Some tour players can pick up a new club, take a couple swings, and pop it into their bag for the tournament ahead. Others struggle and fight to return to the feeling they had with one special driver in the past.
That's been the case for Jim Furyk, who has been working to find just the right TaylorMade driver for his swing.
For much of 2006, Furyk relied on a 450cc Srixon W-506 driver that had exactly 10.9 degrees of loft, an X-flex UST ProForce 65 Gold shaft and was 44-3/4-inches long. Clearly, this is a guy who has some specific requirements for his driver.
But then disaster struck -- the driver face cracked while Furyk was competing in the HSBC Champions event last November.
"I played a different one at that time, [PGA] Grand Slam, then I played at the [Nedbank] Million Dollar [Challenge]," he said. "So that was two. Then I played the same one in the two Hawaii events [Mercedes Championship and Sony Open], a different one last week, and a different one this week."
Although Furyk won at the Nedbank Challenge in early December with a similar Srixon driver, it wasn't exactly right. And a subsequent attempt at using a Titleist driver in Hawaii didn't quite work for Furyk, either.
"You know, you think in this day and age with as good as we are at making equipment, measuring equipment would be easier than that to get a replacement, but I really haven't been that happy with my driver," said Furyk at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. "I wasn't happy with the driver that I played in Hawaii. Or the one I played actually even when I won in December, the Nedbank, I still wasn't real happy or confident with that driver. And I just had a hard time matching up with the rest of my set and I was a little disappointed."
So, at Pebble Beach, Furyk started working with a TaylorMade r7 SuperQuad driver with the UST shaft he favored from his Srixon driver. He continued to tinker with the club and put another new TaylorMade into play for the Nissan Open.
"Every head is different," said Furyk after his Thursday round at the Nissan. "Every shaft is slightly different, and trying to put the whole puzzle together has been difficult."
The TaylorMade driver Furyk used at Pebble Beach, he said, had a little left bias in it and his new club at the Nissan Open was an attempt to remove that bias.
"I tested a couple of (TaylorMade drivers), quite a few drivers this week and they seem to be the best that I have right now for the launch and straight-wise," Furyk said.
Furyk said his biggest issue after Pebble Beach was trying to get more height on the ball.
"I can hit it relatively straight, but too low," he said. "So that's why I'm lacking my carry and some distance. And when I want to try to get the ball up in the air, I'm hanging back and hitting it just to the right.
"They brought the launch monitor in this week, and we literally got some ideas and maybe that will work out. In the meantime, I'm also checking out this other driver and I'm hoping that it's better. It's better. I'm not ready to put the stamp of approval on it for one day. But it's better."
After one round at the Nissan, Furyk had more praise for his driver.
"I drove the ball pretty well," he said. "You know, it takes time. One tournament round or a couple of days of practice isn't enough time. I spent a lot of time here on Monday, trying to dial in again. It's better than last week … I will know a lot more by the time this week's over."
Furyk must be getting closer, though. He finished in a tie for third at the Nissan Open, where his driving distance increased over all four days.
On Thursday, he started with a 275.5-yard average. That increased to 281.0 on Friday, 290.5 on Saturday and 298.5 on Sunday -- a tournament average of 286.4 yards that ranked 55th overall.
That compares to an average of 269.9 yards for the season, or 173rd overall.
