Any questions about the impending driver ban??

[JezzE]

Jeremy Ellwood, GM equipment editor here again!

On Monday 13th August I will be speaking to Peter Dawson - head man at the R&A - about a variety of topics, one of which will be the ban on certain high-COR drivers from 1st January next year.

Do you have a question or concern about this particular issue that you'd like me to raise with him? If so, please add a thread to this post and I will endeavour to ask him the 10 best/most frequently repeated questions

 

[madandra]

How will this be managed at a local level? I understand golf is self governing but will each club get a list if all clubs banned?

 

[GB72]

How is the average golfer supposed to recognise these banned clubs and avoid being duped?

 

[swingstar1]

once this ban comes in and everyone has a driver that conforms to the regulations can we be assured that there won't be anymore bans in the future (ie if my driver is now conforms now what is the likelyhood of it still being legal in 2 years or is more legislation on its way that could mean I need to change it)

 

[thebelgie24]

think its gettin like football tops mate,new one's mean more money,new rules ,new clubs!

 

[MacMachattie]

Have all the drivers on the market been tested by the R&A? Are there any drivers for sale at the moment that may not conform to the COR regulations?

 

[jontov]

when i purchased my cobra the pos siad it conformed with the 8.3 max cor has this changed or were cobra
lying jontov

 

[chipin1]

The Nike Sumo was released earlier this year but soon withdrawn as it was found to be non-conforming... How did it get to market if all the right test had been taken? What will you do to make sure this doesn't happen again?

I think I'm right in saying that they've since made a conforming version... but there's a good chance that a few non-conforming Sumo drivers will have slipped through the net. How can we tell if a player's Nike Sumo is conforming or not?

 

[Trueblue]

If I feel I wasn't really warned about this impending ban when I bought my new driver, do I have any re-course to getting a compensation package from the manufacturers?
Thanks
Disgruntled golf fan!

 

[USER1999]

The nike sumos that conform are getting a small circle stamped on the bottom of the club head. Any one with out this mark could be playing a non conforming club, but it would be ok until January. anyone who has bought one, can get it changed for free (a chance to get rid of the roof marks).

Apparently there was a variance in the manufacuring process, and this lead to a small number of drivers being non conforming. Nike did not set out to make the sumo non compliant.

 

[NeilTappin]

Thank you murphthemog... So it was down to shoddy manufacturing. Maybe that's a good reason not to go with Nike

 

[USER1999]

yep, that's the gist of it.

But:
If you set out to make something on the limit, unless your process is very tight, inevitably some products will be over the limit. There is always a tolerance on manufacturing.

Of course you could set your goal lower, so that your top tolerance is way below the limit, but end up with a club that is out performed by everything else out there, but always legal.

I wonder how many other manufacturers have clubs out there with a certain percentage of manufacture being non conforming?

Especially since most club heads are made in China, where from personal experience I can say that their process control is rubbish.