Not putting groove in new bed wood for hold down strip?

[bautino95]

has anyone ever not put the groove into new bed wood for the hold down metal strip? I'm re-doing my old rotted wood bed with composite decking that I got from Lowes. I got my new spacing figured out because its only 5-1/2" wide. And had to rip the thickness down to 3/4" because it was 1" thick. So what do you think? will it have enough clamping force for hold the decking in place without cutting the groove into it? Thanks