What this is
The premise
Golf regulates equipment harder than almost any sport and explains those regulations worse than almost any sport. Meanwhile roughly every golfer alive will never post a score that counts for anything, and every brand still markets to them like the Masters is next week.
So: the gear that got banned for working too well is sitting right there, it's completely lawful to buy, and in your Saturday game it's nobody's business but yours. That seemed worth a website.
The part we take seriously
Fun is fine. Wrong is not. Every number here is the real one with its tolerance, because the tolerance is what actually decides anything. The driver face limit is 239 microseconds — but there's an 18µs measurement allowance, so a club only fails above 257. The head limit is 460cm³ with a 10cm³ tolerance, so 470 is the real ceiling.
Most golf content quotes the headline number and stops, which is how you get an entire internet confidently telling you the wrong thing. We read the actual test protocols. It's more interesting that way, and being right is the only reason to trust anything else we say.
Where the line really is
We are not telling you to cheat, and we will not fudge this to sound cooler. There are three separate questions and most people mash them together:
- Is it lawful to own and use? Always yes. Buy whatever you want.
- Does it conform under the Rules of Golf? Non-conforming gear does not — and that applies to any round played under the Rules, not just competitions.
- Can you post the score? Generally not, since a posted score normally requires the round to have been played under the Rules.
In a purely social game where you and your buddies agree to it, none of that is in play and you should absolutely enjoy yourself. In your club championship it very much is. We will always tell you which one you are looking at.
How we handle the Rules
The Rules of Golf are written by the USGA and The R&A and the text is their copyright. We do not reproduce it. Every explanation here is in our own words and links to the official source so you can check us.
Find a number that is wrong and tell us. We will fix it and say that we did.
How we make money
Affiliate commission on some of the gear we cover. When a page has an affiliate link, it says so at the top of that page before you read a word of the review. When it does not, it says that instead — we are not running a blanket "we may earn a commission" disclaimer on pages where we earn nothing.
Two promises. A commercial relationship never changes a verdict. And we do not publish ratings for products we have not tested — if a manufacturer claims fifteen extra yards, we report that as their claim, not as a fact we verified.
What we are not
Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the USGA or The R&A. They write the Rules; we just explain them better and enjoy ourselves doing it.
illegal.golf is a property of Mavaos, LLC.