small twitches and nerves that ruin putts. And since you’re not playing on tour, who’s going to enforce the anchoring band during your Sunday forum? If you’re finding this breakdown of band equipment fascinating, hit that subscribe button right now and turn on notifications. I’m working on a series exposing the secret equipment pros use that’s technically legal but pushes the absolute limits of the rules. Square strike wedge, the infomercial wonder. Late night TV sold a golf club that looked like someone welded a putter to a hockey stick. The square strike wedge promised to eliminate chunk shots around the green. And somehow it actually worked. Traditional wedges have sharp leading edges that can dig into the ground if you hit behind the ball. That’s called chunking, and it’s every amateur golfer’s nightmare. The square strike looked completely different. Wide sole, rounded edges, and a face that resembled a hybrid club more than a wedge. The infomercial claimed you could putt the ball from anywhere around the green without worrying about technique. Here’s the crazy part. It technically met every USGAA specification. The club wasn’t illegal, just weird looking. But when thousands of weekend golfers started using it successfully, golf professionals and equipment companies panicked. They lobbyed the governing bodies, arguing that the square strike exploited loopholes in wedge design rules. The USGAA responded by tightening wedge specifications. They implemented strict limits on sole width, leading edge curvature, and bounce angles. All because one infomercial club had push the boundaries too far. If you dread chip shots and find yourself blading or chunking around the greens, the Square Strike is a gamecher. Its design makes it nearly impossible to hit fat shots and you can use your putting stroke for consistent contact. It’s technically legal, but purists will definitely give you side eye. Dual face wedges, the twoin- one special. Someone invented a wedge with two different hitting surfaces, one for high soft shots and another for low running shots. It was instantly illegal, but the concept was so appealing that companies kept trying to sneak variations past the rules. Traditional wedges force you to open or close the face to change shot trajectory, requiring skill and practice. Dual face wedges eliminated that learning curve by giving you two distinct lofts on the same club. Flip it over and your 56° sand wedge became a 48° pitching wedge. The design made perfect sense for amateur golfers who struggled with short game versatility. Instead of carrying multiple wedges or learning complex face manipulation techniques, you could just rotate the club and hit from whichever side suited your shots. But golf’s rules are crystal clear. One striking face per club, period. The USGA doesn’t care how convenient or logical your design might be. If it has multiple hitting surfaces, it’s not a legal golf club. If you’re limited on club slots in your bag or struggle with versatility around the greens, a dual face wedge is like getting two clubs for the price of one. It’s perfect for beginners who haven’t mastered opening and closing the club face. Just don’t pull it out during your club championship. Airhammer Driver, the late night legend. If you stayed up late enough in the early 2000s, you definitely saw the infomercials for the Airhammer Driver. It promised the holy grail of golf, massive distance with dead straight accuracy, and it looked like something from a science fiction movie. The air hammer’s design was bizarre and instantly recognizable. It featured a hollow chamber behind the face that supposedly compressed air upon impact, then released it to provide an additional explosion of power. The commercial showed weekend golfers suddenly outdriving their buddies by 50 yards while maintaining laser-like accuracy. It’s like hitting the ball twice with one swing, the enthusiastic pitchman would claim as dramatic slow-motion footage showed the air chamber compressing and expanding. The club head was massive, even by modern standards, with strange vents and channels that made it look more like a jet engine than a golf club. Some versions even included a power dial that allegedly let you adjust the air compression for different distances. Golf’s governing bodies didn’t even need to formally ban the air hammer. Its design so blatantly violated equipment rules about spring-like effect and moving parts that no serious golfer would dare bring it to a real competition. Independent testing eventually revealed what most golfers suspected. The air compression technology was mostly marketing hype. The distance gains, when they existed at all, came from the oversized head and ultra light shaft, not from any revolutionary air compression system. But here’s the thing some golfers swore by. The placebo effect in golf is powerful. And if you believe the air hammer would fix your slice and add 30 yards, sometimes that confidence alone was enough to improve your