Now We Know Why The USGA Is Accumulating A War Chest...

Golf World's dynamic duo of Mike Stachura and E. Michael Johnson reveal that the USGA has notified manufacturers of a new random driver testing program.

This isn't going to be cheap:

The protocol has the USGA obtaining eight samples from golf retail shops of its choosing. Those drivers will be measured on the pendulum tester located at the USGA Test Center.

The USGA said all drivers appearing on the USGA's List of Conforming Driver Heads are subject to the check testing program with the frequency of sampling to be determined by the USGA, depending on the results obtained. This could potentially be an arduous, time-consuming and expensive task as that list is currently 380 pages long with an average of about nine driver heads per page -- that's well over 3,000 driver heads.

Yeah and at $3-600 a head...ouch!

And if they find the drivers are exceeding the limit...

it will set off a series of events that includes a notice to the manufacturer. At that point, the manufacturer will have a "reasonable amount of time" to review the findings and discuss them with the USGA. At that point the club will be removed from the conforming list unless the manufacturer "provides information to the USGA which warrants additional consideration by the USGA."

Once a club is placed on the non-conforming list, the manufacturer may submit a conforming version of the club, with some form of permanent identifying markings distinguishing this version from the non-conforming version.