NCGA Amateur Stroke Play: Equipment
NCGA Amateur Stroke Play
Poppy Hills
July 15-17, 2011
July 15, 2011
PEBBLE BEACH – Titleist was far and away the club of choice by players competing in this week’s NCGA Amateur Stroke Play Championship. About one-third of players played Titleist irons 46 out of 125 (36%) and carried a Titleist driver 42 out 125 (33%) as well.
Close behind—at least in the driver category—was TaylorMade as 39 of 125 competitors carried either a R11, R9, or Burner SuperFast. TaylorMade finished second in irons as well, but not nearly as close as they did in the driver category as only 24 competitors carried a set of them.
Callaway and Ping battled for third place among drivers, but Callaway edged Ping 15 to 12. Mizuno, the irons carried by the current No. 1 player in the world Luke Donald, was the third most popular set of irons as they were found in 19 players’ bags.
While many players donned Nike gear, finding clubs with the iconic swoosh was hard to come by as only five competitors carried Nike irons and only two had a Nike driver. Whether or not there is a correlation between Nike not being nearly as popular while Tiger Woods golf game is in abeyance is a topic for debate.
On the other hand, Titleist and TaylorMade are currently sponsored by some of the best up-and-coming players right now: Rory McIlroy (Titleist), Rickie Fowler (Titleist), Jason Day (TaylorMade) and Dustin Johnson (TaylorMade). As these players continue to make their mark on the golf scene, will their equipment choice resonate through the amateur side of the game?
Only time will tell.
Equipment Totals
Drivers |
Irons |
|||
| Titleist | 42 | Titleist | 46 | |
| Taylor Made | 39 | Taylor Made | 24 | |
| Callaway | 15 | Mizuno | 19 | |
| Ping | 12 | Callaway | 9 | |
| Cobra | 4 | Ping | 9 | |
| Nakashima | 4 | Cleveland | 7 | |
| Adams | 3 | Nike | 5 | |
| Cleveland | 2 | Adams | 1 | |
| Mizuno | 2 | Ben Hogan | 1 | |
| Nike | 2 | Bridgestone | 1 | |
| Henry Griffitts | 1 | |||
| KZG | 1 | |||
| Nakashima | 1 | |||