Thanks Boffman. I still have a couple 588's that see some occasional playing time, one being a 60* copper head. I seem to prefer my Bobby Jones Pelz wedges for touch around the green and must confess that I'm unfortunately more mechanic and less artist with my short game.
I always like to look at players making equipment changes for big tournaments. The forums at golfwrx and BSG keep me abreast of changes and prototypes.
I'm sure many have noticed Tiger's different colored driver shaft this week. For the first time he's using a 9.5-degree 420cc Nike VR Tour driver with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI-7X shaft. Apparently he owes the switch to Chucky 3 sticks while they were playing a practice round together in March in Windermere. Tiger asked CH3 if he could try his driver out and the rest is history. The shaft is mid-kick and weighs 75 grams. The change was from his Nike SQ Dymo 380cc with a high kicking Diamana White Board 83g shaft. This week he has hit 20 of 29 fairways for 71.43%, an almost 10% improvement from his accuracy at the PGA last year.
He also switch his lob wedge from 60 to 62 degrees. These changes must be working at least mentally because his distance has been up a little and he has hit 26 greens in regulation, ranking among the top 10 in that category. However, he has totaled 59 putts, barely cracking the top 50. If he can just work out the kinks in his Cameron sooner rather than later he might be sporting another green jacket come Sunday.
It was interesting to hear Phil in his post-round interview yesterday. Talking about Augusta not having as much long rough and his confidence in the ability to scramble if missing the fairway. He said that at Augusta he really swings harder than at any other golf course that he plays. I guess he's right because he leads the tourny in driving distance. Interesting enough Phil switched drivers too, although he's probably the biggest tinkerer on Tour.
Phil is using a 6.2 degree FT9 TA with a 59 gram Fubuki prototype shaft that reportedly is 48 inches. Lefty is cutting edge for sure. That thing would feel like a wet noodle in my hands.
48 inches and only 59 grams at a swing speed approaching 130 MPH. Wow.