The secret nature of driver testing in the pro game raises contagious questions

Charlotte, NC – the face of the modern driver is as thin as a coin. Much thinner, really. Thin, light, flexible – vibrant. For the best players in the world, digging the length, the thinner the better. They want the golf ball to be thrown out of the face like a kid dancing in a springboard. Trampoline effect is a term of art. So is the choir – the return coefficient, a term of physics that transforms this phenomenon into a number. Bryson dechambeau It’s happy to explain you all to you. He can explain the cousin of Cor, Characteristic timeAlso – the length of time a ball sits in the club.

Here in PGA championship In Quail Hollow, Rory Mcilroy, probably the most famous and well -known figure in Golf Professional now, is not using the same driver he used last month in Augusta, when he won the masters and completed the Grand Slam career. Tournament players change their clubs all the time but Mcilroy, According to reliable reportsdid not withdrew his winning driver of the masters of his will.

Formerly before the start of the PGA, according to Sirius XM reporting that Scott Van Pelt i ESPN referred to the air Friday, Mcilroy was told that His driver was non -conforming according to USGA standards. How this random inspection failed is unknown. Sometimes marking lines are considered to be too wide or too deep, though this usually happens on the wedge. When drivers are estimated to be non -conforming, the problem is usually in facial detail, which can degrade over time and use, and the length of time a ball can stay in contact with the face. There are tests.

Mcilroy’s driver in Augusta was a shiny but not new Tayormade qi10; The driver he is using here is the same make -up and model, but with less experience. His driving in Augusta was great. His driving here in Quail Hollow has been slow, and he cut the number. Characteristics of the driver’s game would probably not calculate the change. The engineering of these space clubs is very accurate for this. Mcilroy’s acquaintance with and confidence in the club are another issue. Iron Byron was the name ia Usga Testing machine. Golf is played by human beings.

Baseball understood this after the 1919 world series, which Mobters tried to fix: if the public has no confidence in the legitimacy of competition, the whole thing can be shared. The basic reason has thousands of spectators, here in Quail Hollow, spending millions of dollars to see these players is that we trust results. That they counted each stroke, played by every last rule, including all the rules that regulate their equipment. Balls conforming golf, heads conforming, shafts conform.

PGA championship It’s a PGA Tour event. If you win it, it counts as a PGA Tour win. The money and FedEx points that a player wins are part of holding player tour records. Same for masters, US Open and British Open. To say anything other than that is semantic folly. The PGA Tour has its own testing system for non-meter shifts, but it is all in accordance with the USGA test requirements. None of these happen in a vacuum or a silo – is very complicated and important and expensive for this. In the PGA championship, led by the US PGA, and USA, driven by USGA, the USGA equipment standards whizzes oversee the testing.

As he headed on Saturday the 10th to begin his third round of this PGA championship in 1:38 afternoon, Mcilroy, a twice winner of the event, had not said anything about why he changed the drivers. This is its prerogative, of course. I would say that millions of his fans deserve some explanations.

Three minutes after the start of Mcilroy, the PGA of America, released her first comments on the situation, via a 191 -word statement by Kerry Haigh, PGA of the main Championship official. The statement reads:

“We can confirm that USGA was invited to test the club in the PGA Championship at the US PGA request. That test program is in accordance with the same level of support that USGA offers in PGA Tour and other championships, as part of their regular driver to find the driver. time.

Reasonable minds can think about why players do not charge any responsibility when they are aware that driver faces grow hotter over time. The rapid growth of sports betting asks another contagious question about the lack of testing transparency: if you knew, let’s say, Mcilroy was playing a new driver head at a particular event, can you be less prone to concrete?

When asked about the Sirius XM report on Friday evening, the USA said about its testing process, “the results are confidential”. On Saturday morning, a PGA Tour official offered this:

“PGA Tour will not comment as we are here this week to support America’s PGA. Any questions about testing this week should be directed to the PGA of America or USA.”

I believe that PGA Tour should support the public’s trust in the “product” it presents to the public every week, including this.

Nothing here suggests in any way that Mcilroy uses an inconform driver when he won the masters. Almost almost impossible to imagine that a player will deliberately use a non -conforming club. Would violate any principle that this game is supposed to stand for it.

But this issue will only become more prominent in the years ahead. Here is a simple solution. It will not cure it all, but it will help:

In addition to testing the case, before the tournament, perform Sunday morning test for players in Top-10 and connections. If your clubs are good, play away. If they are not, get back to car luggage or trailer of equipment or anywhere.

It would be impossible for the players to worry about such a request. After all, they I want to play with clubs conform. Or not?

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments in Michael.bamberger@golf.com.