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We take a look inside the bag of two time Masters Champion Bubba Watson! Now plying his trade on the LIV Golf Tour as Captain of the Range Goats, the left-hander was more than happy to chat through the clubs in his bag to staff writer Joe Ferguson at JCB Golf & Country Club for the LIV Golf UK event.
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0:00
Right, we are here at JCB Golf and Country Club for the Live Golf UK event and I bumped into Bubba Watson
0:05
So we're going to do a little what's in the bag, if that's all right. Yeah, let's do it. Before we do, I want to know, as a former club fitter and PGA professional
0:13
what's it like to try and fit Bubba Watson for equipment? So we go to him, we're always told to hit your normal stock shot
0:20
and you're a guy who just moves the ball all over the place, all different variations of flights. How does that process of someone getting you into the right equipment look
0:28
For me, I know right away. Like, if you're building me a set of clubs, I know right away if I like it or I don't like it
0:35
And the grips are really the hard part, right, because you're putting all the tape on there
0:39
We're going to get to your grips. Yeah, so that's – okay, so I'm not allowed to talk about that yet. Yeah, take that
0:43
Go away. Start away. But the grips is really the hard part. The clubs, the equipment, I trust the equipment
0:48
I trust the company. I know what they're making is better for all golfers, not just me
0:53
and so once you get it custom fit, that's when you're ready to play golf
0:58
So when you're looking at driving, we know your predominant shape is your fader of the ball generally
1:03
Yeah, my driver's built just to cut. I don't want it to draw at all
1:08
I want to take one side out. And when you say built to cut, so we're looking, we'll start, we'll get into it then
1:12
So we're looking at the G430 LS Tech with, we all know, your crazy pink finishes, which is great
1:18
When you say built to fade, are we talking with internal weighting, with hot melt, with face angle, with everything
1:23
Yeah, I call it goop, but yeah, hot melt. And so the hot melt, and then the shaft is stiffer, tipped one inch or so
1:31
and then the grip is set open a little bit so that everything makes it feel like a cut
1:39
It's all fade by. Yeah. And so I have the reminder in there, and you can see how it's a little..
1:44
You just told me set open a little bit. A little bit. That looks about 25 degrees open to me
1:49
Well, that's just a little bit. That's a lot. Just wait till you get to the irons in the lob wedge, the lob wedge is way more
1:54
I'm looking forward to seeing that. So you've got hazardous RDX, smoked TX, 60 grams and tipped an inch
2:00
Interesting. So into three wood. So it basically so that I want to be able to under pressure just move it one way And just know that going to happen And most guys most guys they want to move it different directions but under pressure you got to have that go shot and so that why
2:15
Perfect, thank you very much. Into three words, so you've got the G430 Max, 15 degrees, set on standard with a Fujikura speed
2:24
I take it this is a custom job. It certainly is Bubba Watson design custom job
2:28
Yeah. Talk to me about this. Is this more of a tea club for you, fairway, or it has to be versatile
2:32
Yeah, it has to be versatile, but this one is I want to move it all the different directions from the fairway, but also from the tee
2:40
So, yeah, so this one has a round grip on it so that I can grip it different directions so that I can move it one way or the other
2:46
That's really interesting. So you go reminder, is it the rest of the set or just driver reminder
2:50
All the clubs except the three wood. Just rounding the three wood. So if I want to hit a low one, high one, slice it, hook it, I can hit all the shots with it
2:57
So that's why I wanted a round grip in there. That's the geeky stuff the audience want to know about, those little nuggets there
3:03
That's really cool. Into the irons with 3-2 pitching wedge in the Blueprint S
3:08
How did you end up there? Because Ping have got so many great irons this year, in particular
3:12
We've been talking about it a lot on our podcast. What a great job Ping has done with their iron lineup this year
3:16
How did you end up in Blueprint S? I used the S59s for 10 years
3:22
Yes. And then I used the S55s for 10 years. and then when they came out with this they told me that this was going to be
3:29
geared similar to the s55s and so when they said that then i was interested and so you know they
3:36
they showed me a lot of the stuff that they're drawing up um i've been blessed enough to be able
3:40
to be in there with engineers to see what they're doing and and be a part of it and so um they they
3:46
explained to me what they were trying to do and accomplish and um i love it and and so it feels
3:51
just like the S55s to me. Obviously, the weighting's different. All the movement of the weight is different
3:58
but it gave me the feel that I was looking for in the clubs that I was already playing
4:02
and I felt like I hit it more... My pattern got tighter
4:06
which we're all trying to do, right? Great. And the two things that really stand out visually for me here
4:10
