Phil Mickelson hits it...

[Brian_Gracely]

Bob,

Do you know how many of the pros make a point of trying to get out at CPC, or how many get out and play when they are in town?
How about MPCC Shore?    

[Bob_Huntley]

I played Cypress on Saturday and Mike Hulbert was in our group. I didn't see anyone else.

On Monday there were a few out at Cypress including the brodcasting crew of McCord, Costas etc. The only other star to play there that I know of was Mickelson, on Wednesday.

We held the Boys and Girls Club of the Monterey Penisula Fundraiser on Monday at MPCC. One pro and three amateurs, shotgun start, all holes in use on both courses. We raised about $200,000.00. Davis Love was the headliner, not too many big names after that.

[Michael Whitaker]

Kyle - I have a bag of 50 Mint-Condition Titleist Professionals that I bought a while back. I purchased them to use in a backyard short game practice area that never got built. They are just sitting in a couple of sealed plastic bags in my office. If you (or anyone else) is interested, just shoot me an email and I'll make you a good deal for them.

[JSlonis]

In my experience it's actually a bit higher...

There are a lot of really good players who play stock equipment out there....

They may not win a lot, but they do win and they do succeed, they also tend to lurk in Top 25's.

Loren Roberts comes to mind.

While there are a few exceptions...

There are not alot of guys on tour that are playing "stock" clubs. These players are catered to in every respect.  There are special "tour only" heads for the majority of manufacturer's drivers and fairway woods. The majority of tour wood heads are weighted differently.  They do not have a "draw bias" internal weighting as do alot of retail heads, and also the face angles on tour heads are usually square to slightly open, unlike their retail counterparts. Most of the irons, these guys play are tweaked in some way or another-  they have special grinds for iron heads, which include special sole grinds for proper bounce, special grinds for appearance, like the top line and toe, etc.  The clubheads may have the same markings as their retail counterparts, but they are far from being what you may find on your local golf shops shelves.  The one component that is the same as the majority of retail clubs is the steel shaft.  Dynamic Gold & Rifle shafts make up the large majority of steel shafts on tour.  As for the Graphite shafts in tour players woods, they have access to so many different models, that you can't imagine.  A fair number of which are created specifically for tour players only and are never released to the public for sale.

[JSlonis]

Shivas,

You are exactly correct about "sound".  I have a tour R7 head and it definitely sounds different than the retail R7 TP version.  I had this same discussion with a few different reps last weekend.

I had a chance to hit a bunch of different clubs at a demo day at the World Golf Village during Superbowl weekend.  I really liked the new Cleveland 460 Comp driver, but I hated the sound of the thing.  The Cleveland rep was watching me hit the club and asked me how I liked it, since it was flying pretty well.  I told him the performance was great, but I didn't care for the sound.  He said..."we can take care of that."

My brother overheard me and was giving me hell for being concerned with the "sound", but both the Cleveland, and Nike Reps chimed in and said that for their staff players, the sound is one of the most important factors when testing newer clubs.

[Brian_Gracely]

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about golf professionals getting access to better gear...this happens in EVERY sport...and it extends down to the high-end amateur ranks in every sport!  About the only difference is most of the other sports don't have considerably better balls than lower levels, although professional baseballs are somewhat harder and the seems are often different (raised) than lower levels.  

We used to have the Rawlings and Easton reps at our college practices about once a month, with a truck load of gear and catalogs to get use anything spec'd (at least gloves) to anything the guys in MLB had.  

[Brian_Gracely]

I really fear for bowling.  All of the major American sports, I feel like it's changed the most and the professional game is taking it way away from its roots.  The minimalist in me really longs for the days of Mark Roth's plaid pants and that smooth arm swing of Earl Anthony.  Now lane owners are bringing in disco balls, strobe lights, gutter guards and electronic scoring.  

What is an old Polish, beer-drinking purist supposed to do?  

[Tim_Weiman]

Mark Brown,

I completely agree with Ted Kramer and don't see any reason ball manufacturers can't build a golf ball that guys like Phil can hit maybe 270-275 (with their drivers).

The Titleist boys should be able to build a golf ball that doesn't require modifications to existing courses or building ever longer new courses.

Obviously, the essence of the game when it comes to distance is "relative distance".

"Absolute distance" has no real value except to make playing the game more expensive.

[Kyle Harris]

Most iron modifications I've heard of on tour have been grinding the bottom weight and top lines down a bit so the ball doesn't balloon too much.

I never knew about the sound aspect of head design but have often wondered why contact sounded different from a tour player... I just assumed they made better contact...

[JSlonis]

See Kyle...on GCA, not only do you get to learn about great, cool looking natural bunkers, you also learn about high performance "tour sounding" drivers that have rendered the cool looking bunkers OBSOLETE!

[Kyle Harris]

Maybe if the bunker could hear the shot... it could react... :-p

If anything, it makes me feel better...

"Hey, he just it 280 and it sounded cool, I hit it 280 and it sounded like crap..."

[Brent Hutto]

Sure, Titleist could build a golf ball that Phil Mickelson couldn't hit 200 yards with a driver. They could also build one that Phil can hit 20 yards farther than the ball he's playing right now. Ball-manufacturing ability is not the issue.

