Golfers are no different from anyone else on either side of the Atlantic in having to save money. In the tale that follows, American Gary Wolff, from Lakeway Country Club in Austin, Texas, set a good example in how to go about it when he was in Scotland earlier this summer.
Instead of doing as so many of today’s players in teeing up with a spanking new ball for every round, the 67-year-old Wolff used the same ball – a black Titleist Pro V1 No. 2 – for 12 rounds in a row on some of the toughest links Scotland has to offer.
Though five Open Championship venues (Turnberry, Royal Troon, The Old Course, Carnoustie and Muirfield) were in the mix, there was only one occasion – at Gullane on the last day – when his loyal little ball took a mischievous bounce into the rough. His friends, Carey Weatherholt and father and son John and Drew Hagen, kept the show alive by spotting it straightaway.
Wolff, a 3-handicap who used to play off scratch, never set out with such an improbable feat in mind. However, when he realised that he had used the ball for five rounds rather than his usual maximum of three, he decided to see how much longer he could keep it up. Needless to say, he did not think for a minute that the same missile would do duty till the end of his holiday.
Who knows whether Titleist will be irritated that one of its products should have lasted so long or whether company officials are slapping one another on the back for turning out a seemingly everlasting ball.
From a distance perspective, Wolff, whose driver swing speed is roughly 95 mph, said he didn’t notice any change over the 11 days. From an appearance perspective, things were a little different. “I have my name printed on my ball for identification purposes, and I always hit my tee shots on the ‘name’ side. By the 12th round, the name had worn off and, looking at the ball now, I would describe it as having the appearance of a well-worn range edition. It’s gray, it’s scuffed and I’ve let it retire.”
Another question that Global Golf Post put to our steady American concerned whether he was mentally worn out toward the end. “Oh, yes,” he replied. “When I teed up at Gullane, I was acutely aware that I was 18 holes away from completing play on some of the least-forgiving courses in the world with the same ball. The drive I hit into the rough had a lot to do with keeping nerves in check.”
Yet over the piece, he said he played better across the closing rounds than he had done earlier in the week, with his ball staying 100 percent the right shape throughout and enabling him to putt consistently well.
Please get in touch if you can match Wolff in keeping a single ball in play for 216 holes – and save yourself $45 in the process.
Lewine Mair
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