Latest news with #TaylorMadeQi10
USA Today
3 days ago
- Automotive
- USA Today
Driver testing remains a hot-button topic on the PGA Tour. Especially when someone leaks
Driver testing remains a hot-button topic on the PGA Tour. Especially when someone leaks Driver testing became a big topic of discussion again during the 107th PGA Championship when SiriusXM reported that Rory McIlroy's club had failed a USGA test ahead of the major, forcing him to switch out the head of the TaylorMade Qi10 driver he had used to win the Masters in April. He wasn't the only big-name player to fail, either. We learned during the final round that world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was on his way to winning his third career major with his backup TaylorMade driver. 'I was the one who leaked it, basically, about Scott's,' Xander Schauffele said earlier this week ahead of the 2025 Memorial Tournament. 'To me, it was more of like, a credit to how good he was, ya know? I didn't realize — I apologized. I was like, 'Sorry, dude. I wasn't trying to have that be a question in your media after you just won another major.' It was more about, like, this guy just used his backup and absolutely rinsed the field again.' Scheffler gave a thoughtful answer, echoing Schauffele that more thorough testing needed to be implemented to make the testing more credible. Given that McIlroy has declined to comment on the subject, it refuses to go away. Last week, during his SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show, Lucas Glover re-lit the fire when he said that he believes players on the PGA Tour who are required to submit their drivers for random USGA conformance testing for face flexibility have been known to avoid having their actual gamers tested by submitting a backup model for the field test instead.
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Xander Schauffele apologizes to Scottie Scheffler for leaking non-conforming driver news
Xander Schauffele apologizes to Scottie Scheffler for leaking non-conforming driver news DUBLIN, Ohio – Xander Schauffele smiled as he remembered how ticked off he was six years ago at Royal Portrush during the 2019 British Open after he was exposed for having a non-conforming driver. 'I kind of lit a fire and threw everyone under the bus,' he said. 'I remember there was a line, and I was like, 'I'm stepping across it.'' Driver testing became a big topic of discussion again during the 107th PGA Championship when SiriusXM reported that Rory McIlroy's club had failed a USGA test ahead of the major, forcing him to switch out the head of the TaylorMade Qi10 driver he had used to win the Masters in April. He wasn't the only big-name player to fail, either. We learned during the final round that world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was on his way to winning his third career major with his backup TaylorMade driver. 'I was the one who leaked it, basically, about Scott's,' Schauffele said. 'To me, it was more of like, a credit to how good he was, ya know? I didn't realize — I apologized. I was like, 'Sorry, dude. I wasn't trying to have that be a question in your media after you just won another major.' 'It was more about, like, this guy just used his backup and absolutely rinsed the field again.' Scheffler gave a thoughtful answer, echoing Schauffele that more thorough testing needed to be implemented to make the testing more credible. Given that McIlroy has declined to comment on the subject, it refuses to go away. Last week, during his SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show, Lucas Glover re-lit the fire when he said that he believes players on the PGA Tour who are required to submit their drivers for random USGA conformance testing for face flexibility have been known to avoid having their actual gamers tested by submitting a backup model for the field test instead. Speaking at the U.S. Women's Open, USGA CEO Mike Whan was quick to dismiss this possibility. 'We keep serial numbers of the driver that was given to us,' he said. 'And 90 percent of the drivers that were given to 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 said. Asked if he agreed with Glover's remarks that players might be circumventing driver testing, Collin Morikawa said, 'People joke about doing it, but I don't think anyone actually does.' Has he had a driver fail? 'I don't think I swing it fast enough,' he said. 'Or I don't hit enough drivers on the range. One or the other.' CT Creep, a measurement recorded in microseconds that indicates how long the ball stays in contact with the clubface during impact, is a phenomenon where a golf driver's face becomes more flexible over time, potentially exceeding legal limits. Morikawa went on to explain that the process by which a driver is graded is comparable to a traffic light – green is good, yellow passes, but use it with caution as it is on the verge of failing, and red is non-conforming. 'We want our drivers to be in yellow. It's passing, but it's like you want it to be fast, you don't want it to be slow,' he said. 'But if it's close to failing or if it's failing and it's close to cracking, I mean, what are you gaining? You're not gaining anything. Guys aren't going to hit it 25 yards further.' 'It's not like a corked bat,' Schauffele said. 'That's just not how golf works. You either swing it hard and hit it hard or you don't.' Schauffele added: 'I didn't even understand the public's negative opinion on it, it didn't really register in my head because I know, one, it's like, we hit our drivers a lot, so they creep and then they go over a line. We don't know the line — we have no clue. Unless our driver physically cracks and you start hitting these knuckle balls off the tee that disperse everywhere; then you know your driver's broken.' It's not so much about what a player is gaining but what is lost – comfort with a gamer that a player trusts. The specs may be the same, but drivers are mass-produced products and players develop relationships and preferences for specific clubs. In ways that club players could not detect, they perform differently. 'They can have all the same writing and logos on them, but the makeup of each head and shaft is slightly different,' he said. 'We have our trusty club, and then you take it out and switch it … there's a little bit of a grace period where you have to get used to it.' Does that explain why McIlroy, arguably the best driver of the ball on Tour, was spraying his tee shots around Quail Hollow and went from Grand Slam aspirations to barely making the cut and a disappointing T-47 finish? Perhaps, but until he addresses the subject – next week when he plays at the RBC Canadian Open? – we won't know for sure.