I for one would not be in favor of the ball I play suddenly flying 10% shorter. I don't think Phil Mickelson would be in favor of a ball that flies 10% shorter. I don't think more than one in a thousand golfers would be in favor of a ball that flies 10% shorter, as you are suggesting.

What would probably be acceptable to most golfers is a testing procedure that keeps any ball in the future from flying farther than the current-available balls do.

What might possibly be acceptable to the majority of golfers is a ball that goes maybe a yard or two shorter than the current balls for short-hitting high-handicappers and three or four yards shorter for Phil Mickelson. Maybe. With the right PR spin. For a majority of golfers. You're not going to find giving up distance to be a popular idea for very many people.

[Zack Kelly]

Phil also said he made his equipment switch because he was giving up 15 yards to all the top players.


So how credible is anything Phil Mickelson says about equipment?  In news conference after news conference, he talks about Titleist's "inferior equipment" and how Callaway has brought him to this next level.

He sounds like a whining little kid.

Phil as been playing great here lately as bad as that pains me to say it, because I'm definetly not a Phil fan maybe his #1 hater.  I was talking to a guy who plays on the tour and has been regularly for many years and he told me that the main reason for the switch from Titleist to Callaway was that Callaway paid off a $12 million debt he had in vegas that he lost one evening.  I don't know the truth to it but comes from a pretty reliable source.  
Back to the man issue of equipment, I think that it has gotten a little out of control with the ball and believe if there was a ball for competition it would bring the game back in line. It would allow for the recreation golfer to play whatever he wants but while tournament and competive golf would be played with a ball that meet standards simialr to the driverf

[Brent Hutto]

I like the fact that I play, or could play if I wanted, exactly the same ball and clubs that the guys on Tour use. I just want the USGA to implement a test procedure that keeps the distance available from growing and growing and growing with no real limit.

[Kyle Harris]

I'm with Brent on that one... I don't believe in a possible bifurcation of rules, but definately scaling things back.

It's much easier for me, as a budding player to be able to benchmark myself against the same equipment standards on all levels of play then to have to worry about how I would play with different standards.

[Ted Kramer]

Titleist Balata.

-Ted

[Kyle Harris]

About damn time...

He's by far my favorite golfer

[Brian_Gracely]

Why aren't more people getting behind Duval?  The masses all seem to love John Daly because of his constant comedy of tragedies, so why isn't the Average Joe getting behind Duval since they shoot the same scores?  If he would just get fat and bring back the goatee.....

[THuckaby2]

BG:

I think you know the answer to that.

Daly is very open with his "issues", counteracts very well with the fans, has always been seen as a man of the people.  Beyond that, his grip and rip it style and prodigious length off the tee makes him beloved no matter how his personality is.

Duval has always been standoffish, hiding behind the sunglasses, so emotionless that his fist pumping at the Brookline Ryder Cup was greeted with amazement, and well... generally tolerated more than ever loved.

I'm sure there are a lot of fans enjoying his demise.

I personally think it's sad, so I get no enjoyment from it, and more importantly, it's hard for me to ever feel sorry for a rich guy who plays golf for a living.  

So I'm rooting for him to get back to decency at least as a player, but it's only out of general compassion.

[Kyle Harris]

I dunno, I don't find anything cold about a man whose golf game demises because he spends more time with his wife and her three kids that he absolutely adores and loves...

Maybe I'm missing something...

[Scott_Burroughs]

Brian,

Duval wasn't all that popular before he lost it, Daly was.  And Daly was/is Mr. Everyman.  Duval's showed little emotion other than when he sunk the putt for 59, and was always "hidden" behind his Oakleys (full disclosure, I wear the same kind, but I know how to crack a smile).

I'm rooting for him to get his game back, but it won't be a big deal to mr if he doesn't.

[Mike Benham]

I really fear for bowling.  All of the major American sports, I feel like it's changed the most and the professional game is taking it way away from its roots.  The minimalist in me really longs for the days of Mark Roth's plaid pants and that smooth arm swing of Earl Anthony.  Now lane owners are bringing in disco balls, strobe lights, gutter guards and electronic scoring.  

What is an old Polish, beer-drinking purist supposed to do?  

If we may digress to the serious side of bowling and its connections to golf, you will see that bowling and golf are similar in that there are not enough regulations on the construction and materials that can be used in the ball.  Furthermore, in bowling, you can use more than one type of ball in a match.

Would bowling be better if there was only one-type of ball, a competition ball?

Would golf be better if players were allowed to switch balls throughout the round?

I'll be back in a minute as I jump to www.bowlingballatlas.com to search for this topic

[THuckaby2]

I dunno, I don't find anything cold about a man whose golf game demises because he spends more time with his wife and her three kids that he absolutely adores and loves...

Maybe I'm missing something...

That part is honorable, and admirable, for sure.

But that's also likely the only reason more people are rooting for him, or at least not openly rooting against him.

That alone does not approach what makes people love Daly; and more importantly, Duval has a LOT of catching up to do re his past behavior, real or perceived.


10,000 gets closer....

 

[Kyle Harris]

Yeah, I understand the Daly thing, and can't really see a comparison to Duval's troubles. Just saying, Duval isn't nearly as cold as he appears to be.

[THuckaby2]

Yeah, I understand the Daly thing, and can't really see a comparison to Duval's troubles. Just saying, Duval isn't nearly as cold as he appears to be.

Sure, he isn't that cold NOW... which is cool to see.

But before....

TH

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