Woods adds opinion to ongoing driver debate

"There may be drivers, due to variances in the manufacturing tolerances, that exceed the COR limits."

Larry Dorman, Callaway Golf spokesman

Tiger Woods walks from the practice green to the first tee, picks up the official scorecard, meets the volunteers keeping score, then waits for the starter to announce his name before hitting his opening tee shot.

He wouldn't mind seeing an extra step in the routine.

Before sticking a tee in the ground, Woods believes every player should hand his driver to a PGA Tour official so it can be tested to make sure it's within the rules.

"First hole, here's my driver," Woods said last week at the Buick Classic. "Make sure it's legal. Green light, red light. That kind of thing."

As his driving distance slips farther down the rankings -- at 292.2 yards, a career-low 29th on tour -- Woods has become increasingly suspicious that some players are using drivers with a little too much pop.

Asked if there were illegal clubs on tour, Woods replied, "You could say that."

At issue is a physics term called the "coefficient of restitution" (COR), which measures how quickly a golf ball springs off the face of a club at impact. When the face is ultra thin, it allows for more of a trampoline effect.

Golf's ruling bodies last year set the limit at 0.83 for professional tours.

One USGA official said he has no reason to believe anyone is cheating.

"We have seen no evidence that there are clubs on tour that exceed our limits," said Dick Rugge, senior technical director for the USGA.

Still, equipment companies concede some drivers might be over the limit, especially in a competitive environment where they try to get as close to the line as possible.

"There may be drivers, due to variances in the manufacturing tolerances, that exceed the COR limits," Callaway Golf spokesman Larry Dorman said.

The real issue is whether players even know if a driver is over the limit. If so, that would introduce cheating to a sport that has been rooted in integrity for over 500 years.

But is there even a problem?

Woods relies on what he sees. He routinely used to hit his 3-wood farther than most players hit their drivers. Now, more players hit past him even when Woods uses a driver.

Rugge, on the other hand, believes COR is overrated.

"Anything over .83 adds feet to a well-struck drive, maybe inches," Rugge said. "It's not like all of a sudden it goes over this limit and becomes a super-hot club. There are two additional yards for every .01" over the limit.

Meantime, the USGA has developed a portable test it says will give a quicker and more accurate reading of springlike effect in drivers.

It would be a big improvement over the current test, which requires drivers to be shipped to the USGA Research and Test Center, where they are taken apart and analyzed.

The portable test requires only a low-speed strike to the club by a small, metal weight on a pendulum. Rugge said it measures vibration, and how long the metal makes contact with the face of the driver.

If approved, the portable test could be stationed at PGA Tour events.

The tour considered trying the portable test during the Western Open next week, but abruptly postponed it indefinitely last month, a decision that infuriated Woods. He met privately with commissioner Tim Finchem, but says he didn't get a clear answer.

The portable test likely will be a main topic at the PGA Tour policy board meeting on Monday.

"Even though it's a fairly simple test and a quick test, we've got to make sure we're comfortable with it," Finchem said after his meeting with Woods.