Why Rickie Fowler's driver face tweaks are within legal boundaries?
The start of the 2024 season has not been good for Rickie Fowler, and a big part of his problems lie in his long game. To address this, one of the things the player and his team have been working on is making a small (and completely within legal boundaries) modification to his driver.
At the start of the 2024 season, Rickie Fowler exhibited an average driving distance of 272 yards (165th on the PGA Tour), a driving accuracy percentage of 55% (95th) and a Stroke Gained: Off the Tee of -1.244 (154th). In other words, well below his real possibilities.
To quickly resolve the issue, his team has taken several measures, one of which was drawing three vertical white lines on the face of his driver. The lines are intended to help him align each drive shot and were first seen on Rickie Fowler's Cobra Darkspeed LS driver during the recently concluded American Express tournament.
The issue is an interesting one, as not all modifications to clubs are legal. However, the lines drawn on the face of Rickie Fowler's driver are in accordance with the rules.
The secret is that the lines were drawn with a simple white permanent marker. Since no substance was used that could alter the trajectory or spin of the ball when struck, there is nothing improper about the modification.
United States Golf Association (USGA) Rule 4.1a(3) states the following (via USGA official website):
"A player must not make a stroke with a club when they have deliberately changed that club's characteristics during the round: (section 2) By applying any substance to the clubhead (other than in cleaning it) to affect how it performs in making a stroke."
How did Rickie Fowler start the 2024 season?
Rickie Fowler has played two tournaments so far in the 2024 PGA Tour season. He teed off in the first tournament of the year, The Sentry, and in the first event of the so-called "West Coast Swing," The American Express.
At The Sentry, Fowler did not fare well, finishing 56th (in a field of 59 players). His performance included 25 birdies, 10 bogeys and one double bogey, and his final score was a 10-under 282, 19 strokes behind leader Chris Kirk.
The American Express was even more unfortunate for Fowler. With a score of -2 for 36 holes, he missed the cut by no less than 11 strokes. His performance included only one birdie, three bogeys and one double bogey.
The La Quinta, California event was the first missed cut for Fowler since May 2023 (PGA Championship). He made 12 consecutive official starts without a cut, including two no-cut events (TOUR Championship and The Sentry).
That period also included two unofficial events, the Hero World Challenge, where he finished 17th, and the Grant Thornton Invitational, where he finished T6 while teaming up with Lexi Thompson.