Bubba Watson shows his ass yet again

[liveanddiedeac]

Bubba is the man. Met him quite a few times at Willow Creek in High Point and Medowlands in Wallburg. He finished up a practice round at Willow Creek back in 2007 and made it a point to stand on 9's green and shake ever players hand as we finished our round in a high school conference match. He's also really good friends with Adam, the pro at Medowlands (may be ex-pro now, I think he moved) and they would host a lesson day and small 5 hole tournament once a year for the juniors at the club. Bubba would hang with them for a few hours then take them out on the course.

Just from my personal interactions with him, I'm a fan.

I've heard similar stories, but why he keeps having incidents where he basically acts like an entitled spoiled country club baby is beyond me. The thing with the long drive competition was just senseless and pathetic.

 

[94Deac]

And which is more obnoxious: the "hey look at me" hot pink driver or the $500K Richard Mille watch?

 

[AttilatheHoo]

I've always liked Bubba, but I have no idea what his problem is sometimes. I mean if Jack Nicklaus participated in the long drive competition at the PGA when they used to have it years ago and he didn't feel it took away from his preparation for the tournament, even though few were ever as focused in their preparation as Jack was. Then how in the heck could it affect Bubba's preparation, when lets be honest, Bubba succeeds totally off incredible raw talent because he has no mental game????? Give me a break Bubba, you can be a positive role model for a lot of people, don't choose to be another country club spoiled baby!!!

As a side note, Louis Oosthuizen won the competition with a 340 yard drive, which still fell short of Nicklaus's winning drive in 1963 of 341 yards with a small persimmon headed, steel shafted driver, and the soft wound ball which of course all have been outdated for going on 2 decades now. People forget how much power Jack had when he really went after a drive.

there was a story on another board where Trevino said Nicklaus would hit a drive for 400+ yds using today's equipment.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

While I don't doubt Jack's power, they didn't have lasers to measure distance accurately back then. It's possible that number might be overstated.

JB Holmes and McIlroy both put one out there around 340, but just off the grid yesterday.

How do we know they didn't tape measure it off? There's also the time he drove it over the 18th at St. Andrew's during one of his wins at the Open, he had tremendous power when he needed it. Arnie was considered one of the longest hitters on the tour at the time, but when Jack came out he was bombing past Arnie with ease. I always heard though that Jack learned he had to dial it back for longevity sake and thus I think he got pretty selective as to when he'd really let the shaft out with his driver. I love watching some old tapes of Nicklaus though, his use of his legs, shoulder turn and great extension in his younger days created such a powerful swing.

 

[deacz]

Bubba does some very good things for kids with his money. I know that for a fact. But, his attitude varies so widely that he is difficult to like. He had a very difficult upbringing and it is apparent that he simply does not understand how to act. He acts like an ass far too often and has rightly gotten called out on it. He needs to get it together because he should be a huge positive for golf.

 

[NFDeac]

How do we know they didn't tape measure it off? There's also the time he drove it over the 18th at St. Andrew's during one of his wins at the Open, he had tremendous power when he needed it. Arnie was considered one of the longest hitters on the tour at the time, but when Jack came out he was bombing past Arnie with ease. I always heard though that Jack learned he had to dial it back for longevity sake and thus I think he got pretty selective as to when he'd really let the shaft out with his driver. I love watching some old tapes of Nicklaus though, his use of his legs, shoulder turn and great extension in his younger days created such a powerful swing.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

Bubba does some very good things for kids with his money. I know that for a fact. But, his attitude varies so widely that he is difficult to like. He had a very difficult upbringing and it is apparent that he simply does not understand how to act. He acts like an ass far too often and has rightly gotten called out on it. He needs to get it together because he should be a huge positive for golf.

I don't know if it's true of not, but I've heard that he was dating a girl who was a very accomplished golfer who also had future professional aspirations and her parents made her end it because "he grew up in a trailer park and would never amount to anything." If true, 2 green jackets later, I wonder how they feel about those words?

 

[liveanddiedeac]

Exactly. Jack also had enough sense not to "change" his swing every few years when the swing he grew up with and perfected was good enough to make him the best player in the world and carry him to 18 majors. Tiger's swing when he was with Butch looked so much more simple and body friendly then anything he's done since and that was good enough for him to win 4 straight majors, something Jack never even sniffed at doing. Why he left Butch and made all these swing changes I will never know.

 

[94Deac]

I don't know if it's true of not, but I've heard that he was dating a girl who was a very accomplished golfer who also had future professional aspirations and her parents made her end it because "he grew up in a trailer park and would never amount to anything." If true, 2 green jackets later, I wonder how they feel about those words?

Given the way he acts, they probably don't regret it at all. Who wants their daughter involved with a jackass? Other than my in-laws of course.

