The owner's manual that should come with every new driver

Rule 4 of the Rules of Golf and Part 2 of the Equipment Rules hold most of the owner’s manual a new driver should come with. The box usually holds a headcover, a small wrench and a leaflet about the adjustable hosel. The relevant parts of the Rules are collected below. Please read before first use, and in any case before the first tee.

1. Specifications

Your driver has been built within the following limits, which the Equipment Rules set for every wood:

Feature	Limit
Clubhead volume	460 cubic centimetres, plus a tolerance of 10 cubic centimetres
Heel to toe	5 inches
Sole to crown	2.8 inches
Moment of inertia	5,900 g cm², plus a test tolerance of 100 g cm²
Spring-like effect of the face	Characteristic time of 239 microseconds, plus a test tolerance of 18 microseconds
Club length	48 inches

The heel-to-toe measurement must also be greater than the face-to-back one, so however deep the head looks at address, it is officially wider than it is long. None of the limits applies to the golfer, who is supplied separately and without a tolerance.

2. Adjusting your driver

The wrench changes loft, lie and face angle. Use it at home or on the practice ground. Rule 4.1a(3) says that during a round a player “must not make a stroke with a club when they have deliberately changed that club’s playing characteristics”. The penalty is disqualification. A quarter-turn on the 6th tee because the last four went right is a deliberate change, however small the click.

Nothing in the bag is allowed to tell you when to use the driver. Rule 4.3 lets a device give distance and direction but not recommend a club, so the decision to hit driver on a short par 4 with out of bounds down the right remains entirely yours.

3. Operating conditions

A new driver usually joins a bag that still contains the old one, just in case. Rule 4.1b allows no more than 14 clubs. Start a round with both drivers and 13 other clubs, and the penalty in stroke play is two strokes for each hole where the breach happened, up to four in the round. In match play the match score is adjusted by deducting a hole for each hole where the breach happened, to a maximum of two. A spare driver carried for emergencies counts towards the 14 even if it never leaves its headcover.

4. Care and storage

Keep the headcover on between shots. Scuffed paint on the sole, scratches on the crown and the mark left by a ball teed too high are all normal wear. Under Rule 4.1a(1), a club that changes because of wear through normal use is still a conforming club, so the mark on top may stay as a record of the day it happened.

5. Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Action
Ball starts right and keeps going	Face open at impact	Practise after the round. Do not touch the hosel during it (section 2).
Ball starts left and keeps going	Overcorrection of the above	As above.
Ball flies 190 yards, dead straight	A swing made at three-quarter speed out of caution	No action needed. Ball is in play.
Driver felt perfect on the range, not on the 1st tee	Spectators	Hit the next one.
Second driver found in the bag on the 4th green	More than 14 clubs (section 3)	Declare it out of play immediately.

6. Warranty

Like the manufacturer’s warranty, the Rules have small print, in Rule 4.1a(2). A driver damaged during a round is treated as conforming for the rest of it, “no matter what the nature or cause of the damage”, and you may carry on using it. The Rules list who or what may have caused it: the player, any other person, an outside influence or natural forces. Except in cases of abuse, you may repair the club or replace it with another. A head that cracks on a cold morning can be swapped at the turn. One that has been bounced off the buggy cannot, and plays the back nine as it is.

Sources

• The R&A: Rules of Golf, Rule 4 – The Player’s Equipment
• The R&A: Players’ Rule Finder – Club damaged during round
• USGA: Equipment Rules, Part 2 Rule 5 – Clubhead
• The R&A: Equipment Information for Players
• Golf Business News: R&A announces limit for drivers
• Hero photo: Wojciech Kulicki, “Golf Club Against Ball”, Flickr