John Daly is adding new weapons to his already deadly arsenal at the Masters. Daly, whose victory at the Buick Invitational earlier this year served as a springboard to Augusta National Golf Club, is putting Dunlop’s new LoCo JD prototype driver and RG Designs 3-wood in his bag as he seeks the third major championship of his career.
Dunlop and Daly have been working to find the right driver since this past February. The LoCo JD he will play at Augusta, which was approved by the U.S. Golf Association on April 2, is 44.5 inches long, with 8.5 degrees of loft and a features a 400cc beta-titanium cast head.
The addition of the driver (with a Penley 2XX flex graphite shaft) and 3-wood moves Daly closer to a full bag of Dunlop product. Daly told PGA.com last week he hopes to work in the company’s RG Design wedges in the next few weeks.
"Any time I’ve been with a company I’ve always tried to carry 14 (of that company’s) clubs in the bag,’’ said Daly, who previously has had equipment contracts with Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) and Wilson Golf.
Daly initially tested the new driver at the Bay Hill Invitational last month in Orlando, after which Rick Gray, Director of Product Development for Dunlop/Focus Golf, Inc., made some changes and presented Daly with the final product March 29 at Dunlop’s testing facility in Westminster, S.C.
"I hit it on the (launch) monitor and the numbers are off the charts,’’ Daly said. "The spin ratio is way down, I like the look of it and I like the way the ball comes off it.’’
In addition to the clubs, Daly also plays a version of Dunlop’s LoCo Pro golf ball, which he said he particularly likes for its performance around the green. Distance, said Daly, one of the Tour’s legendary long hitters, doesn’t mean much unless you have the short game to back it up.
And Daly certainly does. Consider that going into the Master, Daly was fourth in sand saves on the PGA Tour (66 percent) and was second in putting average (1.699 putts per hole). Oh yes, he was third in driving distance, averaging 303.6 yards.
"The golf ball I’m hitting now is not a ball that’s supposed to go as far as it’s going,’’ Daly said. "If I was hitting another golf ball I might be averaging 320 yards, but I’m not going to hit it straight. The balls today are better for short hitters because they can get more distance, but they’re losing spin around the greens.
"Everybody wants power in golf. But on Tour you don’t win tournaments with power -- win with consistency and putting and chipping. The game has gotten away from all that.’’
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