A S LID B ND
In this special feature, we talk to players who have spent their entire careers with one brand. First, Lee Westwood tells us why he’s been with Ping for more than 30 years...
WWell, my first set of clubs weren’t Ping. Like most 11or 12-year-olds, I was bought a set by my nan and grandad from a guy my mum used to work with. It was a half set of Cary Middlecoff clubs, maybe ladies’ clubs. I can’t even remember, they were a bit rusty. I just took them down to a field and had a hack with them. From there, I got a set of Swilken cavity back ladies’ clubs and then my mum and dad bought me a set of Pings when I was 13 years of age. I played well with them, won the County Championship and then Ping very kindly started lending me clubs, so
I’ve been with them since 1987.
I was at an advantage living in Worksop because the Ping factory is in Gainsborough, only 25 minutes away. The pro at Worksop, John King, stocked a lot of Ping equipment and the local rep had been chatting to John and saying: “I see you’ve got a good junior golfer at Worksop.” Then we got in contact with each other and they took me down to Ping HQ for a custom fitting. tournaments a year, so they thought, “We better leave him to it”.
No. Modern technology is so good that you would be giving up too much. I used a wooden driver a couple of weeks back. I hit it flush and my son hit a high sky but his ball went past mine, despite the fact I’d hit it out the screws. Technology is a big advantage nowadays – you’ve got a massive sweetspot to play with.
I’m pretty open to trying different things. I think first and foremost you have to like it visually. If you are looking down at something that you don’t like the look of then it is tough to make a change. If you put something down and it looks good, you are half-way there.
With me, if it’s a driver, it’s a case of matching the shaft with the loft and getting the weighting right in the head – then I’m off and running. Being a bit older than most of the lads out here, I would determine how a club goes from how it feels, how the flight looks out on the golf course, whether I’m getting any run out of it and whether I can move it around right to left and left to right.
I still look at the Trackman figures, but I work much more on ball flight. It is no good standing on chopped and changed my irons because airlines were in a habit of losing them. So I’ve got about three sets of irons on the go at the moment.
I change my wedges pretty regularly – roughly four or five times a year – to keep the grooves fresh. I keep them for about six tournament weeks, but after three weeks I tend to start breaking new ones in.
People often ask why I don’t use blades. I’ve always used cavity backs as they give you more forgiveness. Everybody needs as much forgiveness on the course as they can get. The shaft is vital, too – you’ve got to go to a good club fitter who can get the right shaft for you and one that performs well with a particular head.
You never know. Professional players get offered all sorts of different contracts. When you get to World No.1, everybody wants you to play their equipment, but when you are choosing a set of clubs it’s not really about the money. You can change a set of clubs and might not play as well, so you’re giving yourself the best possible chance of winning.
When you start out playing golf as a 15-year-old, you don’t say “I want to earn a lot of money.” You say, “I want to win tournaments, I want to win Majors, I want to be the best player in the world and I want to play in the Ryder Cup.” A lot of people make the mistake of changing contracts and you see their games fall off because the equipment isn’t right for them. They have kind of sold out for the cash.
That’s the great thing about working with Ping for 33 years – we are loyal to each other. They stuck with me when I had a slump and I’ve stuck with them all the way through because I like dealing with the people at Ping. They are a family company and we have a good relationship there. There are not many of those kinds of relationships in professional sport nowadays – it can be a pretty mercenary place.