With equipment freedom, pros test more new stuff
ALBANY: Beyond the spectacular shots and scores, the World Challenge is also the place where many of the world’s best are getting ready for their new season, checking new equipment.
That escapes the normal eyes. Players are getting to the range earlier than normal and leaving late after the rounds, hitting various shots. They are actually ‘testing’ the new equipment.
It is also being called ‘Equipment Freedom’ as players are usually tied by contracts to specific manufacturers.
With Nike pulling out of the equipment business, players are ‘free’ to choose new makers. That includes Tiger Woods, who had a multi-million dollar contract with the company. Also, other makers keep coming up with new products.
An interesting incident took place the other day. On the ninth hole, one of Woods’ drives this week went deep into a tuft of grass on a sandy hill in the waste area at the Albany golf course.
BANK BALANCE
A television spotter ---they look for where the ball is landing --was looking for the ball and, out of habit he was trying to look for a Nike ball.
“There’s a ball right there,” he said, pointing into the native area, “but it’s a Bridgestone.” Then it dawned on him that Tiger had changed to Bridgestone after years with Nike!
Equipment plays a huge role not just in fattening the bank balance with huge contracts but also gives a level of comfort to the players.
Ahead of Christmas and New Year, professional golfers get a lot of equipment as ‘goodies’ at home.
With their competitive season done, they spend much of their time with families holidaying or testing equipment.
With schedules getting longer, players get a chance to play for “some extra cash” to buy Christmas presents; or as Bubba Watson says, ‘it is great to get the kids to come over to Bahamas, or to Orlando’, where the event was held a couple of years back. But it also leaves little time to test equipment, so they do so at events like the World Challenge.
The long-hitting Watson, whose wedges are so crucial after his ‘bombing’ drives, is testing a lot of new wedges and some have come good. “I got some birdies with them,” he said.
Woods joked ahead of the World Challenge, saying he is “turning into a mechanic” having to adjust to his new M2 TaylorMade driver. The players use tools to adjust the loft but only in practice.
Woods added, “TaylorMade must have sent me about 50 new models of the M2 driver and a selection of heads. Adjusting the loft of the driver as I did here (in practice) is something I’ve never had to do before in my career as with all my drivers I just walked up and hit, not thinking of having to adjust the face. What the adjusting is doing is turning me into a bit of equipment mechanic with these changes.”
But no one is complaining.