swing. Beyond the pure novelty and conversation starter value, the Air Hammer actually does have an extremely lightweight shaft and oversized head that can help slower swingers generate more club head speed. Plus, there’s something wonderfully rebellious about teeing up with a club that looks like it belongs in a museum of golf oddity. Just be prepared for some serious ribbing from your playing partners. Smart clubs with electronic. The digital revolution. Engineers started embedding GPS units, motion sensors, and gyroscopes directly into golf club head, promising real-time swing feedback and automatic adjustment. The USGA shut it down faster than you could say artificial intelligence. These weren’t just clubs with fancy grips or lightweight material. They were essentially computers disguised as golf equipment. Some prototypes could measure swing speed, club path, and face angle at impact, then vibrate to give instant feedback. Others used GPS to calculate exact distances and suggest club selection through tiny LED displays on the shaft. The most ambitious designs promise clubs that could actually adjust themselves during your swing. Imagine a driver that automatically opened or closed its face based on your swing path or irons that change loft depending on lie condition. The USGAA’s response was swift and brutal. Absolutely no electronics allowed in club heads during competitive play. Their reasoning was simple. Golf should test human skill, not engineering prowess. For practice purposes, smart clubs are incredible learning tools. They provide instant feedback on your swing without needing a launch monitor or code. While you can’t use them in tournaments, they’re perfect for dialing in your technique at the rain. Alien Wedges, the shank killer. A company called Alien Golf promised wedges that made it impossible to shank shot. They were lying, but their weird design still managed to change wedge rules forever. Shanking is golf’s most embarrassing mistake. hitting the ball off the club’s huzzle instead of the face, sending it shooting sideways at 90° angle. Alien wedges featured ultra wide soles and bizarre weight distribution that supposedly prevented shanks by making it physically impossible to contact the ball with the huzzle. The clubs looked like someone had attached boat paddles to golf shaft. The soles were so wide they barely resembled traditional wedges and the bounce angles were so extreme that the club sat on the ground like rocking chairs. Alien marketed them aggressively to high handicapped golfers desperate for any solution to their short game disaster. Here’s the problem. The wedges didn’t actually prevent shank and their exaggerated design pushed the boundaries of what constituted a legal golf club. If you’re plagued by shanks, these wedges might not eliminate them completely, but the wide sole and offset design do make them less likely. They’re also incredibly forgiving on thin shots and bunker play, making them perfect for high handicap. Thomas Golf alignment irons, the aiming assistant. Thomas Golf built actual aiming lines directly into their iron head, claiming they helped golfers set up properly. The USGAA said that was cheating, even if the lines never touch the ball. These weren’t subtle alignment aid. Thomas Golf literally machined raised rails and aiming bars onto the top lines of their iron. The concept was simple. Line up the built-in guides with your target and you’d automatically have perfect alignment at a draft. For golfers who struggled with aim, it seemed like a miracle solution. The clubs gained popularity among amateur players who couldn’t consistently aim at their target. The USGAA settled the debate by ruling that any club feature designed to help with aiming constituted an artificial aid. It didn’t matter that the alignment rails never contacted the ball. Their mere presence violated rules about equipment assistance. If you struggle with alignment, one of the most common amateur mistakes, these clubs are a godsend. They help you square up to your target consistently, which can dramatically improve your accuracy without changing your swing. The history of band golf equipment reveals the constant tension between innovation and tradition. While these technologies promise straighter drives, more spin, and lower scores, they threaten to fundamentally change what skills the game reward. For recreational golfers, many of these band technologies remain available for casual play. And that’s the beauty of being an amateur. You can choose which rules to follow when you’re just out having fun with friends. If you enjoyed this deep dive into golf’s band equipment, hit that subscribe button and drop a comment letting me know which illegal club you’d most like to try. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you on the first

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Every BANNED Golf Club You Should Get Your Hands On Explained in 14 Minutes

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