Who wins and loses with the groove rule change?

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Golf's top players have the surgical skill to perform wondrous operations. They can cure all kinds of diseased lies and bandage up a bogey before it bleeds into a double-bogey or worse.

Check out more of Adam Barr's equipment coverage at AdamBarrGolfGearGuide.com.

But with the smaller clubface grooves now required for the game's elite by the new condition of competition in the Rules of Golf, let's just say the scalpel isn't as sharp as it used to be. As a matter of fact and not metaphor, the edges of the grooves themselves must be more rounded than in the past. So spinning -- and stopping -- the ball won't be as easy as it once was.

But these guys are the best. Their clubhead speed alone will help mitigate the groove changes, if only a little. And many are experimenting with softer, easier-to-spin golf balls.

But with everyone having to work harder to spin, who is likely to be hurt by the new grooves, and who will be helped?

Here's my list of the five players who will be hurt most by the grooves change, as well as the five players who will be benefit the most. Of course, these 10 are just a sampling of players who may be affected. And the ball can bounce any number of ways.

So nothing's for sure -- except that we have one more reason to watch the best in the world do their jobs in 2010.

Who will be hurt by the change

CHARLEY HOFFMAN The affable Hoffman is often put up as poster boy for the Bomb-and-Gouge culture -- you know, pummel it off the tee indiscriminately, then box-groove it out onto the green as if nothing untoward happened. There's more to Hoffman's game than that, but it's not his driving distance (300.8 yards average, 11th on TOUR), or the occasional wildness that big hitters endure that could put Hoffman and players like him in a new-groove bind. Instead, it's the greens-in-regulation numbers. Hoffman had four top-10 finishes in 2009. He hit at least 72 percent of his greens in regulation in those four events. Of the remaining 18 cuts he made, he exceeded 72 percent GIR only four times, and most of his finishes were fair to middling. If greens will now be harder to hold, it might be hard for players such as Charley, even with his prodigious clubhead speed, to hold up this kind of performance. J.B. HOLMES He may be one of the kinds of players the new condition of competition was meant to "catch." He was seventh in driving distance in 2009 (304.6 yards average), but he hit less than half his fairways (48.02 percent, 184th on TOUR). This means more shots from the rough, and more greens missed. (Holmes hit 61.19 percent of his greens in regulation in 2009, 176th on TOUR.) Smaller, duller-edged grooves will make it tough to get the ball close enough for comfortable par putts -- not every time, but often enough to notice. RICH BEEM Nothing against Rich, but he and players like him have a lot to overcome on missed greens and fairways. Specifically -- average or lower driving distance (284.7 yards; TOUR average is 287.9) combined with a low scrambling percentage from the rough (50.96 percent, 167th on TOUR). It puts a lot of pressure on the approach shot, which he may often be the first in his group to hit, if you know what I mean. RORY MCILROY Still on the European Tour by choice, but we'll be seeing him stateside for the bigger events in 2010. This kid is the ninth best golfer in the world, and he finished out of the top 5 only once in his last six tournaments. But he's young and therefore more inclined to be impetuous. For this kind of banger (301.4 yards average drive, 5th on the European Tour), the risk of missing fairways necessarily goes up. The stats bear this out: Rory hits just under nine fairways per round, putting him 66th on the Euro Tour. If one of those missed fairways costs him just a stroke each round, that can blow up the scoring average. TIGER WOODS I knew you were going to ask. Yes, the new rule will hurt him if he continues to take big risks off the tee. But not much -- his short game is that adaptable. We have all seen numerous examples of his otherworldly touch. But we'll have to see what kind of Tiger we get when he comes back. The Second Woods Era might be different from anything we've seen.

Who will be helped by the change

STEVE STRICKER Scrambles like an egg. In 81 rounds in 2009, he got up-and-down for par 66.46 percent of the time, putting him second on TOUR behind Woods. Yes, it will be harder to make the ball stop, even on "slow" shots such as chips and short pitches, but scrambling shows resourcefulness and adaptability. So expect great things in the face of less-groovy clubfaces. See also Poulter, Ian; Furyk, James; and Harrington, Padraig. JIM FURYK He rarely leaves his shoes when letting out the shaft on the tee ball. Furyk describes himself as a "control-game" guy. Below-average driving distance (279.9 yards), but above-average accuracy (69.66 percent fairways hit). Less trouble means ... well, less trouble. DAVID TOMS Like Furyk, a good thinker who has never relied on power alone. Three second-place finishes in 2009, so something's going well. Super accurate (73.26 percent fairways hit) as well. FRED FUNK Coming off a knee replacement, anxious to play, never to be underestimated whether on the PGA TOUR or Champions Tour. Funk has spoken of the new groove rule as an "equalizer" for short hitters, of which he is one (260.3 yards average). TIM CLARK An excellent combination of scrappiness and skill, Clark has finished second seven times in his career. He needs only to learn to close the deal, and now he might. A reasonable driver (280.1 yards on average), but outstanding at the suddenly important stat of scrambling from the rough. Clark is second on TOUR (69.13 percent success rate), right behind Brian Gay (69.71), the solid putter and two-time TOUR winner in 2009, who also stands to benefit from the new era.

Adam Barr is a new correspondent for PGATOUR.COM this year. He will write a weekly column focusing on equipment and will also be appearing in video segments on our site.