Why does this pro own … 2004 Nike irons and a 40-year-old putter?
Richard Green on Sunday at the Phoenix Country Club.
Getty Images
Richard Green, after a patient shrug of the shoulders, says the three words everyone wishes they could say when it comes to golf clubs.
“Hey, it works.”
And hey, they really do. This weekend, at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the PGA Tour’s season-ending event, Green shot rounds of 71, 68, 63 and 65 at Phoenix Country Club to tie for second, just shy of winning no. 1 in cycle 50 and over.
But Green is giving you a look in his golf bag.
Are those … 2004 Nike bars? Didn’t the Swoosh team announce in 2016 that they were leaving the club game?
And is that … a Titleist 913 combo? Haven’t these been around for ten years?
Green then takes out the putter.
It’s a Ping Anser 2 he thinks he picked up … 1984.
But why? Isn’t the latest gear the greatest gear? It depends. Briefly, return to those three words in the second paragraph. “Hey, it works.”
In a video from the Champions’ social media team, Green expanded on his options. First, the instruments.
“I’ve had this stuff since about 2004 in a box, and I took it out of the box in 2019 and started using it,” said the 53-year-old Australian. “I like their feeling. I have been using blades well. You know, I got a company that has some of them to make some of them for me, and I’m waiting on another set, so that will be really nice to see when they come. You know, they have a little bit of life left in them.
“My 9-iron is probably the most worn. You know, it’s a little worn on the face there. I got a little Tiger [Woods] place. I can do it, too.”
And a hybrid?
“I have an old 913 hybrid, I think it is,” Green said in the video. “It’s a hybrid that has worked well for me over the years. I’m not really sure what the shaft is…but it works. Steve Stricker uses the same setup – he has a hybrid, again, the same shaft. So you know, it works for us. Really, really good club, you know that kind of 220 yards. “
As for the putter?
Green said he thinks he was 6 or so when he first saw it in a pro shop, told his father he was looking for it, and finally found it. At Charles Schwab, he was seen using a different putter during tournament play, but spoke glowingly of the blade he took from his bag in the Champions video.
“Even though it’s an old putter, you know, I’ve been using it for a long time, I’ve done some really good things under pressure with it,” said Green. “You know it’s the putter that gets me the most and it lets my mind go with putting. I don’t include the putter. I’m not trying to line up the putter. I just put the putter behind the ball and feel what to do with the ball. And to me, that’s the art of putting. You know, if you can do that right and read the putts right, it doesn’t matter what you send down the line, as long as it goes down that line. So this is a favorite of mine. You know, I think it’s from 1984 or something like that.
“It’s an old model putter, but you know, hey, it works.”
Source link
