Was I right?
As if to underline comments in my email last week, Bubba Watson won in fantastic style for the first time in well over a year at the weekend. Having slipped outside the world’s top 100 (which is unbelievable if you think about it) he announced recently that he was ending the deal he had signed with luminous golf ball manufacturer Volvik. Within just a few weeks of returning to the ball he used to win The Masters just a few short years ago he wins again on tour, seemingly recovering, overnight, the form that had apparently deserted him. So was it all the ball? Well, yes in short but not perhaps in the way we’d imagine. Information that PING have circulated shows that with the Volvik ball and his old pink driver his driver spin rate went up to nearly 3,000 rpm, which would be high for me and I have nowhere near Bubba’s speed. He changed ball and driver and lowered his spin rate to around 2,500, which is significant. Clearly that can’t alone be the reason why he has suddenly rediscovered his form but, once again, it underlines the point made last week. We do need help sometimes to work out what is best for us, so we need to seek help from our pro for instance, but once we have the right equipment it pays to stick with it. The deal with Volvik was, almost certainly, all about finance but I wonder what that cost him last year. He is, without doubt, one of the most talented golfers out there which is confirmed by his win around a very tough course like Riviera. Now, after just one great tournament, you have to start thinking about Bubba as a hot bet for The Masters which starts in just six weeks time. With the right equipment he has rediscovered his form and after a bad year he must be gagging to get back to former glories. That makes for a potent combination so he will be very worth a bet come April the 5th. |