so we got the cool Bubba laser etched logo in the back That looks really cool We got some grind work done throughout the set it looks like some heel relief which you only generally see on wedges so why do you feel like you need this extra heel relief in the irons
4:23
so with the irons i'm trying to hit you know they're building irons to go
4:27
straighter right yeah every company's trying to go straighter for the for the average golfer but for me i wanted to move all different directions so i did
4:35
the heel relief so that i digs through the ground the way i want it to for
4:38
certain shots or for all the shots so that's just a turf interaction thing you
4:42
Yeah, it's just so I can leave the face open for cuts
4:47
or I can turn it over for the draws, so that hitting the ground, it just makes it easier to move it through the ground
4:53
Perfect. And then into the wedges, we've got kind of a, well, we've got the Range Goats logo
4:56
which is really, really cool, but we've got some older wedges here. So we've got the Glide 2.0 in 52, 56, and 60
5:03
We'll talk about those grinds in a moment. Why are you still in the Glide 2.0
5:07
Just a feel thing, a familiarity thing? So when they started doing the bottom groove on the new wedges, and it doesn't go all the way across
5:16
Yes. And so now mine, when they make mine, they go all the way across. But I keep going back to these because of the turf interaction and the way I can shape it and do all the shots
5:25
For some reason, it just feels better in my hands. And so they bless me where I can still, they still make them for me, and I still have some where I can play with them
5:35
And how many wedges do you go through a year? I usually say the same ones all year
5:40
And I don't practice as much as all the other people. I play a lot of golf, so I'm not on the range hitting balls all the time
5:45
So it's not wearing out the grooves as much as some of the other guys. Okay, that's really interesting
5:50
One last question on the wedges. So have you always been 52, 56, 60? Is that kind of a standard for you
5:54
Yeah, so it's 56, 52, and then this is 63. It says 60, but it's bent to 63
6:00
Let's take a look at that. That's a lot of extra bending. So you've got quite a low bounce to start with at 6
6:04
when you're adding three degrees of loft to that, we're going up to probably near a nine or 10 bounce
6:09
Yeah, there's loft there, isn't there? Yeah, exactly. And the grip feels like it's almost on sideways. Yep
6:14
That's really, really interesting. And then there's tons of wrap under there, so it's a little bit bigger, it's a mid-size grip
6:19
Yeah, let's touch on that now in terms of the wraps that you have under these mid-size grips. What the setup I heard all sorts of mythical things about your grips How many is it It 11 if I remember correctly The Lob Wedge has one more than all the other stuff Okay And then
6:34
grips, as you know, the rubber grips, they change, right? Because it's manufacturing
6:39
you know, little variances here and there. And we try not to stretch the grips on so it keeps
6:44
them fatter. So you stretch them on too much, it gets too thin. So we have 11 wraps all the way
6:49
down and then we have two extra wraps um for the bottom hand just to take that taper out you can't
6:54
make it completely round but for the rules of golf so you can get it as close as you can get it um
7:00
and that's what we're trying to do cool interesting now one of the coolest head covers about head
7:03
covers i've ever seen talk me through that yeah so ping ping made those a few years ago um because
7:08
of the the gold putter vault and so they made that for like for like champions like club champions
7:14
and all that so that's like their gold your gold putter right and so um so i loved it i love the
7:20
way it shines and so that's why i use it it's a nice flex yeah and then the pld putter here so
7:24
we've got the answer and to start so a lot of people go into more higher moi putters nowadays
7:28
with um sort of mallet styles with a bit more what does that mean higher moi bubba means more
7:34
forgiving so more stable on miss hit so generally a bit more that's why i use it there you go so
7:39
doesn't know what high moi means so that's why we're in this putter so let's skip over that then Okay
7:44
Raw finish. What do you like about it wrestling? Is that just an age thing? I just like the look of it
7:48
For some reason, the contrast of the white paint on the line and then the white ball and then the change of color
7:56
for some reason on my eyesight, it just feels better right now. It looks better. And when I won a lot of my tournaments, I had the Dimascus
8:05
and I had a color change, red, kind of like a multicolor putter
8:09
So the silver to me somehow reflects the sun a little differently. so I wanted something with more, less shine to it
8:16
Brilliant. And what ball are we in? I am in the X, Tideless Pro VX
8:20
Okay, perfect. Well, that is fantastic. Bubba Watson, he doesn't know what MOI is
8:25
but he's certainly got some cool gear and he's a lovely man. I do now though, you told me
8:29
You're more than welcome. What was it again? Forgiveness. We'll talk about it off camera. Thanks a lot
8:33
My butter needs forgiveness. Thank you very much, Bubba Watson. Thank you
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