Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed Sound Off on Driver Testing

During the practice days at the recent PGA Championship, about one-third of the competitors submitted their driver for a test to ensure their clubface's springlike effect was within guidelines. These tests have been standard procedure for many years and rarely if ever have they drawn much public interest. But the testing at the Quail Hollow PGA made big headlines.

This “CT” test, also known as the “pendulum test” takes only a few minutes. The issue in question is how far the face of the driver flexes at the moment of impact. After thousands of swings, a driver's face can wear down, and once it gets too thin it can become a bit too much like a trampoline and land outside the rules. During the PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy’s driver failed its pre-tournament test, and while results are intended to be confidential, McIlroy's result leaked to the media. Later it was revealed that Scottie Scheffler’s driver at the PGA also flunked. Scheffler replaced the driver and won the event.

In the aftermath driver-testing remains topical. This week at the LIV Golf event in Virginia, Bryson DeChambeau told Sports Illustrated that he’s fine with how testing currently operates.

“I think the USGA is going about it the right way,” DeChambeau told SI in an interview that will also air on the Beyond the Clubhouse Podcast. “They test my heads. I’ve been tested every week. I’m using Krank right now. I’m the only one using it out there, so they’re testing my head every single week, so I’m under the same protocols as everybody else, and I think it’s a great way to do it.”

DeChambeau, a consummate tinkerer, leaves no stone unturned in his quest for improvement. The 31-year-old’s swing speed is among the fastest in the sport. Because drivers wear down and become thinner with use, it begs the question of how many driver heads he goes through each month.

“Per month I go through probably two,” DeChambeau said. “Once I find a head that’s good I try to keep it as long as possible.”

DeChambeau’s LIV Golf contemporary, Patrick Reed, doesn’t replace his driver nearly as often.

“I don’t swing hard enough to go through them quickly,” Reed says. “I don’t know. I feel like I’ve been using this driver for quite some time now. Last time it was tested at the PGA Championship, it wasn’t close to being hot.”

Matt Jones says he keeps the same driver for one to two years without swapping heads and says his current driver has been in his bag for a year-and-a-half.

Reed understands that testing must be done, but at the same time he says it adds uncertainty during a major week.

“It’s one of those things where you have to sit there and worry during tournament week whether your driver is hot or not and that’s just not fun,” Reed said. “Then if it ends up being hot, instead of preparing and getting your mind ready for the golf tournament you’re all of a sudden scrambling and trying to find a driver that suits and fits you like the gamer.

“Because the backup is never like the gamer. Ever."

Speaking of a game-ready driver, on his Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio show, Lucas Glover suggested that some players don’t provide testing officials with their top driver, and instead put their backup through the process to avoid a potential hassle.

Jones echoed Glover’s idea this week at LIV Golf Virginia.

“There’s ways around it out there. You always have a backup driver in your bag, and if someone comes to test you (some players) give them the one that’s not the gamer,” Jones said. “That’s what guys do. There’s no way you can know for sure. Unless you’re testing the driver in the moments before you head to the first tee in a tournament, you’ll never really know for sure.”

LIV players are also surprised officials test only a random sample of players, rather than the entire field.

“If you’re going to test 50 guys, what’s the difference in testing everybody? It takes no time to test one club,” Reed said.

Richard Bland agrees.

“You could have someone who doesn’t get tested at all, then you could have someone who gets tested quite a bit, the longer hitters like Bryson might be tested every time,” Bland says. “Someone like myself may not get tested at all. So you might say, where is the fairness?”

Australia’s Marc Leishman is uncertain if full-field testing is feasible.

“I don’t know if they’d be able to test an entire field logistically,” Leishman says. “But I think the testing is good. Everybody should be playing with conforming clubs.”

What about out on the LIV Tour, should they be testing regularly?

“I can’t see why we wouldn’t. We already have drug testing. I don’t see why we wouldn’t have driver testing as well,” Jones said. “I don’t know if it would make more sense when we get world ranking points you’re going to have to do something in that regard. The longer you’re with a driver the face starts to get hot. Everyone knows a driver is on the verge of cracking because the ball stops going further.”

Reed would also like to see regular driver testing at LIV Golf.

“I have no problem with them testing at all out here. If everyone’s playing the same thing, it shouldn’t really matter, we all know our guidelines,” Reed said. “With us getting driver heads and stuff built from the manufacturers in the vans, they’re not going to send us something that’s hot. They’re going to send us something within the boundaries that they’re supposed to be and depending on club speed and certain factors.”

Bland also wants to see regular driver testing at LIV events, but with the caveat that each player is tested equally.

“I guess if you’re going to test one, then on LIV over a three week stretch make sure you do it over a three-to-four-week stretch where everyone can get studied,” Bland said.

Dustin Johnson told SI he’s fine with either full-field or partial-field testing, and he has no issue with whatever the governing bodies and the PGA Tour decide to implement.

Sergio Garcia also approves of driver testing on LIV. In the end, he believes that clubs need to be legal and therefore should be tested.

“At the end of the day, we’re trying to make sure that all of our clubs and drivers are conforming and sometimes they get to the limit just because of hitting balls. It’s as simple as that,” Garcia said. “I’m obviously fine with that and that’s fine when they want to do testing.”

Garrett Johnston is a golf journalist based in Washington D.C. and the host of the Beyond the Clubhouse podcast with players, caddies and other media personalities.