Question: USGA stands for what?
About the article "Golf", section "Rules and regulations".

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The 107th U.S. Open has been in its preparation stage for many months as the club prepares to host its first USGA event since the U.S.
Amateur in 2004.
The USGA, American Golf's governing body, has found setting up and preparing for the Open easier than other locations.
Rob Zalzneck, the director of the 2007 Open for the USGA commented on the readiness of the course saying, "We're so far ahead with our plans and what we need to get done, Oakmont is just such an ideal situation for us.
The club welcomes us with open arms, and we've had such great championships here in the past.
What everyone will see, though, is the unbelievable difference in the size of the event from 1994 (when Oakmont last hosted the Open) and this year."
The usual Open conditions will still exist including the lightning fast greens and unusually high rough as many of these features are common year round at Oakmont Country Club.
In fact, Oakmont's greens are so fast that the USGA directed the club to slow them down for the Open, although they were still much faster than what would be found at a normal tour event.
Preparation began in 2002 and 2003 and since then has included minor renovation to the course, most notably the lengthening of the course for the world's best players, small renovations to the clubhouse, and also the deepening of Oakmont's storied bunkers.
Other changes to the course since the last Open in 1994 include the addition of a bridge to connect holes 2-8 which posed as a major problem causing player and pedestrian jams over the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The USGA will recruit 5,000 volunteers in order to insure the event will go smoothly.
The event is expected to, like the last Open at Oakmont, attract record breaking sell-out crowds.
Crowd control was also a major problem for the USGA and its volunteers as huge crowds filled the course during the tournament creating traffic problems.
The USGA began selling tickets to the general public on June 15, 2006.
The USGA is expected to sell out all of their tickets for the competitive rounds by their deadline for purchase on August 15, 2006.
After the sale of all tickets for the competitive rounds, all post-deadline purchases will be settled by a lottery. 
The USGA partnered with World Golf Tour in 2009 to co-host the first annual Virtual USGA Championship online.
The Virtual U.S. Open attracted hundreds of thousands of players from more than 180 countries.
The first place winner took home a replica of the U.S. Open trophy and won a trip for two to Pebble Beach for the next year’s event. 
USGA TableOnce the golfer checks his or her course handicap, equitable scoring follows the rules: For example, if a golfer has a course handicap of 8, shoots a score of 83, but that score includes a six on a par 3 (a triple bogey) then the posted score should be only 82.
However, if a golfer with a course handicap of 11 had the same score, the proper score to post is 83.
Note: In other countries, the system of ESC may be different from the USGA system, (e.g., the RCGA system).
When a score is made under a system of ESC different from the USGA ESC system, that score must be adjusted to the USGA ESC system before it is entered as an adjusted gross score under the USGA Handicap System. 
The ruling authorities of golf, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) and the United States Golf Association (USGA), reserve the right to define what shapes and physical characteristics of clubs are permissible in tournament play.
The current rules for club design, including the results of various rulings on clubs introduced for play, are defined in Appendix II of the Rules of Golf.
The overarching principle of club design used by both authorities is defined in Appendix II-1a, which states: "The club must not be substantially different from the "traditional and customary form and make".
The club must be composed of a shaft and a head and it may also have material added to the shaft to enable the player to obtain a firm hold (see 3 below).
All parts of the club must be fixed so that the club is one unit, and it must have no external attachments."
In addition, Appendix II-4a states, regarding club heads, that "the club head must be generally "plain in shape".
All parts must be rigid, structural in nature and functional.
The club head or its parts must not be designed to resemble any other object.
It is not practicable to define 'plain in shape' precisely and comprehensively.
"These two rules are used as the basis for most of the more specific rules of Appendix II, including that no club may have a concave face (1931) and various rules defining what is "traditional" about the shapes of specific clubs, while allowing for the progression of technology.
The "traditional and customary" rule was originally used to ban the introduction of steel club shafts (patented in 1910), as that material was not traditional for shafts; that specific ban was rescinded in 1924 by the USGA (the R&A would continue to ban steel shafts until 1929), and steel would become universal until the development of graphite shafts whose introduction was less controversial.
The "plain in shape" rule was more recently bent to allow for non-traditional driver club head shapes, such as squares, as a compromise to club-makers after imposing and enforcing a 460cc volume limit on these same club heads.
Many recently developed woods have a marked "trampoline effect" (a large deformation of the face upon impact followed by a quick restoration to original dimensions, acting like a slingshot), resulting in very high ball speeds and great lengths of tee shots.
As of 1 January 2008, the USGA and R&A have settled on a regulation that limits the acceptable "trampoline effect" to a coefficient of restitution (COR)—a measurement of the efficiency of the transfer of energy from the club head to the ball—of .830.
Other large scale USGA rulings involve a 1990 lawsuit, and subsequent settlement, against Karsten Manufacturing, makers of the PING brand, for their use of square, or U-grooves in their immensely popular Ping Eye2 irons.
The USGA argued that players who used the Eye2 had an unfair advantage in imparting spin on the ball, which helps to stop the ball on the putting greens.
The USGA utilized John L. Saksun, founder of Canadian golf company Accuform Golf, as a consultant to set up methods of measuring the unique grooves and determining PING's compliance with the rulings.
Saksun, by proposing a cost-effective solution to help PING change the design of subsequent Eye2s, saved PING hundreds of millions.
PING subsequently withdrew their US$100 million lawsuit against the USGA.
Ping’s older clubs were "grandfathered in" and allowed to remain in play as part of the settlement.
Today, square grooves are considered perfectly legal under the Rules of Golf.
However, the USGA has determined that square grooves are illegal in elite-level competition.
According to the USGA, as January 1, 2010, professional golfers on one of the top tours, or those attempting to qualify for one of the three Open Championships, will need to use new conforming wedges (those without square grooves).
Moreover, those who plan to qualify for any other USGA championship will need new conforming wedges by 2014.
In addition, this regulation might include amateur events as well, as a "condition of competition".
Casual golfers may use square groove wedges (and other square-grooved irons) until at least 2024.
Wedges that conform to the new standard are often marketed as "CC" or "Condition of Competition" wedges; this moniker is likely to fall into disuse as players upgrade clubs and the use of non-conforming irons diminishes. 
The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico.
Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the Rules of Golf.
The USGA also provides a national handicap system for golfers, conducts 13 national championships, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Senior Open, and tests golf equipment for conformity with regulations.
In addition, the USGA is a leader in turfgrass research through its Green Section and it provides hundreds of grants to grass-roots programs through its Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The USGA Foundation has provided more than $60 million in grants to programs for underprivileged youth and individuals with disabilities.
It is the largest contributor to The First Tee program.
The USGA is currently led by Executive Director Mike Davis, and President Glen D. Nager, and is headquartered at Golf House in Far Hills, New Jersey.
The Bob Jones Award is the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
The inaugural award was given in 1955.