The set of clubs that helped Woods win the Tiger Slam includes irons and wedges — nine Titleist 681-T irons, 2-iron through pitching wedge, as well as two Vokey wedges. One is a 58-degree wedge, the other a 60. Both wedges have “TIGER” stamped on them. The club that gets the most attention is the 8-iron, because of its small wear pattern in the middle of the face.
The set sold on Saturday for $5,156,162 at Golden Age Auctions.
Woods won the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2000 to become just the second golfer since Ben Hogan to win three majors in one year. Woods then made the turn in 2001 and won the Masters, becoming the first to hold all four professional major golf championships at the same time.
Ryan Carey, the owner of Golden Age auctions, said he has talked to “dozens of people intimately familiar with these clubs” about their authenticity. “We can say with 100 percent confidence that these clubs were used by Tiger Woods during his legendary 2000-01 seasons,” he told PGATour.com.
Golden Ages Auction ran the sale and if that name sounds familiar, it’s probably because it’s the same auction house that sold one of Woods’ backup Scotty Camerons last year for nearly $400,000. Golden Ages also sold Horton Smith’s green jacket from his 1934 Masters in 2013 for $682,000. It also sold a badge from that 1934 Masters Tournament for $600,000.
The clubs were purchased in 2010 by Todd Brock, who made a winning bid of $57,242. He kept them in a frame in his office.
“I got to enjoy them for 11-12 years,” Brock told PGATour.com. “I live a boring life. I don’t entertain a whole lot, so they weren’t getting the eyes on them that they deserve.”
Parsons Xtreme Golf, or PXG, got a couple favorable breaks from the pandemic.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Tens of thousands of small businesses have struggled over the past year and a half amid COVID-19 infections and disruptions to the economy. But the pandemic has allowed a Scottsdale-based golf-club manufacturer to tee up its growth prospects.
Parsons Xtreme Golf, or PXG, got a couple favorable breaks from the pandemic.
For starters, golf participation and revenue expanded as courses around the nation were allowed to stay open. In addition, the company, which connects with consumers directly, was able to stay open and keep revenues flowing in because it didn’t need to rely on sales through third-party stores, many of which had to close temporarily.
The company, which is owned by GoDaddy founder and Arizona billionaire Bob Parsons, has ramped up sales and employment and expanded its marketing reach. It opened its fourth Arizona store and 10th overall Nov. 17 at the Norterra shopping center in north Phoenix, which Parsons’ Yam Worldwide also owns. PXG plans to have two dozen stores nationally by the end of 2022.
Parsons, a self-described “golf nut” with a 12 handicap, got interested in the game as a kid in Baltimore. He gained more enthusiasm after serving with the military in Vietnam, later completing his college education and founding several companies, of which GoDaddy is the most prominent.
The technology of golf
As Parsons grew wealthier, he spent more money on the pastime, eventually hitting what he said were $300,000 in annual expenditures on golf clubs and other equipment. He became obsessed with technological improvements that could allow players to hit farther, straighter and better. That resulted in his founding of PXG in 2014.
The company now has about 650 employees in Arizona, including roughly 340 hired this year. PXG has substantially increased sales, Parsons said, though the private company doesn’t disclose financial figures. It holds nearly 550 global patents, mainly for club design.
The PXG 0311 club heads are hollow and filled with a gel that the company says improves sound and feel. Photo by PXG
“The whole idea was that we could make a better club,” Parsons said during an interview prior to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Arizona store.
“If you had unlimited time and money, could you make a better club?” Parsons said. “Absolutely.”
The importance of swing analysis
PXG stores sell clubs, clothing and other equipment. They also have rooms with golf simulators where players can test clubs and have their swings analyzed by experts and computers. In addition, PXG hosts club testing and swing-analyzing events or “fittings” at driving ranges and elsewhere. Fitting sessions evaluate a player’s swing speed and angle and other aspects in the hopes of recommending the most suitable clubs.
“Nothing is sold off the shelf,” Parsons said.
Jeremy Knowles, part-owner of the 500 Club Golf Course in Glendale, Arizona, aid fitting sessions where PXG representatives allow golfers to try clubs and have their swings analyzed have proven popular.