USA Today
20-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Are YOU playing an illegal driver, new Titleist irons, Scottie Scheffler's hot putter
Are YOU playing an illegal driver, new Titleist irons, Scottie Scheffler's hot putter Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy's drivers were deemed non-conforming. Could you be playing an illegal driver? Plus new Titleist irons hit the tour. Among the storylines that people will remember when they look back at the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow -- along with Scottie Scheffler's win, Jon Rahm's collapse, and mud balls -- is the curfuffle surrounding driver testing that forced both Scheffler and Rory McIlroy to remove their gamers and go with new driver heads 48 hours before the season's second major. Both pros use a TaylorMade Qi10 driver that has an adjustable hosel, which makes removing one head and attaching another a process that can be completed in less than a minute. Both pros have access to back-up drivers, and with the USGA conducting the tests on drives on Tuesday, TaylorMade and other equipment makers still had their tour vans on site at Quail Hollow, with each 18-wheeler packed with gear. So, you might think, what's the big deal about popping a new 8-degree head on for Scottoie and a new 9-degree head on for Rory? The reality varies by player, but two things are at work in situations like this: Tiny differences - A PGA Tour van like TaylorMade's double-decker truck has drawers filled with driver heads, iron heads, shafts, grips and every piece of gear you can imagine, and everything is measured precisely and labeled. A driver head marked 9 degrees could have a sticker on it saying "8.9" or "9.15" to indicate the tour-van-measured loft. Recreational golfers can't feel those microscopic differences and the clubs would perform identically in the hands of nearly every golfer, but pros like Scheffler and McIlroy are among the most elite golfers in the world. They can feel tiny differences, and when you are playing for millions of dollars, those differences can matter. Brands works very, very hard to create back-up drivers and equipment that are identical to a clubs pros use, but there can be tony differences between one driver and another. Which leads to ... Trust - Two weeks ago, Scheffler won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson with a score of 31 under. He hit 40 or 56 fairways (T-4 for the week) and averaged 304 yards per tee shot. Last season, using the same driver he had in the bag that week (and that was deemed non-conforming at the PGA Championship) he finished second in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. Scottie had developed a lot of trust in that club, just as Rory, who finished fourth last year in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and is leading the PGA Tour in that category this season, trusted the Qi10 he had in the bag. The backup drivers both players used might have matched the gamers Scheffler and McIlroy had to stop using, but trust is earned and any doubt can lead to a dip in performance. Scheffler won his third major championship using a backup driver, while McIlroy did not perform up to his lofty standards with the new driver. Was it Rory, the club, a combination of both? He wasn't talking, so we'll never really know.
USA Today
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffer's drivers failed tests. Are YOU playing an illegal driver?
Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffer's drivers failed tests. Are YOU playing an illegal driver? Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler's drivers failed conformance tests at the PGA Championship. Could YOU be using an illegal driver and not know it? Could your driver be illegal? It's a fair question – especially in light of what happened to Rory McIlroy at the 2025 PGA Championship. And the tournament's winner, Scottie Scheffler. When McIlroy arrived at Quail Hollow, his game looked sharp and he was a heavy favorite to win the tournament. But on Tuesday his TaylorMade Qi10 driver was ruled non-conforming after a routine inspection. McIlroy did not comment on the situation, and the USGA and PGA of America maintain a policy of not revealing the names of players who fail random equipment tests. In his post-round press conference Sunday evening, after being asked about his driver by Golfweek's Adam Schupak, Scheffler confirmed he was forced to make a change before the tournament started as well. 'So the driver testing is something that regularly happens on tour. My driver did fail me this week," he said. "We had a feeling that it was going to be coming because I've used that driver for over a year. I was kind of fortunate for it to last that long." McIlroy was forced to use a backup driver head, and while he still made the cut, he struggled to find fairways early on. His situation echoed a similar incident with Xander Schauffele at the 2019 Open Championship, where his driver also failed a conformity test. The likely cause for both McIlroy and Scheffler's drivers failing the test was a phenomenon referred to as CT creep. So, what is CT creep, and could it make your driver non-conforming too? What is CT, and what exactly is CT creep? In golf equipment terms, CT stands for Characteristic Time. It's a measurement recorded in microseconds that indicates how long the ball stays in contact with the clubface during impact. Think of it as a scientific way to gauge how 'springy' or 'hot' a driver face is. The longer the contact time, the more trampoline-like effect the club has, which can translate to higher ball speeds and longer drives. The USGA and R&A have set a strict limit of 239 microseconds, with a manufacturing tolerance that extends to 257 microseconds. 'CT creep' happens when a driver's clubface becomes more flexible over time, usually because of repeated use and high-speed impacts. The constant force of striking golf balls – especially by fast swingers such as McIlroy, Scheffler or Schauffele – can cause the metal in the face to subtly fatigue and flex more. Over hundreds or thousands of shots, this can push the CT beyond the legal limit. How is driver CT tested? At some PGA Tour events and major championships, the USGA and R&A conduct random CT tests on drivers players intend to use. They use a pendulum-style device that gently strikes the clubface at several spots, measuring how long the face stays in contact with the striker. If any spot exceeds the limit, that driver is deemed non-conforming. Tests are quick, and most drivers pass without issue. But on occasion, a few fail. Tour players aren't accused of cheating when this happens – CT creep is understood as normal wear and tear. Still, rules are rules, and after a club crosses the threshold, it's no longer legal in competition. CT creep and recreational golfers Here's the big question for club golfers: If it can happen to Rory and Scottie and Xander, could it happen to you? The short answer: probably not. CT creep is more likely when a driver is used frequently by a high-speed player who consistently strikes the sweet spot. That describes many Tour pros – but not most weekend players. While some amateurs swing fast, few combine tour-level speed, consistency and volume of shots needed to cause CT creep. That said, drivers used by recreational players can lose performance over time, but that's usually due to damage – dropping the club on cart paths, shaft/head damage and so on – not an increase in CT that would make the club illegal. For competitive amateurs who play often and swing fast – college players, elite juniors and long drivers – it's not impossible, but it remains rare outside professional circles. Can you get your driver's CT tested? Unfortunately, the devices used by the USGA and tours cost thousands of dollars and aren't publicly available, so you can't test your driver yourself. Clubfitters and shops don't have CT testers either. They can assess general performance using launch monitors (launch, spin, ball speed) but not measure CT precisely. If you're seriously concerned – say you're preparing for a USGA amateur qualifier where testing might happen – contact your club's PGA professional or your driver's manufacturer. Some OEMs offer inspections or testing for suspected non-conforming clubs, though don't expect quick turnaround. The bottom line on CT creep CT creep is a byproduct of how close modern drivers come to the legal edge. Manufacturers push performance while staying within the Rules of Golf, meaning some drivers walk a fine line right out of the box. For most golfers, this is more a 'tour story' than a personal concern. You're unlikely to carry a 'too hot' driver unless you're an elite player with a well-worn gamer that's seen multiple seasons of use. In McIlroy and Scheffler's cases, the failing drivers probably got that way simply from being hit a lot by two of golf's fastest, most consistent swings. They didn't cheat or do something to gain an unfair advantage over the field. For the rest of us, CT creep is a reminder of just how advanced today's equipment is – and how the rules are enforced at the top level.
USA Today
18-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Winner's bag: Scottie Scheffler's golf equipment at the 2025 PGA Championship
Winner's bag: Scottie Scheffler's golf equipment at the 2025 PGA Championship A complete list of the gear Scottie Scheffler used to win the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club. A complete list of the golf equipment Scottie Scheffler used to win the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club. DRIVER: TaylorMade Qi10 (8 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft, TaylorMade Qi35 (21 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 8X shaft SAVE $150 on Scottie Scheffler's driver FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 8X shaft - SAVE $50 at PGA TOUR Superstore. IRONS: Srixon ZU85 (4), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft, TaylorMade P-7TW (5-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50, 56), SM9 (60 degrees), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts - SAVE 17% at PGA TOUR Superstore. PUTTER: TaylorMade Spider Tour X L-Neck Shop Scottie Scheffler's putter BALL: Titleist Pro V1 - Shop at PGA TOUR SuperstoreGRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet (full swing) / Golf Pride Pistol (putter)
