Vijay asks to test Mickelson's driver

Was supposed to be an anonymous request, but was leaked. Poor Vijay.

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2330606

I would find it hard to believe that any of the big names would knowingly cheat. Too much to lose (sponsers etc.)and not enough benefit (couple yards). Though I am sure it upset Phil, wasn't last year some rookie asked to have his wedges checked, and Phil left him a note in his locker saying "thanks for the concern about my equipment and good luck with Q school next year".

All equipment requests are supposed to be anonymous. But they never, ever are.

Didn't someone complain about the length of M's spikes? They were chewing up the greens and you're not allowed to repair spike marks.

Sorry just read the link! The someone was VJ!

phil must have been bombing them, that new callaway driver looks sweet

Yeah. I have read some on it though and Phil's was designed for him. (not one you can buy of the shelf)Apparently he hits down on his driver more then most pro's, so Callaway repositioned the weight to give him the exact launch angle he wanted with his swing and allow him to continue to swing down on the driver. How cool would that be to go into their testing area and have the engineers with all their equipment specefically design the club for your swing.

You can not buy one like Phil's, I think they have several diferent weight distributions inside the club you can get. It is one of those types of clubs that you need to know your swing before you go out ad put down a lot of money.

thats what you get when you are one of the top golfers in the world


every good player on tour has most of his clubs made specifically for them, you couldnt (and might now want) get the clubs like the pros got


i believe if everyone sat down and had there clubs specifically made for them it would drop there handicap significantly

they were complaining about the spike marks because he was standing off the ball in a cicle around the hole for practice strokes... then would move to the ball and putt. It was also Vj complaining about that aswell... He was in the group behind phil and missed some short putts.

I think Phil may have brought up VJ's past (caught cheating in a tournament) at one time or another. Those two do not like each other.

I dont think the issue would be whether or not Phil would actually cheat, I think its more of a comment on Callaway than Mickelson.

Vijay needs to get a grip though, he complains about too much out there, at the end of the day even if there is an issue with another player, it affects the whole field not just Vijay.

And I'm pretty sure you couldnt go into your local Cleveland stockist and buy Vijay's driver either.

D.

I highly doubt it would change - look at all the improvements in equipment and balls over the last decade and no real improvement is made in the average persons handicap. Why? Because better clubs can't make you a better golfer. You need to practice to be better at golf, not spend more money.

Dead right Gord, the average player does not have the ability to repeat his swing from day to day, so there is little point in having a club custom made for him. It may feel nice and comfortable for a while, but will be the first thing out of the bag if things go wrong.
Saw a guy down the range the other day with an adjustable driver, and he plays off a 20 handicap. He spends half of the time taking the weights in and out of the thing, and the other half spraying balls all over the range.
Unless you are a low handicapper or an extreme shape or size, then any modern off the peg club will do the job.

Im afraid I have to disagree there, Gord and Andycap. I think its a huge advantage having custom made clubs for a lot of players. I wouldnt say a handicap could be reduced significantly but it can certainly make the difference between a 2 handicap and scratch. Tour Pros are working to the nth degree anyway, even slight changes in set up can mean 10 yards longer or maybe 30 yards wider if its the wrong change.

Phil's (and Vijays of course) driver is probably just a blank head set up to Phil's liking and then cosmetically decorated to look like an FT-3. Its the same when Tiger "switched" to Nike, they just stamped a swoosh on a set of generic blades set up the way he likes em. From the point of view of "off the shelf" none of the guys on tour truly play with the clubs they endorse, with maybe the exception of the guys who play Ping who, like Joe Public have a thousand set up options anyway.

Phil vs Vijay? More big kids arguing over who has the best toys.....

D.

__________________
Longniddry Golf Club Champ 2005.

In the Taylor Made Bag:

Callaway FT-3 Tour 9.5 Aldila NV 65S

Callaway Steelhead 3 Wood

Callaway Steelhead 5 Wood

Callaway X-16 3-PW

MacGregor Tourney 52 Degree

Cobra Phil Rodgers 59 Degree Rusty

Odyssey DFX 2-Ball

Callaway Tour iX

I agree custom length, lie and loft would help, but this is talking beyond that. Changing where the weight in the head really isn't going ot matter to the weekend duffer, or even the 8 and higher handicapper. If you have troubles breaking 80, where the weighting in your club head isn't the problem. Short game, putting, consistant swing, lack of practice, inexperience or many other things are the reasons that 99% of golfers can't shoot under 80, but I don't think equipment belongs on the list why someone is a mid or high handicapper.

Well Mizunoman, I think we do agree on this, but probably have different views on the average player. Anyone who plays off a 2 handicap or better is not an average guy - he is seriously good, and has got there by skill and lots of hard work and he does know his game well enough to benefit from custom clubs. My idea of average, is 15 handicap and above, people whose inconsistencies make a custom set of clubs (length and lie excepted) a luxury.
I agree with the badging of clubs for the top pro, because they dictate the gear they want to play, and are more than good enough to tweak clubs if they want.