Knowles said he recently bought a set of PXG clubs himself. “The feel of them is fantastic,” he said. “And the sound of the driver and the yardage are very good.”
Prices range from $89 for a single less-expensive club to $2,999 for a set of higher-end clubs, with products suitable for beginners to advanced players. PXG stores also sell hats, golf attire, club bags and other items. Discounts are offered to first responders and veterans.
Skirting supply chain disruptions
PXG clubs are manufactured in Asia and elsewhere, but otherwise PXG is an American company, with engineering, product development, marketing and other operations here. Because PXG remained open throughout the pandemic, it didn’t face supply chain disruptions to the extent competitors did, Parsons said.
“All of our competitors marketed through big stores,” he said. “During COVID, they shut down but we stayed open.”
Parsons has stepped around concerns about COVID-19 vaccinations with a new policy offering a $1,000 payment to any staff member willing to get the shots.
Bob Parsons of Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG) at his private club, Scottsdale National, in 2015. Photo by Tracy Wilcox/Golfweek
“For employees who already did it, it was free money for them,” Parsons said.
For others who were on the fence, the $1,000 bonus was an incentive to follow through with vaccinations.
And for those who remain reluctant for religious or other reasons, the policy has been popular “because it allows them to make their own decisions,” he added.
Grooveit Brush is a compact club cleaning tool to help wash and scrub away dirt with its pump-action spray and scrubbing brush.
Dirty golf clubs are never a good look in the bag for any skill level. Having clean grooves on your club before striking the ball is important because a dirty club can affect the spin and control of the ball.
Grooveit Brush is a compact club cleaning device to help wash and scrub away all dirt and debris from your club. The tool is efficient and cleans clubs like no other with its patented pump-action spray and durable scrubbing brush. The pump-action spray can hold water or any desired cleaning solution to help the scrubbing brush clean each club efficiently.
The brush has a unique magnetic system that allows it to be fastened to every golf bag and then used with cord-free mobility so that it doesn’t get tangled with the other clubs in the bag. This device is lightweight and is the perfect accessory to keep your clubs looking new.
Many tour players use the Grooveit Brush including recent PGA Tour winner, Lucas Herbert. Herbert’s caddie, Nick Pugh, had the Grooveit Brush on the bag to help win this year’s Bermuda Championship.
We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
Carlos Monarrez has a solution: A new set of equipment rules for casual hackers that will make the game easier and more enjoyable.
Masters week kicks off Monday, and with it so does the unofficial start of golf season, especially in cold-weather states like Michigan.
As we all prepare to dust off our clubs, it’s a good time to come clean about something. You see, I have a deep, dark secret. I’ve been ashamed of it for a long time, but now it’s time to clear my conscience and unburden my soul to you gentle readers.
Here it is: I’m a bad golfer.
Yes, it’s true. I’m a lummox on the links, a cur on the course. I’m a confounded wretch who watches wayward shots spurt and scream across the golf course like ungovernable children hopped up on soda and running wild at Chuck E. Cheese.
Here’s the sad part. It wasn’t always this way. I used to be a decent single-digit handicap. I took lessons, practiced often and with purpose, and played more than 50 rounds a year.
But now I need help. I’m pushing 50 and feeling it. My knees bother me. My wrists bother me. My game bothers me. I don’t have the time for lessons and practice. Let’s face it, the game’s too damn hard for most of us.
Detroit Free Press sports writer Carlos Monarrez tees off during his round at Orchards Golf Club in Washington, Mich. on Friday, May 1, 2020.
So I have a solution: A new set of equipment rules for casual hackers like me that will make the game easier, more enjoyable and more accessible.
In fact, this idea is sort of already in the works by golf’s governing bodies, the U.S. Golf Association and the R&A, which announced in February they were exploring two sets of rules, mostly to limit distance gains by elite players.
This so-called bifurcation of the rules has been a source of debate in the golf community for a long time. Purists think it’s bad for the game. Realistic, good-souled and selfless champions of golf like me think it’s not only good for the game but that bifurcation needs to go a lot farther — just like our golf balls should.
