It had barely been a few weeks since Rory McIlroy rode on a high post, achieving his career grand slam. But he caught the low wave again. Coming off the Masters win, he was in a confident state of mind to take home yet another major. However, it seemed completely inexplicable how one of the most skilled golfers failed to find a fairway off the tee. But what did Mike Whan say about it?
Probably, the controversy surrounding his “non-conforming” driver was what most people felt led the major champion to barely make it to the weekend. The controversy gained more attention than it should have. That led to some players, like Lucas Glover, feeling that fellow players might be ‘cheating’ during the testing. While he had his reasons for his opinion, USGA chief Mike Whan completely invalidated the claims in a press conference at the U.S. Women’s Open this week.
Mike Whan speaks out, clarifying that testing is normal
Lucas Glover, who won the 2009 US Open, felt that the testing done by the USGA for conformity of players’ drivers was not strict enough. It allowed them to cheat the system. He said, “I’ve been trying to think all morning and all day how to say this without sounding like it’s going to sound. But most guys don’t give them their real driver anyway. They give them their backup just in case.” He was speaking on the Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio show, suggesting that players often have two drivers in their bag.
On his SiriusXM Radio show, Lucas Glover noted a loophole in the driver testing on the PGA Tour that some players take advantage of.
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) May 27, 2025
In response to Glover’s claims, Mike Whan found it interesting about how much traction the controversy received and that it was impossible to cheat — “I read something where somebody said that people can doctor the system, but we keep serial numbers of the driver that were given us, and 90 percent of the drivers that were given us in those practice facilities when we test are played on the first tee, and we expect 10 percent of players to be making changes anyway.” He even clarified further that it was not a “real concern.” Also, they prefer to keep the results confidential. That is because it receives unwanted attention for something that is routine and can lead to players being questioned unnecessarily.
Whan even commented on the heightened focus of the controversy that testing is a part of the routine checks and it is not something that is new or unusual —”So yeah, it seemed like a big week to everybody else, but for us it was a pretty standard week. We’ve tested at a lot of TOUR events, tours events and other majors, so it wasn’t that abnormal for us. It just seemed to get abnormal coverage.” Scottie Scheffler, too, had revealed post the tournament at Quail Hollow that his driver was deemed “non-conforming.” Also that he saw it coming because he had been using the driver for almost a year now. The lack of attention to Scheffler’s situation, compared to McIlroy’s, resulted from the confidentiality maintained and the downplaying of the issue.
Mike Whan stated that the PGA of America had invited them to do the testing for the week at the PGA Championship. That’s where they pick out a third of the players randomly to ensure that a driver’s COR (coefficient of restitution, or in layman’s terms, the springiness of the club), is not over the limit. “But the PGA TOUR has asked us, as did the PGA of America, to help them with that. It’s difficult for a player to know. It’s even difficult for a manufacturer to keep a calibrated machine that will calibrate with us. So we provide that service to them just so they when it’s over. If a player is … if the creep factor on the CT of the driver creeps over, we tell them and they switch it out,” he said while addressing the press conference.
Even minuscule differences in the metric can add yards to a player’s tee shot. That will obviously be an unfair advantage. While most players are unaware when this might happen. It is then that the USGA steps in and informs the players so they can switch their drivers to their backup ones.
Transparency and Consistency in Equipment Testing
Mike Whan and the USGA set the rules and parameters for all golf equipment, including the conformity test. Officials conduct these tests because a driver can wear down and thin out due to constant use, eventually becoming too springy. Hence, sending the ball farther than the rules allow.
To maintain fairness, the USGA spot-checks about 50 players during tournaments to ensure their drivers conform to legal limits. If a club fails the test, officials issue a yellow or red warning. So players can prepare to switch equipment. However, the USGA often conducts these checks quietly, without making them public.
They also don’t test the entire field, which some players view as unfair. Lucas Glover emphasized that the USGA must increase testing during tour events and regularly test every player to confirm they are using the same, conforming driver.
Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, who have experienced the same situation as Rory McIlroy, believe the testing process needs to be more robust and uniform. They argue that testing only a few players fails to protect the integrity of the competition. If the USGA wants to take testing seriously, they should make the results transparent, allowing everyone to see the data rather than leaving room for speculation and assumptions about players.
Although Mike Whan and USGA conduct these tests to promote fairness, the lack of transparency around which players are tested creates a perception of inconsistency. This opacity can erode trust in the process and reinforces the need for a more transparent and consistent approach.
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