Question about replacing damaged club

[Bravo]

I know most everyone saw Tiger snap the shaft on his 4 iron against the tree on 11...

As explained on the telecast, since his club was rendered unplayable as a result of making a shot (vs. in anger) - the player can replace the club during the round.

For some reason, he elected not to replace it which is baffling to me.

Now to my question. If you are a professional playing in the middle of a tournament, I assume you have a complete set of replacement clubs sitting in the lockerroom etc, from which you can obtain the replacement club.

I also assume you would send some sort of 'gopher' from the clubhouse with the replacement club.

Now, what if you are the average Joe, playing in a tournament and you damage a club when you are 1 mile away from the clubhouse.

How are you going to get that replacement club out to your location?

Have I missed something obvious here??

[Rockford35]

My guess is that he only had one gamer. He was familiar with the feel of that 4 iron and wouldn't chance it.

He could probably stand on a 5 iron or drop a 3 iron just as easy, and he wouldn't be distracted by it at the same time.

JMO, obviously.

I bet it takes serious, serious work to get Tiger's irons to feel "just right".

R35

[Bravo]

But SURELY he has a complete second set of clubs waiting in the wings...

What if somebody stole is bag? It's not beyond the realm of possibility....I'd be stunned if they don't have a complete second set (all fine tuned exactly) waiting for just that possibility.

I don't really know however...just seems like it would make horse sense.

[Hitman]

Maybe he didn't replace it out of guilt. Maybe he felt like an ass, so to make himself feel better he played with out it. Or maybe he just thought "I don't need that F***'n club anyways, I am Tiger Woods!!"

[SiberianDVM]

Originally Posted by Bravo

What if somebody stole is bag? It's not beyond the realm of possibility....

Then Tiger tackles them and drags the clubs and thief back to where his ball is.

Besides, Tiger can shoot par with a Ram 9 iron and a featherie.

As long as there are no cell phones, cameras, or flying avians within a mile.

[Sandpiper3]

Somehow with how picky Tiger himself is, i doubt he has a second set "just in case". I believe they made each iron in his set individually and the man is sooooo good with knowing the feel and stuff they all have to be absolutely perfect. I cant remember where i heard it that he can tell if the lie is off by a 10th of a degree and can tell length up to a quarter of an inch when he's fitting his clubs. (one of the Nike reps at one of the area GolfTowns i believe was telling us that).

[mont86]

Originally Posted by Bravo

But SURELY he has a complete second set of clubs waiting in the wings...

What if somebody stole is bag? It's not beyond the realm of possibility....I'd be stunned if they don't have a complete second set (all fine tuned exactly) waiting for just that possibility.

I don't really know however...just seems like it would make horse sense.

The GC did a story Friday nite I believe that said nike makes 2 sets of clubs a year for Tiger...I can't believe he doesn't have a backup. I wondered that myself after the match when he said he broke his 4 and had to use his i5.

[Rockford35]

I have no clue. Like I said, I'm just speculating. Maybe he was in the zone, didn't want the distraction....

R35

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by mont86

The GC did a story Friday nite I believe that said nike makes 2 sets of clubs a year for Tiger...I can't believe he doesn't have a backup. I wondered that myself after the match when he said he broke his 4 and had to use his i5.

Here Here Mont....the man is almost a billionaire.

Once he has a club 'dialed in' just the way he wants it - it would be so easy to tell the clubmaker to simply - "Make Two"...

Think of what each player has on the line at a tournament...and to leave it to chance that something would happen to their clubs...car accident on the way to the course...somebody slams the back of the car carrying their clubs and destroys or damages them.

IMHO - just makes too much sense to me to have another complete set at hand - just in case....

[Slingblade61]

I think he was worried the 'gopher' would find his steroids.

[fore142]

Originally Posted by Bravo

Here Here Mont....the man is almost a billionaire.

Once he has a club 'dialed in' just the way he wants it - it would be so easy to tell the clubmaker to simply - "Make Two"...

Think of what each player has on the line at a tournament...and to leave it to chance that something would happen to their clubs...car accident on the way to the course...somebody slams the back of the car carrying their clubs and destroys or damages them.

IMHO - just makes too much sense to me to have another complete set at hand - just in case....

You think Tiger's clubs ride in the trunk?!?!? they are more important than the life of the person driving the car.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by fore142

You think Tiger's clubs ride in the trunk?!?!? they are more important than the life of the person driving the car.

That's no way to talk about Sergio Garcia....

R35

[Clugnut]

I was wondering about that too. At last years Masters, Chris Dimarco's driver head came loose during a round, and the gopher came back with at least five drivers for him to pick from. It would be silly not to have spares stashed away for such a case.

It was good for Tigger, though. It gave him another reason it wasn't his fault he didn't win.

[Bignose]

Originally Posted by Sandpiper3

I cant remember where i heard it that he can tell if the lie is off by a 10th of a degree and can tell length up to a quarter of an inch when he's fitting his clubs. (one of the Nike reps at one of the area GolfTowns i believe was telling us that).

1/10th of a degree?!? That's ridiculous. Tiger is as close to a machine as maybe any human has ever been, but even a machine would take many, many shots to determine a difference of 0.1 degree. Consider an average 10 yard gap between clubs. I am sure it varies by person to person, but about half the distance gain is from loft changes and about half is from the longer club. So 5 yards per 4 degrees. 0.1 degree difference means .12 yards, just a bit over 4 inches. There are so many variables in a swing, that even Tiger is not going to say "that shot was 4 inches less than what it should have been, are you sure that's 35.6 degrees? I felt like 35.5 degrees to me..." Even a machine would have to hit hundreds maybe even thousands of balls to determine a 4 inch difference over 150-ish yards to a statistical significance.

I am sure Tiger can see/feel 1 full degree, maybe even a half a degree, but one tenth is pure exaggeration. Besides, just the act of swinging the clubs and them hitting the ground is going to bend them a little. Easily within the one tenth of a degree.

Tiger may even have his specs spelled out to the tenths of a degree. That I can believe. He probably has them dialed in to average the exact gaps he wants. But, give him two clubs, each 0.1 degree apart and he is only allowed to hit balls with them (not sit them side-by-side to look which one is stronger) even Tiger is only going to pick the stronger one out correctly at a 50/50 chance. Might as well flip a coin.

[kiwi]

I read that Scotty Cameron has made Tiger around about 30 putters like the one he's had for years. But Tiger always find something wrong with them. The sightdot might be slightly smaller, the feel or weight is different