You see, the problem with golf rules is they’re made by golf’s blue blood, blue-blazered elite, people who probably wear smoking jackets and swirl snifters of brandy as they come up unnecessarily complex rules: “Of course lift, clean, place should only be executed with the finest chamois and performed in counter-clockwise fashion. Jolly good suggestion. You’ve done it again, Smails!”
Look, I’m kidding. I know people at the USGA and rules officials. They’re dedicated stewards. But most of what they do applies to competitive golf and not to the vast majority of recreational golf you and I play. There’s nothing in the rules about “breakfast balls” and “just hit another one” and “just drop it here” – you know, real things that happen on a Saturday morning when the foursome behind you is breathing down your neck.
Now I’m going to tell you another secret. And it’s a big one: What if I told that right now I could magically make you hit your driver 50 yards longer and straighter than you’ve ever hit it? Nah, you wouldn’t be interested in that.
Carlos Monarrez is a staff writer for the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA Today Network.
But it’s true. All you have to do is put some Vaseline or Chapstick on the face of your driver to reduce side spin. I first learned about this trick when Rick Reilly wrote about a high-stakes Las Vegas gambler in his 2003 book, “Who’s your Caddy?”
“I was 50 yards longer and 30 yards straighter than I’d ever been,” Reilly wrote. “I kept looking for my slice and never saw it.”
I tried it for myself and yes, there was a big difference in length and accuracy. There were only two problems, as Reilly noted. You get addicted to that kind of advantage, and it’s completely against the rules.
There are other “illegal” equipment aides out there. A company named Polara has made “self-correcting” balls for years that claim to correct “more than 75% of a hook or slice” and “can cut 45 minutes off a round of golf … and make the game more enjoyable.”
I’ve tried the Polara balls, too. And they sure do work. When a friend of mine had the driving yips and couldn’t get off the tee without a giant banana slice, I suggested he use the Polara ball as a “driving ball” just to get him started. It worked great and we were able to resume our match, eliminating time and frustration and increasing our enjoyment.
Here’s where the rules come in. It’s my deep suspicion that if the USGA and R&A allowed the equipment companies to go hog wild and create equipment for recreational players, companies like Callaway, TaylorMade and Titleist would revolutionize the game for hackers. Distance and forgiveness would grow by leaps and bounds. Imagine 300-yard drives being commonplace. Imagine golf balls that flew high and straight every time. Drastically deep-grooved wedges that make balls spin and back up on greens.
I’ve been inside PGA Tour equipment trucks. These people can do anything – if they’re allowed to.
The big question is whether they’ll ever be allowed to. I doubt it because I suspect the people in charge of golf’s rules are too comfortable to consider someone like me who’s chasing down his caffeine-addled kids while holding a jar of Vaseline.
Carlos Monarrez is a writer for the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA Today Network. Contact him at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.
As the coronavirus pandemic touches all walks of life, several golf equipment companies are operating with employees now working from home.
Ping announced on social media channels Monday that for the safety of the 800 employees who work at the company’s Phoenix headquarters, it has decided to close its facility for “the next couple of weeks.”
As the coronavirus pandemic forces states and municipalities to ban gatherings and implore people to stay in their homes, several equipment companies are operating with employees working from home.
Callaway, Cobra and TaylorMade, all based in Carlsbad, California, sent workers home several days ago, and Bridgestone and Mizuno workers based in Georgia are working from home, too.
Titleist and FootJoy staffers based in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, have been working remotely for more than a week. Products that were previously ordered may be slow in arriving, but judging by the comments left on Ping’s Facebook page, golfers are supporting the brands and want everyone to be safe.
Federal agents at an international mail facility in Miami found a set of clubs worth about 30k this week because the club shafts were filled with cocaine!
Federal agents at an international mail facility in Miami found a set of clubs worth about 30k this week because the club shafts were filled with cocaine!
Federal agents at an international mail facility in Miami found a set of clubs worth about 30k this week because the club shafts were filled with cocaine!
Federal agents at an international mail facility in Miami found a set of clubs worth about 30k this week because the club shafts were filled with cocaine!
