A senior technician
works with the
“Mechanical Golfer”
as part of the
process to determine
if a club conforms.
T
At the USGA’s
Research and Test
Center, exacting
measures mean nothing
is left to chance when
it comes to approving
equipment that finds
its way into your bag
No, the most demanding location in golf is
not even a golf course. It’s a red brick building
in the pastoral horse country of New Jersey,
an hour south of New York City, a few more
north of Washington D.C., but really in the
middle of nowhere. It is the United States
Golf Association’s Research and T Center
est
just outside the sleepy hamlet of Far Hills. It
30
is here that every piece of golf equipment—
balls, clubs, gloves, swing aids, you name
it—is probed and prodded, weighed and
measured, to determine whether it deserves
to make the trip from lab to links, idea to
reality. The items having to do with golf that
are in your bag have probably first passed
through this building.
VIRGINIA GOLFER | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
Master_VSGA_Sept13_MASTER2.indd 30
The testing process that goes on in
this building involves a long and involved
process—but one that is absolutely
necessary, for the simple reason that golf
is and should be a challenge. You will hear
many reasons for liking golf—company,
business, the thrill of fresh air, among
them—but the challenge of the game
lies at the heart of it. Part of the USGA’s
mandate is to make sure that challenge
is preserved no matter the tools that the
golfer may use.
In a very real sense, this is where the test in
golf is put to the test.
w w w. v s g a . o r g
8/30/13 10:22 AM
MATT RAINEY/USGA PHOTO ARCHIVES
T
The most challenging place in golf in the United
States is not Pine Valley, Oakmont or Spyglass Hill.
Nor, for that matter, is it Whistling Straits, TPC
Sawgrass or Winged Foot.
by ROBIN
McMILLAN
MATT RAINEY/USGA PHOTO ARCHIVES
A True and
Thorough Test