You don't think there's any possibility that the gear change has contributed to his swing woes?
Nowhere near enough to cause the scores he's been shooting, no. Again I could have given him my wife's clubs and he could have shot a better score for 8.5 holes than he did in his second round at the Honda if his swing was in shape.
And, at Rory's level, "breaking in" the new clubs should amount to 3 or 4 range sessions to dial in distances. His distances are not likely to change with nearly identical irons, but it's probably comforting to hit 50 or so balls with each club and know for sure that you have exact distances. Likewise the ball would have caused some distance changes, which could be dialed in, but wouldn't turn a perfect shot into a 60-yard pull-hook.
Agreed. But then you go off the deep end again... :)
But that doesn't mean the gear change isn't contributing to his issues. He cemented his position as #1 in the World last summer from the PGA Championship through the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Before that, Rory couldn't seem to keep the #1 spot for more than 2 or 3 weeks.
That had something to do with the fact that the others were playing well, too. Particularly Luke Donald.
It has to be tough. The pressure he's already putting on himself, and then every 8 minutes on the golf channel someone makes a reference to the Nike deal or the equipment change. Then Tiger wins early in the season while Rory misses a few cuts. The pressure builds. Yeah, the only difference in the clubs is the swoosh, but that swoosh is pretty freaking heavy.
He handled the pressure of being #1 just fine, and that's orders of magnitude more of a big deal (as is winning a major) than any equipment deal.
Is the equipment a factor? Nobody is saying it's not a factor. But is it more than even 2% of his reason? No, I don't think it is, and if you think it's even 10% I think you're crazy.
Ok so you guys do get Rory had a new set of clubs last year when he was with Titleist? Used 910 driver and 710 mb irons in 2011 and 913 and 712 mb irons in 2012. Most pros put a new driver or set of irons into play every 1-2 years, except for Ryan Moore or KJ Choi who switch every week lol Dusting Johnson went to the R1 driver and won his first week. Hunter Mahan had 13 new clubs compared to last year and made the finals of the match play. Not the equipment, his swing is off.
<---- That's not for Mike, that's for everyone else who ignores what Mike just said (which has been said before).
But then again, it took Tiger Woods a decade to get all 14 Nike clubs into his bag, the last being his putter.
Yes... during which time he changed golf balls, irons, fairway woods, drivers, shafts, etc. He even changed his putter after the 1997 Masters (most people forget that).
