golf and tennis

[mothers against paintjobs]

"There's always an ego thing you have to work with," said two-time Tour winner Notah Begay, who uses a 7-wood in most tournaments. "Once players hit a few shots with them, I think they'll be convinced by the results and won't care if you get ribbed by buddies."

Some of the game's top stars -- Tiger Woods, Davis Love III and Phil Mickelson -- only carry a driver and 3-wood, and still hit 1- and 2-irons effectively.

But according to the Darrell Survey, which monitors club use on Tour, as many as 25 percent of the players use lofted woods (usually 5-woods and 7-woods) and utility clubs (with lofts ranging from 15 degrees to the low 20s).


I thought this was interesting kind of same in tennis where people won't play with newer stiffer or lighter racquets due to the ego thing. But I thought this Darrel Survey thing was awesome, golf fans actually KNOW what pros use, if tiger woods hits a 2-iron that means its actually a 2-iron, not a paintjob of a 5 iron or something made by another company. Us tennis fans are stuck with being told that james blake is playing with a dunlop 300g, and having no way of finding out the TRUTH other than stumbling onto this website's messageboard by accident. Dam they cover up the truth well. Well that's my rant.

[bcaz]

word ...

[mothers against paintjobs]

I have no problem with simple after market customizing I can do myself, if that's all it was. I want to be able to buy a racquet and have it meet the spec i'm interested in by simple addition of lead tape. If a pro plays with a racquet that has a different STIFFNESS, HOLE PATTERN, BEAM WIDTH, than advertised I can't meet that. That's gripe number one. The second gripe is that not only is the facts not available, they tell you a different set of specs that a pro doesn't play too. It's bait and switch.

[Kobble]

I have posted about this before. Some pros who use the oversize irons actually grind the club down to meet their standards. They grind the thick top line down to a blades form, and the work on the heel and toe of the clubs also. To do this yourself with such precision would take costly machinery and years of craftsmanship experience. Honestly, I have never seen a Titleist driver with a Ping paintjob, or anything else like that. Most pros are very honest about what they use, but have you noticed that you do not see many players who use the oversize clubs allow their bag to be shown in GolfDigest's column. Most of the pros in any sport use tricks and paintjobs to cover up their problems with endorsement deals, not to be bad people. I am sure if any of us had the money to spend we could get Callaway or Head to cook us up something special. How much that would cost? I don't have the slightest idea.

[AC]

Actually, everyday golfers have many of the same gripes. In fact, the Darrell Survey basically found themselves a good niche because manufacturers are willing to pay serious money to get someone to check on what pros are playing...not only to see if their sponsor contracts are being upheld, but also to see how they are doing overall (i.e., you always see in a company's ads stuff like #1 driver on tour for the weeks of so and so). Tour pros are notorious for having company logos all over every headcover, yet when they pull that headcover off, it's a completely different club. The pros are under an obligation to make their bags on tee #1 available to the Darrell folk for those reporting needs. However, pros clubs are seriously customized...swingweights, internal weighting, painted prototype shafts, lofts and lies, special bounce/topline/toe grinds, and on and on. Most of those details we'll never know. Even the golfdigest in the bag section is pretty limited, but at least gives a bit of insight. The difference between a pros' Apex Plus irons and the Apex Plus irons you get at your pro shop are night-and-day different...they are overhauled to fit each players' preferences. Pretty much just the paint job in common. Of course golf equipment is subject to more rules and limitations than tennis equipment, but there's still a ton of tinkering compared to stock that is done.
BTW, Tiger likes his clubs very traditional (lofts are weak, etc.), i.e., our new 5 iron is about the loft he has on his 4 iron, and his steel-shafted driver is about an inch shorter than the modern standard. I think Vijay carries a 7 wood but it's been bent to the loft of a 5 wood...so not sure what to call that! 5.7 wood or something.... ;-)

[bsandy]

Thing is . . . Most golfers are no more suited to play with pro clubs than tennis players are to play with pro racquets. But, I am getting tired of them telling us we are getting their racquets !!! TW is as guilty as anyone at this !!!