mddubya
Hybrid convert
- Nov 6, 2007
- 6,029
- 2
Ok, I'll post my observations from the Viking Classic on here. I'll be working the driving range each day of the tournament. I was undecided where I wanted to work, finally decided the driving range would be best as I'd be able to observe the pros warming up and see what they work on.
Day 1--
Woody Austin is a funny guy. He was standing right in front of the tent where we were handing out the bags of balls. Him and his caddy were cracking jokes and clowning around the whole time they were out there. He does not take a divot with his irons. He hit 4 bags of balls, 35-45 balls per bag and did not even disturb the grass where he was hitting from. He and his swing coach were working on his ball positioning most of the time.
Charles Howell III is a machine. He had to have gone through 12 bags of balls today at least. He was on the driving range and practice green for well over 6 hours today. He also went way off to the far end by himself, just him and his caddy.
John Daly is skinny as a rail now. He still crushes the ball but good grief, somebody make the man eat a sandwich!
Brad Faxon spent more time between shots than he did hitting balls. He was constantly stopping and having an analyzing session with his caddy.
James Driscoll has a future digging ditches if golf doesn't work out for him. The man was digging perfectly straight and uniform trenches with his irons. Each shot would be placed right behind the previous shots divot, over and over until he would reach the rope boundary of the hitting area. Then he'd just move over 1 inch and start all over again. It looked almost like crop circles, only in a straight line. Perfectly straight like they were laid out with a GPS.
In general, the shot dispersion of the pros is insane. Watching them hit 20 balls with a certain club, you could have gone and laid a baby blanket over 90% of the balls they had just hit. You'd hear the caddy tell one of them how far a flag was after checking with the range finder. Then watch them place ball after ball within 10 feet of it.
The majority of the pros play the ProV1x. We handed out far more bags of them than any other ball. We only had 3 ask for a TaylorMade ball and the PGA or the Viking Classic didn't order any at all. Srixon sent 12 cases of balls, 12 dozen to a case and not one pro requested them. Nike sent 6 cases of practice balls and nobody asked for them either. Callaways shipment of balls is running late and hasn't arrived yet. But only 4 asked for them. The most requested balls were the ProV1x, then ProV1's, then Bridgestone's, but Charles Howell III went through most of those. Every ball manufacturer except Bridgestone stamped practice on their balls. The Bridgestone balls are all Tour B330 S's, without practice on them anywhere. And yes, I will be smuggling a handful of them home every evening,
Day 1--
Woody Austin is a funny guy. He was standing right in front of the tent where we were handing out the bags of balls. Him and his caddy were cracking jokes and clowning around the whole time they were out there. He does not take a divot with his irons. He hit 4 bags of balls, 35-45 balls per bag and did not even disturb the grass where he was hitting from. He and his swing coach were working on his ball positioning most of the time.
Charles Howell III is a machine. He had to have gone through 12 bags of balls today at least. He was on the driving range and practice green for well over 6 hours today. He also went way off to the far end by himself, just him and his caddy.
John Daly is skinny as a rail now. He still crushes the ball but good grief, somebody make the man eat a sandwich!
Brad Faxon spent more time between shots than he did hitting balls. He was constantly stopping and having an analyzing session with his caddy.
James Driscoll has a future digging ditches if golf doesn't work out for him. The man was digging perfectly straight and uniform trenches with his irons. Each shot would be placed right behind the previous shots divot, over and over until he would reach the rope boundary of the hitting area. Then he'd just move over 1 inch and start all over again. It looked almost like crop circles, only in a straight line. Perfectly straight like they were laid out with a GPS.
In general, the shot dispersion of the pros is insane. Watching them hit 20 balls with a certain club, you could have gone and laid a baby blanket over 90% of the balls they had just hit. You'd hear the caddy tell one of them how far a flag was after checking with the range finder. Then watch them place ball after ball within 10 feet of it.
The majority of the pros play the ProV1x. We handed out far more bags of them than any other ball. We only had 3 ask for a TaylorMade ball and the PGA or the Viking Classic didn't order any at all. Srixon sent 12 cases of balls, 12 dozen to a case and not one pro requested them. Nike sent 6 cases of practice balls and nobody asked for them either. Callaways shipment of balls is running late and hasn't arrived yet. But only 4 asked for them. The most requested balls were the ProV1x, then ProV1's, then Bridgestone's, but Charles Howell III went through most of those. Every ball manufacturer except Bridgestone stamped practice on their balls. The Bridgestone balls are all Tour B330 S's, without practice on them anywhere. And yes, I will be smuggling a handful of them home every evening,
United States
