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My friend admits he can’t help himself.
Deacon (his real name has been changed to protect the guilty) is infatuated with new equipment or at least the prospect of new equipment. He’s not alone. The golf equipment business is built on people like my friend who have the means and the motivation to see what’s new and shiny and buy it.
It explains the collection of Scotty Cameron putters Deacon has had through the years, including a new one he offered me a while back because he has another one just like it. It’s not the first hand-me-down I’ve willingly taken.
Which leads to our wager.
To prove a point, more likely to himself than to me, he bet that he could go through 2021 without buying new equipment.
New golf balls don’t count. Neither do new grips.
The stakes are steaks – at a big-time steakhouse where the baked potatoes are the size of a shoe and a bottle of wine costs as much as resort green fees.
It was so tantalizing another guy jumped in – like me not trusting Deacon’s ability to stick with what was in his bag and his garage for a full year.
The golf equipment business is built on people like my friend who have the means and the motivation to see what’s new and shiny and buy it.
Winter’s dormant Bermuda turned to spring’s fresh growth and my friend didn’t waver. His game was good, his equipment just where he wanted it.
Then spring turned to summer and a ruling was required. What if his wife and sons gave him new equipment for his birthday and/or Father’s Day?
It was allowed but we noted it was a clever workaround. He might have to spring for the pre-dinner cocktails, at least. He agreed.
Not long ago, I was speaking with a man who oversees a national club-fitting company and mentioned the bet. He laughed and said he hears about a version of that challenge regularly. Relax, he told me, people like Deacon always cave.
My buddy is an ex-Marine which means he understands self-discipline, and I began to wonder if he might make it. The calendar flipped to June and Deacon was almost halfway home.
A few days ago a simple text arrived.
“I gave up.”
The temptation of new shafts in his irons was too much. I figured it would be new wedges or a new driver but re-shafting a set of irons is a big step. A new step for him, I believe.
The pressure is off.
And I’ll have my filet medium rare.
E-MAIL RON
Ron Green Jr.