PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Professional golfers and elite amateurs do not show up at a tournament with only 14 clubs. They almost always have a back-up driver and a back-up putter, and many also pack a few other clubs that can be mixed and match to create the perfect, course-specific set.
At 7,075 yards, Pebble Beach Golf Links is not a long course by modern standards. However, the cool, damp climate is perfect for growing grass, and it has allowed the United States Golf Association to line the fairways and surround the greens with deep, thick rough.
That rough would typically compel golfers to consider adding a high-lofted fairway wood to their bag and remove a long iron. Fairway woods, like a 5-wood or a 7-wood, have a wider sole than a long iron and a lower center of gravity. They can work through tall grass and get the ball up more easily. Plus, because they have a longer shaft than a long iron, a fairway wood will hit the ball a little farther than an iron with the same loft.
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But this week at Pebble Beach, the firm fairways and a weather forecast that calls for virtually no rain has players rethinking their options. Driving irons, normally put into play on windy courses to keep the ball low and allow it to run after it lands, have been more popular than expected.
On Wednesday, J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, the director of club promotion for Titleist, said that Jimmy Walker is planning to carry a Titleist TS3 driver, add a Titleist U500 2-iron fitted with a Fujikura ATMOS Black 9X graphite shaft and keep playing his U500 3-iron that is fitted with a True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue AMT X100 steel shaft. No fairway woods, no hybrids.
According to Van Wezenbeeck, Walker, who also tinkered with a U500 1-iron this week, is pulling his 3-wood out of play and going with the 2-iron because it fills a distance gap, 265 yards, that the Texan needs.
While he practiced on the range Wednesday, Dustin Johnson had a pair of 3-irons in his bag this week (photo up top). One was a TaylorMade P730 DJ Proto muscleback blade and the other was a hollow-bodied P790 that had been de-lofted to play like a 2-iron. The TaylorMade M5 5-wood that was in his bag on Tuesday was gone on Wednesday.
Similarly, Henrik Stenson had two Callaway Legacy Black 3-irons in his bag on Wednesday, one that had black paint fill and another that had red paint fill. According to Callaway PGA Tour rep Johnny Thompson, the red-accented club is a half-inch longer and 4 degrees stronger lofted than the other, effectively making it a 2-iron.
Christian Pena, a PGA Tour rep for Ping, said that Bubba Watson was practicing with 16 clubs this week, including a driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, 7-wood, 2-iron and 3-iron. Pena suspects that the 5-wood and 7-wood will get removed before Watson tees off at 7:20 a.m. with Haotong Li and J.B. Holmes.
It’s clear that for many golfers at Pebble Beach this week, staying out of the rough with a driving iron is more important than escaping from it with a fairway wood.
