"Pssst. Over here, I got some of the good stuff behind the counter. But be cool about it, it’s illegal." That line might sound like the baited lure of a drug dealer or beer peddler to wayward teens. But it may just as well be a sales pitch heard at pro shops in country clubs across the Old Dominion.

The contraband is a controversial new golf driver, due to hit the market in early 2001. The ERC II club from Calloway Golf retails for $625. But if you’re a duffer with a lousy handicap who needs an extra 30 yards here and there, this baby is for you.

Trouble is, the ERC II is not quite kosher. Playing with the club is considered cheating by the United States Golf Association and the Professional Golf Association. They sanction many country clubs and the professionals who operate them. The driver is illegal because of the trampoline like effect of the thin metal on the face of the club. The ball springs off the face faster than allowed by the USGA scientists.

That puts golf fanatics in a moral Catch 22. The PGA has urged its members to "uphold the integrity" of the game. But club members are sure to want the latest technology. "It has put (PGA professionals) in a very difficult situation," says PGA pro John Camaninaki, head golfer at Lynchburg’s Boonsboro Country Club. Part of golf’s charm, he says, are its values, such as following rules, maintaining discipline and self-regulation. But, at the same time, golfers want clubs that really rock.

Are amateurs duffers being too picky? After all, clubs that do not conform to the USGA rules are nothing new. Golfers have been able to buy questionable gear from catalogs and the back of magazines for years. But the ERC is manufactured by one of the nation’s leading club makers, a sponsor of many touring professionals and a major supplier to pro shops across the nation.

For Cary Sciorra, head PGA pro at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club at Lake Manassas, the decision is not that tough. Sure there is money to be made, but rules are rules. "I can’t see selling a $600 driver to a player and then turning around and telling them they can’t use it in club events," Sciorra says.

But to some golfers, a little rule bending is par for the course, especially in casual rounds. "You can’t use it in a tournament," says Steve Harrington of Fairfax who bought an ERC driver off an Internet auction site in September. "That would be cheating. But if you need a little extra distance to get around the course in a game with your buddies, I don’t see the harm. I get some extra distance for sure, but I’m still not hitting the ball like Tiger Woods, and it doesn’t do a damn thing for my putting." Dilemma solved.