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Dude, Where’s My Driver? – Part One

Published

17 years ago

Oct 9, 2007

After more years service that I care to remember, I decided that my venerable old Cleveland driver should be retired. It’s so many generations behind the current crop of drivers that I almost expect to see it telling other clubs to get off its lawn before taking its teeth out and having a nice nap.

The trouble is, buying golf equipment can be a minefield. Your options are either to pony up a big wad of cash at your local shop, scour BST boards on reliable websites or use everybody’s favourite auction site and run the risk of being royally ripped off trying to get a bargain.

My local shop is pretty good but the prices are enough to take your breath away. Ebay is, unfortunately, a wretched hive of scum and villainy and buying from there means running an unacceptable chance of being ripped off. Golfers are easier prey than people who play other sports for various reasons but mainly because of the high turnover of new and used equipment and the generally higher than average discretionary income of a golfer. We are all looking for the next great thing that will cure our swing ills or give us that extra distance – and we are prepared to pay for it. We are, in the scammers parlance, easy marks for fakes and knockoffs.

Because of this when I decided to buy a new driver I knew what I wanted to do: I would dealt with someone I knew (or rather thought I knew) through online forums, avoiding eBay, I would make sure he wasn’t overseas and do all my research so that I knew exactly what I wanted.

A few months ago, in an idle PM with another golfwrx user, I casually mentioned that I was looking for a new Driver and would value some advice on how to go about buying one on BST. This person was one of the most active posters on this website. He said he was an ex-touring pro having played on tours just below the European Tour. He said he nearly made it once at Q-school, but that the number just slipped away from him at the end so he called it a day, gave it up and got his amateur status back. He offered advice to beginners and the sort of insights that only someone that has been on the other side of the ropes would know.

No need to go on BST he said, as luck would have it he could get me a great deal on a driver as one of his friends from his tour days ran a golf shop. He could offer me ‘mates rates’ and save me a packet and at the same time get me a top quality product that would be built to my specs. ‘Result!’, I thought. The only problem was that because I had specified a custom shaft, it would take 5 weeks to order and get built. Not a problem for me as while my current driver was not all I wanted it to be, it was still more than serviceable, and anyway I knew that the standard order time for this club was about a month. So I arranged a bank transfer into his account so he wouldn’t be out of pocket and waited for my new driver.

Five weeks later, having arranged to meet up for drinks at the end of the week so that he could give me the club I got a phone call from him telling me that the driver had arrived but there was a problem; it had the wrong custom shaft! Apologies and offers of money back while it was sorted out assuaged any suspicions I had. While it is uncommon to get a mis-specified club, I could imagine that happening easily enough, especially to a club in notoriously high demand where turn-around times are bound to be a concern, so the sense that something was not quite right could be easily dismissed as the paranoia that I would be scammed.

A couple of phone calls and PM conversations later, he got back to me saying that they would rush this one through and that it would take no longer than 4 weeks. Again not a problem I thought, I’m dealing with a good guy not some scam artist so I was happy to wait. This time, rather than meeting up for a drink so that I could get the club, we would play golf instead. This was going to be exciting for 2 reasons: firstly I would finally get my new club that I had waited 10 weeks for and secondly, he was a member of one of the most prestigious courses in the UK – one that had been the host of a Ryder cup – so I was as excited as a kid before Christmas for the chance to play at a venue that that.

Because the previous order had turned up with the wrong shaft, I thought that it would only make sense to check up when it was supposed to arrive. On the Monday five days before we were supposed to meet up and the day the driver was supposed to be delivered, I emailed him to find out about tee times and also whether he would mind checking that the driver had turned up with the correct shaft this time. As I would be travelling about 300 miles there and back, I wanted to sort out my travel arrangements and to make sure that there wasn’t going to be a repeat of last time.

Silence.

What the………This was when I began to doubt that all was well. This was a guy who normally posted online at least twice a day, why was he suddenly silent? He had logged on a couple of hours after I had sent my message so I knew that he had received it.

In the week previous, he had told me that he had been a bit tied up at work so it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that he was so busy at work that he literally couldn’t get back to me. And not everybody has a computer at home so maybe he was unable to reply there.

Still the days dragged on, and after multiple emails, PM’s, messages both SMS and left on his mobile phone answerphone he had still not got back to me. By Friday it was obvious that our golf was going to be a bust (which in itself was pretty rude and fairly disappointing but nothing to get my knickers in a twist about), so that just left the club. What was happening with that?

More silence.

He wasn’t answering his mobile phone but we had exchanged emails before, and he had emailed from his work account. This meant that I had could phone up his work. If he was still working there that would have been a great opportunity to ask him what was happening but unfortunately when I rang up I was politely informed that he was no longer employed there. When I say ‘politely informed’ I mean of course that they said he was fired and weren’t surprised that he wasn’t in contact with me for various reasons that they felt unable to go into.

Just great.

As the only contact details I had were his work email address and what could well be a work mobile phone number, this meant as far as getting in contact with him I was stuffed, and he appeared to have no inclination to contact me.

This left me with 4 options: go through the hassle of phoning everyone in the phonebook with his surname that lives in the same area, phone the club where we were supposed to be playing and where he was supposed to be a member, phone the police or just walk away. None of the options were palatable as all would involve a fair amount of hassle and/or embarrassment but there was no way I was going to stop now.

Read "Dude, Where’s my Driver? – Part Two" next week.

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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

Published

14 hours ago

May 7, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.

From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.

Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.

General Albums

2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.

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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

Published

2 days ago

May 6, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”

“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”

Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.

According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”

CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.

“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.

Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history

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Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar

Published

2 days ago

May 6, 2024

Ronald Montesano

Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.

It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.

PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place

The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.

This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.

With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.

360° and in!

A nervy par save by @TaylorPendrith to remain one back as he seeks his first PGA TOUR victory @CJByronNelson. pic.twitter.com/LVFXUSidSg

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 5, 2024

DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four

It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.

It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.

.@adrianotaegui birdies the 16th to tie the lead at -17 ?#VolvoChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/p4tfE5DRJa

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 5, 2024

PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella

Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.

64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.

.@TBalla21 eagles 17, shoots 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the KIA Open. pic.twitter.com/TTOL2LxSdh

— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) May 4, 2024

PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win

Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.

The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.

Off the green? No worries for @ScottDu12500063

8-under solo leader @InsperityInvtnl pic.twitter.com/hoj5OujL5C

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 4, 2024

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