The rules around testing a golfer’s driver has sparked huge debate after Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlory’s club recently failed tests at the PGA Championship
03:19 ET, 26 May 2025Updated 03:19 ET, 26 May 2025
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler both failed driver tests at the PGA Championship(Image: Getty Images)
Former US Open champion Lucas Glover has added to his growing list of controversial claims after suggesting most golf pros don’t submit their actual drivers for testing. His comments come after both Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler’s drivers were found to be past the legal limit of degradation, sparking huge debate around the rules.
Driver testing is the latest hot issue in golf circles after McIlroy, 36, was reportedly told to use a new driver at the 2025 PGA Championship. The wood he used to win this year’s Masters is understood to have been deemed “no longer permissible,” though details on the matter are scarce given test results remain confidential.
PGA Championship victor Scheffler, 28, also revealed his driver failed testing prior to the start of the week. But Glover, who won the US Open at Bethpage in 2009, has cast suspicion over the entire testing process, which is now being highlighted as a potential source of oversight in the modern game.
“I’ve been trying to think all morning and all day how to say this without sounding like it’s gonna sound,” he said on his SiriusXM radio show when co-host Taylor Zarzour quizzed him on why only around 30 drivers are supposedly tested per week. “But most guys don’t give them their real driver anyway.
“They give them their backup just in case. No, it’s true. And the testing is the way it is, why, and again, I know a lot of guys, they keep two drivers in their bag just in case. ‘Hey, oh, yeah, it’s this one. It’s this one right here. Yeah, do this, test this one.'” Despite Glover’s claims, there is no evidence to suggest any PGA Tour star has intentionally submitted their backup driver for testing to bend the rules.
Driver testing isn’t a new practice in golf, though the thoroughness of the process is now being called into question. And McIlroy’s struggles off the tee at Quail Hollow are perhaps evidence of the small margins to be gained or lost when changing clubs.
Lucas Glover has developed a reputation for his controversial claims in recent times(Image: Harry How/Getty Images)
Over time, it’s normal for a club face to wear thinner as it’s struck at high velocity over and over again by the elite of the sport. This can have its advantages given it increases the elasticity of the driver beyond the legal limit.
The TaylorMade driver McIlroy used at the PGA Championship was precisely the same make and model as the discarded club he used to win Augusta. And yet his output looked decidedly different by comparison, and Glover believes the proof was in the pudding.
“I was told a long time ago, golf clubs are actually like snowflakes,” added the 45-year-old. “They may read the same. They may look the same. They may fall the same way out of the sky. They may build them the exact same in the trailer, but they’re snowflakes.
“There is nothing identical. To the point where, even the backups I travel with, I know it is not as good. If it was as good or better, I’d be hitting it.”
McIlroy and Scheffler are two of the dominant forces in golf right now(Image: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
If it’s true that two clubs can be so different, it’s a testament to Scheffler’s quality that his club change didn’t impede him in Pennsylvania. Xander Schauffele, who played the first two rounds at Quail Hollow alongside him and McIlroy, revealed news of Scheffler’s switch before telling reporters: “See, you don’t even know because he’s so good.”
Scheffler confirmed his driver had indeed failed testing before backing calls for a more robust testing process. “I would argue that, if we’re going to test drivers, we need to be even more robust in the way we test them,” he said.
“That was a conversation I had with one of the rules officials. If it’s something we’re going to take seriously, I feel like we’re almost going halfway with it right now.”
It’s not the first time this year Glover has called for reform in the sport, having also thrown shade on the AimPoint green-reading technique in February. The veteran argued the process is “rude” and slows down the pace of play while calling for it to be banned outright.
