With the PGA Tour’s new 2022-23 season set to start on Thursday, several manufacturers are starting to seed yet-to-be-released equipment. That can mean sending clubs to players’ houses so they can start practicing with it at home and bringing it to PGA Tour events for the first time so golfers can ask questions and go through a fitting process under the watchful eyes of company reps and expert shaft technicians.
However, before any of that new gear can be used in official competitions in the United States, it has to be submitted to the United States Golf Association (USGA) and tested to ensure it conforms to equipment standards and rules. If a club does, it is added to the appropriate area on Conforming Club and Ball list. If a piece of equipment fails to conform, the USGA discretely lets the company know about the problem so it can be resolved and re-submitted.
