How Equipment and Club Choice Can Help Win The Masters.

In 1986, 46 year old 5 time winner of the Master's, Jack Nicklaus heard murmurs he should retire, that he was washed up. The Golden Bear, was the Olden Bear.

A final round 65, where he overtook the premier players of the era, Tom Kite, Seve Ballesteros, and Greg Norman, and the rest as we know was history. What couldn't be forgotten was prior to that year's Master's Nicklaus was getting used to a new Macgregor Response Oversized Putter.

Nicklaus putted better than he had in years, and Macgregor sold thousands of those putters after that victory. Oddly enough the putter was never hugely popular on tour, but it helped Nicklaus win that title.

Move ahead twenty years to 2006, and Phil Mickelson's decision to use two Callaway FT3 drivers, proved pivotal to winning his second Masters. One driver was one inch taller than the other, and allowed Mickleson hit a power draw that moves the ball from left to right.

The other driver allowed Mickelson to hit a controlled fade. Depending on the orientation of the hole, Mickelson was able to hit driver for the distance, but was also able to shape the shot as a he desired. Of course, he had to give up another club to not exceed the allowed max of 14 clubs, therefore he gave up one his of many wedges, but it worked in this case.

The year after Mickelson's win, Zach Johnson proved even medium to short hitters can win the Masters. Johnson put on some of the finest wedge play in recent memory, to capture the 2007 Masters.

That year he played the par 5's in eleven under par without ever going for a par 5 green in two. Check Johnson's description of his wedge back then, as he hit gap, lob, and sand wedges into the different par 5's. One guy gives up wedges, while another used them all.

What will be the club or equipment choice this year's Master's? A recent article in the Augusta Chronicle describes players headed to their sponsors Golf Trailers for equipment adjustments. Greg Norman gets his Taylor Made R9 driver weighted to his liking, Dustin Johnson get his 54 degree wedge adjusted to the loft and lie he feels most comfortable with.

Coming out of this year's Master's several golfers including Tiger Wood's are continuing the recent trend of removing their 2 iron for a 5 wood. At a course like Augusta, where a high soft ball flight is more important that hitting low runners, you may hear of a 5 wood to 10 feet on one of the par 5's leaving an eagle putt, that decides the Master's.

I wonder if Tiger is looking for a new Scotty Cameron putter by Titlest after Thursday's first round though, where his first round 70 could have been easily 3 or 4 strokes lower with a good putting day.