Do PGA Tour players play equipment off the rack?

[floycota]

Wasn't Vijay's Boxer hybrid (when he first put it in play) from off the rack? (Reshafted with a VS Proto)

 

I don't know about the Boxer but for the first ATT National, he found a cleveland launcher 11 wood in a used-club bin near his house that he had the tour guys reshaft so he could use it as a 150yds-from-the-rough club.

Yeah, I heard Vijay was showing off in his practice round. He had his playing partner step on his ball in the rough to show how great his 2nd swing club was. He was able to put 5 in a row close to the flag after being stepped on in the rough for 160 out.

 

He are the ones I've heard about-

 

Calc - Ping Redwood

Watson - Odyssey putter

Calc - wedges from ebay

Kelly - putter

Monty - X-wedge

 

I've seen Mark Brooks buy stuff from a local store and same with Vaugh Taylor.

 

I think most of this stuff is probably modified to some degree by the player or guys in the tour van.

[Jack lives here]

Generally tour players have their own preferences. Spec. sole grind, swingweight, face angle, bias...... IMO only Mizuno make´s no difference between tour and retail.

 

 

 

The great thing about Mizuno irons is that the retail clubs are tour quality. I played a retail set of MP11s for sixteen years. Simple superb irons.

[wolfpackblack]

Generally tour players have their own preferences. Spec. sole grind, swingweight, face angle, bias...... IMO only Mizuno make´s no difference between tour and retail.

 

Ping does it as well, and from what I've read on here, so does Titleist. You can order any combination the pros use straight from your retailer with Ping since most of their sales are custom orders.

[bradyrstokes]

[quote name='floycota' post='1811918' date='Jul 11 2009, 05:11 AM'][quote name='jokerusn' post='1798442' date='Jul 5 2009, 08:07 AM'][quote name='808golfers' post='1798380' date='Jul 5 2009, 06:08 AM']Wasn't Vijay's Boxer hybrid (when he first put it in play) from off the rack? (Reshafted with a VS Proto)[/quote]

I don't know about the Boxer but for the first ATT National, he found a cleveland launcher 11 wood in a used-club bin near his house that he had the tour guys reshaft so he could use it as a 150yds-from-the-rough club.
[/quote]
Yeah, I heard Vijay was showing off in his practice round. He had his playing partner step on his ball in the rough to show how great his 2nd swing club was. He was able to put 5 in a row close to the flag after being stepped on in the rough for 160 out.

He are the ones I've heard about-

Calc - Ping Redwood
Watson - Odyssey putter
Calc - wedges from ebay
Kelly - putter
Monty - X-wedge

I've seen Mark Brooks buy stuff from a local store and same with Vaugh Taylor.

I think most of this stuff is probably modified to some degree by the player or guys in the tour van.
[/quote]

I can testify for Mark Brooks doing some swapping at a local Retail shop. I saw him at Golf Stop in Fort Worth doing some swapping months ago.

[c.brown]

My first "Tour" Club (r510df) came from a used club bin at a golf shop in Reno, NV. The guys
at the register told me Mark Brooks traded it in the week before when he was playing
the Reno Tahoe Open.

Sold the club for more than twice what I paid for it the next day! ;-)

[NoCalHack]

[quote name='cAsE sEnSiTiVe ' post='1797953' date='Jul 4 2009, 09:15 PM']As you saw first-hand, they on occasion will game a putter out of the "barrel" as a change of pace, but I'd bet they don't EVER bag anything else that came from the rack.[/quote]


What would make you say that? Do you honestly think that tour issue putters are that different than off the rack putters? Like they come from special factories and use special metals? Its a freaking putter for goodness sakes. Please. Certain exceptions notwithstanding, the main difference is probably just in the fitting and even then, many guys probably use off the rack specs. Plenty of guys use off the rack putters. That's a fact.

Sounds like something you'd hear on another website whose main motivation is trying to sell tour issue special equipment for your next paycheck.

[keaney91]

Saw a WITB video with David Toms a few days ago and he ended it saying "you can get anything I play at your local golf shop"

[projamie]

I was practicing with a tour mate a few weeks back, he tried my taylormade wedges and said he liked them so instead of waiting and just getting taylormade to make them, he just went into the store, grabbed 2 of them, hit a few balls, went back to mine and whacked a couple of X100s in them and is still playing them.

On the other hand, another mate wont touch retail, that being said its scary what he can tell... He said he hit someones R7 limited at a tournement on the sunday after a round, so as i had a spare head i said ill shaft it up with his usual... Hit one shot and said it felt funny, hit like another 5 balls and said it wasnt right, looked at the hosel and realised it wasnt a tour head... Pretty freeky...

Another time, he recieved a set of irons and took them on the range to try them out, went through the set and went back to the six iron saying it felt funny, swingweighted the set and was .2 out... He also felt the 4 iron shaft was soft and the 9 iron shaft was strong, CPMd them and yep, he was right...

