Just Wondering About That Pink Driver...
I guess it was unavoidable that Ping would offer copies of Bubba Watson’s pink driver for sale, and I’m betting all 5,000 are already spoken for. But what puzzles me is that the driver should have lost the Master’s for him, so what’s the big deal? He hits his tee shot on the second playoff hole so far right, it was a miracle he had any kind of shot at all. He should have found it unplayable, or limited to a lateral pitch out to the fairway at best. He was in D-E-E-P trouble.
But the hero club ... if there was one ... was whatever he hit out of that trouble, hooking what was said to be a gap wedge about 40 yards, onto the green, giving him a great birdie look, sure-fire par, and demoralizing his opponent for sure. My point of all this, as you might expect from “The Wedge Guy”, is that time after time, it’s the wedges that bail out errant drives and iron shots. But they don’t get any respect at all, do they? Rodney Dangerfield could have a heyday with that. “Hey up there ... driver ... snuggled under your plush, cushy headcover that looks like a tiger or duck or whatever the heck that is. How many times am I going to have to bail you out today? Our poor guy keeps going back to you time after time ... for what??? Blocked into the woods right on 3, snapped into the bunker on 5, so far short on 7 that he couldn’t reach the green with a Howitzer. What are you guys doing?Well, I’m not Rodney D., but I think you get my drift. Want to see which is more important, your driver or your wedges? Try this. Play nine holes this weekend without ever using your driver and see what you shoot. Then try nine more without once using any of your wedges. And just see which nine holes turns out the better score.
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[ comments ]
 birdieXris says:If you've got the shots, it's not going to turn out awful. I forgot my wedges in a tournament once. I had Dr - 9iron and a putter. I shot 78. It's not bad if you play to your yardages. I think there was only one hole where i was in between because it was a really short par 3. I hit a choke up 9 with an open face and just missed the green long. It's true enough though. I'd be lost without my wedges today. They have their own slot all to themselves in my bag. I treat them pretty well. 4/13/12
 tennesseeboy says:I don't have a pink driver but I'm very capable of hitting my black driver into the woods just like Bubba did. However, because my drives don't go 320 yards, I need more than a wedge to get out of the woods and onto the green. So while I agree that Bubba's wedge made the shot of the day, the wedge would have stayed in the bag if not for the efforts of the heroic "pink driver". 4/13/12
birdieXris says:Let's not forget that the driver is something that people can latch onto. It's a symbol of power and it's recognizable as pure Bubba. 4/13/12
 mjaber says:They are selling the pink driver because they can get more for it than a pink wedge, and because people will buy it. It's a marketing ploy, nothing more. If Tiger was playing an orange and black striped driver, you can bet Nike would have some made up, just waiting for him to win another major. It's not that it's the most used club in the bag, it's the most recognizable. It's stands out, and people remember seeing it. 4/13/12
 larrynjr says:My last 9 hole round, I played a second tee shot using my 6 iron and continued hitting that shot to the green. On both the par 5 holes, I was able to hit 6i off the tee, a second 6i to within 150 yds and 8i onto the green. I think if I had left my driver in the bag and teed all my par 4, 5's with my 6i I would have scored lower than the 47 i posted. Next time out I am going to do just that. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to hit the driver but when it goes OB 2 out of 3 times, that's not so fun.... 4/13/12
 jrbizzle says:What's the big deal? Ping is donating $50 per sale. At 5000 drivers, that's a $250,000 donation to Bubba's charity fundraising efforts this year. That's a big deal. I don't think this is the right time to bash the driver in favor of promoting wedges, regardless of how far he hooked it into the trees. 4/14/12
Ianinho says:
Driver is still the most important single club in the bag, except for the putter of course. Of course losing 3-4 wedges is going to affect your game more than 1 driver, but not as much as you might think if you have a little imagination and course management 4/14/12
 creekaction says:Driver isn't just important for its ability to place the ball, it also has a great deal more psychological value. I think for many amateurs, me included, hitting good drives leads to the type of confidence it takes to score well throughout the round. 4/14/12
 onedollarwed says:Anybody who wins a major golf tournament should not have to justify any club or technique used to win it. That being said, I really enjoyed the humor in your post - very inspired personification or... anthropromorphication! I would imagine that the average player is let down by all his (her) clubs equally! It's usually the putter's fault, heh. 4/15/12
Tim Horan says:
I am waiting for the big five manufacturers to start making the AD DJ shaft that Tiger plays as an option. I have tried and can only get this as an aftersales swap out. 4/18/12
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