The Green Fee I know when I started this blog I said I didnt care much about the tour and what they do unless I see something interesting. The US Open and British Open give us some good looks at new equipment. It also gives us some insight into tour pros minds when it comes to their bags
New Taylormade Mini Driver?
I spoke about this new mini driver on the podcast about a month ago. Well it popped up in the bag of the reigning PGA Championship Champ. Phil is well known for putting a Taylormade three wood or a mini driver in his bag. It has caused Callaway to scramble and introduce their own versions so they dont have to hide the Taylormade from the public. It is pretty obvious that Phil has the new Taylormade 300 mini driver in his hands. He tried to cover it up but again you can clearly tell. Its also interesting that DJ may throw one in the bag as well. DJ has the power but can get a little off line at times. Maybe getting something with a little loft and a shorter shaft will help him avoid that crazy Torrey Pines rough.
Why a mini driver? It really boils down to a few things. The first is better accuracy. With a shorter shaft it gives the control of a 3 wood. It has less loft than a 3 wood though so you wont lose too much distance from the additional launch and spin. Also at Torrey the players are going to face some CRAZY rough so maybe they are thinking the club could be easier from the rough with the additional size. Much more likely to get some decent club face on it.
7 woods?
According to Jonathan Wall a lot of the tour trucks are being over run with requests for a 7 wood. I personally cant stand the look of a 7 wood but Torrey Pines is a special case for a lot of these guys. With the spin and heights they generate a 7 wood would be out of the question. The rough at Torrey though is getting these guys to need more spin to start holding greens. Its super interesting to see. I would imagine they would go out of the bag next week.
It is a lesson for us amateurs as well. Play what works. If you hit something better put it in the bag. Those guys try to shoot low and dont care what it takes to do it. If your goal is to shoot low play what works. I never wanted to be the guy with 4 headcovers. I played a 4 iron and a 4 driving iron. Then I realized I play the 4 hybrid really well and in the bag it went. Hell recently I bought a putter for fun and cant miss with it despite being hideous and having a SuperStroke 5.0 grip. I hate everything about it except the 15 putts on the front 9 last week!
Final Thoughts
It is US Open week so the Tour is pretty interesting. The part I am most excited for are going to be the limited edition releases from all the OEMs. I cant wait to share my favorites.