 

[AttilatheHoo]

Bubba reminds me of Colin Montgomerie with the way he acts although American crowds would really get on Monty.

 

[Tin Cup]

Bubba proves that money can't buy class.

And I'm calling total BS on Jack's 341 yard drive, regardless of what is in the record books. There is just no way he hits it that far with that type of technology, no matter how far he could hit it back then. That basically implies that despite 50 years of technological advances, the ball doesnt go further. Not true.

 

[ABCDeac]

Bubba proves that money can't buy class.

And I'm calling total BS on Jack's 341 yard drive, regardless of what is in the record books. There is just no way he hits it that far with that type of technology, no matter how far he could hit it back then. That basically implies that despite 50 years of technological advances, the ball doesnt go further. Not true.

Didn't Arnie drive the green at Cherry Hills in 1960, on the first hole? I think that hole is around 350. Altitude, roll, wind, etc. all impacted that I am sure (probably did for Jack in 1962, too) - but still, they could hit it a long ways sometimes even back in the day.

 

[AttilatheHoo]

how hard the turf is would be another factor.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

Didn't Arnie drive the green at Cherry Hills in 1960, on the first hole? I think that hole is around 350. Altitude, roll, wind, etc. all impacted that I am sure (probably did for Jack in 1962, too) - but still, they could hit it a long ways sometimes even back in the day.

I think obviously with the ball and clubs of today it's easier to hit it a long ways and do it more consistently. I think Arnie's drive at Cherry Hills was downhill, still a huge blow though. In 1970 Jack drove over the green on the 360 yard 18th hole at St. Andrews in the playoff with Doug Sanders.

 

[DCDeac]

Read an article that said they analyzed Jack's swing in his prime and had him around a 122-125 max swing speed. Pretty much on par with Rory and a younger Tiger.

Story is they measured it at 341 yards and 17 inches, but he had a big time wind behind him. At those speeds the equipment advantages are more about forgiveness and consistency than just pure distance - and the balls were far more affected by wind (both positively and negatively) than modern balls.

Since most people have never played a persimmon driver it's easy to look at one and guess they had no power - but there's a reason guys like Davis Love kept playing them well after steel became dominant. Swing hard and catch the sweet spot - those suckers could still crush the ball and had amazing feel. The mis-hits were brutal though.

 

[ABCDeac]

I think obviously with the ball and clubs of today it's easier to hit it a long ways and do it more consistently. I think Arnie's drive at Cherry Hills was downhill, still a huge blow though. In 1970 Jack drove over the green on the 360 yard 18th hole at St. Andrews in the playoff with Doug Sanders.

Agreed. No chance Prime Jack could use that equipment on the 10th hole yesterday at Valhalla and hit it further than anyone today using the equipment of today. But, that doesn't mean he didn't hit it 341 in 1962.

 

[BacktoBack]

Any of you guys hit a persimmon? I had one when I was a kid. Hit on the screws it was as long as my callaway big Bertha I bought after the persimmon. The difference was in the mishit. Newer clubs are far more forgiving and longer but old school clubs weren't hickory shafted junk either.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

Read an article that said they analyzed Jack's swing in his prime and had him around a 122-125 max swing speed. Pretty much on par with Rory and a younger Tiger.

Story is they measured it at 341 yards and 17 inches, but he had a big time wind behind him. At those speeds the equipment advantages are more about forgiveness and consistency than just pure distance - and the balls were far more affected by wind (both positively and negatively) than modern balls.

Since most people have never played a persimmon driver it's easy to look at one and guess they had no power - but there's a reason guys like Davis Love kept playing them well after steel became dominant. Swing hard and catch the sweet spot - those suckers could still crush the ball and had amazing feel. The mis-hits were brutal though.

Exactly. I can think of my best drives in my late teens and early 20's with my old persimmon driver and I honestly don't think they would be that far behind my best drives today, but with the old persimmon driver those would be few and far between when compared to the equipment I use today at age 43.

 

[ABCDeac]

Any of you guys hit a persimmon? I had one when I was a kid. Hit on the screws it was as long as my callaway big Bertha I bought after the persimmon. The difference was in the mishit. Newer clubs are far more forgiving and longer but old school clubs weren't hickory shafted junk either.

Yes. Nothing like a well-struck drive with a persimmon wood. I held on to wooden woods for several years after the tech wave. Solid shots would travel just as far back then as a Taylor Made Burner, or Big Bertha.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

Any of you guys hit a persimmon? I had one when I was a kid. Hit on the screws it was as long as my callaway big Bertha I bought after the persimmon. The difference was in the mishit. Newer clubs are far more forgiving and longer but old school clubs weren't hickory shafted junk either.

The first steel headed driver I ever had was the original Taylor Made Burner driver whose head was maybe not as big as my persimmon and it certainly wasn't any longer hitting, but it did offer a bit more forgiveness even with the small head.