As Tiger Woods gears up for his return, he says the distance boom in pro golf is threatening to render classic courses obsolete.
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After ranking 71st in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green last season, Rory McIlroy performed a system update on his wedges ahead of the DP World Tour Championship two weeks ago. He switched his two highest-lofted clubs to TaylorMade’s MG3 model, which he’d already been using in his 46-degree wedge. McIlroy had been using the MG2 model in his 54- and 58-degree wedges before making the change for the European Tour’s season finale in Dubai. He has the same setup in the bag for this week’s Hero World Challenge. While it’s always interesting to see a player switch equipment, what’s notable in McIlroy’s case is the nuance behind the move. The two-time FedExCup champion opted for high-bounce varieties of the wedges. TaylorMade’s MG3 line comes in LB (low bounce), SB (standard bounce), and HB (high bounce) variations for each wedge. The 56-degree MG3, for example, features 8, 12, and 14 degrees of bounce in the three configurations. As a refresher, “bounce” refers to the angle of the leading edge of an iron or wedge and the lowest part of the sole. The sole of the club “bounces” through the turf, hence the name. The higher the leading edge of a club is off the ground at address, the greater the bounce. Generally, speaking more bounce means more forgiveness and, all things being equal, better performance from the rough, longer grasses, and softer turf. McIlroy most recently had 8 degrees of bounce on his highest-lofted wedge (58 degrees). He now has 14 degrees of bounce in that club. McIlroy indicated adding bounce will benefit him at Albany, which has many closely-mown areas surrounding its greens. “Bounce is certainly your friend,” he said. “I mean especially a course like this week, really grainy, it’s helped a lot around the greens. I just have more trust in it, just more trust it’s not going to dig, it’s going to get out of the ground a little bit easier.” Regarding ball flight on mid-range and full shots, McIlroy said the new clubs help him better control his trajectory. “The ball doesn’t get up as much so when you’re able to control your trajectory better, you’re able to control your distance better and I’ve sort of found that with them,” he said. Keith Sbarbaro, TaylorMade’s VP of TOUR Operations, said McIlroy recently went through a fitting with the TaylorMade team. “We presented him with all bounce options — low, standard and high. We started with 50-75 yard shots and he immediately noticed a lower and more controlled flight with the high bounce,” Sbarbaro said. “He also noticed how much better the club was sliding through the turf. The club was never getting stuck, whereas with low bounce he noticed it occasionally sticking.” As McIlroy mentioned at his Hero World Challenge press conference, improved performance was apparent around the green as well. “We then moved to the chipping green and once again he felt it was much easier to get the club through the turf,” Sbarbaro said. “The extra bounce allows him to be more aggressive without the club digging and the ball coming up short. Rory felt as if he could slam the club behind the ball or even hit a bit behind it and still not get the club stuck. The one shot that really showed this was uphill pitches into the grain and once he saw the performance he was sold. The high bounce sole has now progressed into being Rory’s first choice of bounce moving forward.”
Tommy Fleetwood seems poised to break through, Justin Rose is always in contention and Jordan Spieth is the defending champ.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – Joseph Bramlett saw 15 different spine surgeons. The first 14 told him that an operation to fix the annular tear to his L5-L6 disc would likely end his budding golf career. The 15th was willing to do exploratory surgery but Bramlett’s girlfriend Samantha Boozer put her foot down and said no. “She’s helped me out of some desperate moments,â€� Bramlett said with a smile. Those moments appear to be behind the 6-foot-4 Californian, though. After being sidelined for the better part of four-and-a-half years, Bramlett finally rehabilitated his back and rebuilt his swing, and now, after two seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour, he has his PGA TOUR card again. RELATED: Tee times | Chappell’s ‘surreal’ return after back surgery Bramlett will tee off Sunday at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier with a chance to win, too, after a third-round 65 that tied for the day’s low, propelling him to 11 under and four strokes off the lead held by Joaquin Niemann. He called it a “solidâ€� day. “I wouldn’t say I did anything out of the ordinary,â€� said Bramlett, who made four birdies and a 50-footer for eagle at the 12th hole while dropping just one shot to par. “… Kept the mistakes to a minimum.â€� The personable Bramlett played at Stanford, graduating in 2010 with a degree in communications, and promptly made it through Q-school to get his TOUR card for the following season. After finishing 196th in the FedExCup, though, he found himself on what is now known as the Korn Ferry Tour in 2012. Bramlett narrowly missed regaining his TOUR card that year, falling from 24th to 28th on the money list, three below the cutoff, in the final event of the year. Then midway through the 2013 season, his back flared up while he was preparing a Korn Ferry Tour event in Utah. That was in July. Bramlett didn’t play again until January of 2016 and lasted just three events. He missed all of 2017 before being able to return full-time in February of 2018. “I just trying to warm up on the driving range and my back went out and fell over and couldn’t move for a while,â€� Bramlett said matter-of-factly. Annular tears like the 31-year-old had usually take about 18 months to heal. But Bramlett’s recovery was complicated by poor posture, tight hips and several flaws in his swing, so every time he started to practice, he’d soon find himself flat on his back again. “I used to have really poor footwork,â€� Bramlett explained. “I was the guy that jumped off the ground and was on his toes at impact, and my hips were rotated way too fast and I was in a lot of side bend. I was just cranking the low right side of my back.â€� About three years into the process, Bramlett found John Scott Rattan, a teaching pro at Congressional Country Club in Washington, D.C., and physical therapist Cody Fowler, and things began to change. Together he and Rattan rebuilt his swing from the ground up. “It was just a ticking time bomb,â€� Bramlett said. “I didn’t realize that I was putting myself at risk like I was at the time.â€� The rehab, which was “tedious,â€� he said, worked in concert with the swing changes. Bramlett did foot exercises and worked on his hip mobility, trying to become more fluid. He’d work for 15 minutes, rest for 45 and start again. Over and over. “When I first started I had almost zero internal rotation on both my hips,â€� he said. “It wasn’t a structural issue. I just didn’t know how to use them, go through the motion. … My nervous system had kind of shut me down and I was rigid and locked. So, yeah, just had to break that stuff down.â€� Bramlett said he could understand what Kevin Chappell, who shot a 59 on Friday at the Old White TPC, has gone through. The Greenbrier is Chappell’s first event since having back surgery in November and while Bramlett’s layoff was much longer, the emotions and effort both had to endure are similar. “I feel bad for him because no matter what amount of time it takes it feels like a lifetime,â€� Bramlett said. “I think it was great to see what he did. I thought it spoke to his confidence to be able to come out having not competed and get in that position and just believe in yourself the whole way through. “That was something I fought last year. I started getting really nervous towards the end of tournaments because I hadn’t been in that position for a long time. I had to really work through that.â€� Bramlett says he tells his friends that he doesn’t cry happy tears. At the same time, though, he admits to getting misty-eyed when he finally teed up in his first Korn Ferry Tour event after all the rehab was done. He got a little emotional when he hit the road on Sunday and headed to The Greenbrier, too. “It’s been my dream since kindergarten to play out here,â€� Bramlett said. “I’ve had a one-track mind. This is what I’ve always wanted to do. From when I first started playing golf I fell in love with the game and PGA TOUR. That was my dream my whole life.”