I guess it depends on the guy, if they are sensitive to the feel they may notice the difference in tolerances, if there not bothered and more swing orientated then equipment might not bother them, the first guy dont care what it is aslong as he gets the right flight out of it, can be retail or tour, doesnt make a difference, the second guy will tweak and go threw gear until its just right and wont touch retail.

Different strokes for different folks...

[Texsport]

[quote name='bradyrstokes' post='2044386' date='Nov 3 2009, 09:35 PM'][quote name='floycota' post='1811918' date='Jul 11 2009, 05:11 AM'][quote name='jokerusn' post='1798442' date='Jul 5 2009, 08:07 AM'][quote name='808golfers' post='1798380' date='Jul 5 2009, 06:08 AM']Wasn't Vijay's Boxer hybrid (when he first put it in play) from off the rack? (Reshafted with a VS Proto)[/quote]

I don't know about the Boxer but for the first ATT National, he found a cleveland launcher 11 wood in a used-club bin near his house that he had the tour guys reshaft so he could use it as a 150yds-from-the-rough club.
[/quote]
Yeah, I heard Vijay was showing off in his practice round. He had his playing partner step on his ball in the rough to show how great his 2nd swing club was. He was able to put 5 in a row close to the flag after being stepped on in the rough for 160 out.

He are the ones I've heard about-

Calc - Ping Redwood
Watson - Odyssey putter
Calc - wedges from ebay
Kelly - putter
Monty - X-wedge

I've seen Mark Brooks buy stuff from a local store and same with Vaugh Taylor.

I think most of this stuff is probably modified to some degree by the player or guys in the tour van.
[/quote]

I can testify for Mark Brooks doing some swapping at a local Retail shop. I saw him at Golf Stop in Fort Worth doing some swapping months ago.
[/quote]


Yea, I own a Vokey ground Mark Brooks SW.

May be one he traded.

Texsport

[robbie91]

id like to hear the story of calc buying wedges off ebay.. hes the man i wonder if he went for the buy it now option or sniped it out in the auction hahaha

[Texsport]

[quote name='robbie91' post='2046379' date='Nov 4 2009, 08:41 PM']id like to hear the story of calc buying wedges off ebay.. hes the man i wonder if he went for the buy it now option or sniped it out in the auction hahaha[/quote]


Some of the Ping Tour players love the old Eye-2 wedges that were grandfathered in as legal.

My son used to trade those wedges to Ed Fiori for his unused Tour issued clubs.

Texsport

[Socrates]

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that every Tour Pro has gone looking for something else to use when they have down time. Much less obvious to go to the local shop/store and look at different stuff anonymously hoping to find that magic. Especially if you are missing a lot of cuts. That's why they have garages full of stuff that we would drool at but they just toss it in the corner as another one that looked good but didn't work out. At the Tour stops they have everything there, but they might not look at it so as to not offend their sponsors or embarrassed to be seen using something odd looking.

If they do buy something, it likely will be a putter or wedge. If they do find something that looks good to them and want to seriously try it, I'm sure that they go right to a Tour van and get it massaged or order the same thing from the company in question and built to their specs. Not too often will they use a set right off the rack and usually as a stop-gap since their clubs were lost or stolen between events but I'm sure that it happens too.

[gvogel]

I think that Dustin Johnson won at Turningstone last year with a '09 Burner that he bought off the rack.

[Pepperturbo]

Some might play pieces of equipment off the rack, all depends. Characteristically however pros, like good amateurs that know their games have everything tweaked to satisfaction.

Getting a piece of equipment from an OEM tour dept can have implications that maybe a player doesn't want, so they buy retail. If it doesn't work, he can easily sell it or more likely give it away.

[markheardjr]

[quote name='keaney91' post='2045440' date='Nov 4 2009, 10:13 AM']Saw a WITB video with David Toms a few days ago and he ended it saying "you can get anything I play at your local golf shop"[/quote]

a few years back? I don't know about your shop, but mine sure didn't cary the Fuji Blue Streak Tour Spec or the custom 1-off 588 irons rebadged...

[PrO_D_BoMbEr]

Couple years back, when David Toms was on TM staff, he went to a local store before a tournament and bought a set of Mizuno MP-57 irons off the rack and played them for the remainder of the year until he went back to Cleveland.

Some of the OEM stuff isn't any differenct between retail and tour unless specifically ground for the player in the van. Titleist, Ping, Mizuno and I am sure there are a few others that aren't any different.

The OEM's that have big differences between tour and retail are TM, Callaway and Adams, sure there are others that I am not familiar with to comment on. Most of the differences have to do with CG locations and customization for the specific player.

Wish hotmelt could become a custom option from retailers, gotta love the crack it gives a wood.

Back to topic!!

[Ruleschamp]

Bubba Watson was asked this exact question on Twitter and he indicated not only has he done it numerous times, he said there's very few guys who haven't.