What Makes a Driver Nonconforming? Let USGA CEO Mike Whan Clear Up the Confusion

Ever since Rory McIlroy’s driver was deemed nonconforming before the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, it’s been at the forefront of the news cycle—I know, fun stuff, right?

Well, the United States Golf Association held a press conference on Wednesday at the U.S. Open and Mike Whan, the organization’s CEO, gave an incredibly helpful and easy-to-understand explanation of what the test looks like.

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“For the rest of the world, we test what we call CT creep, characteristic time creep, which is I'm assuming what you're talking about. That's essentially how long the ball stays on the face," Whan said.

“Think about a kid jumping on a trampoline, and the longer they're on the trampoline, the farther they bounce off. So we set a limit with manufacturers in terms of how long that ball can stay on—it's tested in terms of microseconds. There's a test, there's a tolerance, but at the end of the day, if it's on there for more than 258 microseconds, we consider that club out of tolerance.”

He went on to say that because of what happened at the PGA Championship—the news of Rory’s driver becoming public—the USGA is “more committed to not wanting to have this be the topic of the town.”

“I think when you talked about a rules violation or somebody who's playing with a hot driver, that gets so much more sensational than the reality,” Whan said. “I can tell you as a rules body, if we had concern about this incredible advantage, we would change the degree in which we test. But we think the testing that we're doing now is commensurate with the size of both the issue and the size of the reality of the issue.”

Whan confirmed that they tested this week, but is unsure if any failed, saying, “I stay out of that mix.”