ESPN Golf

He may have a "grip-it-and-rip-it" mindset on the tee, but John Daly spends more time getting his wedges and putter right than his driver. "I've always been a feel player," he says.

Winners' bags
Sergio Garcia Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Driver: TaylorMade r7 Quad, 9.5 degrees 3-wood: TaylorMade V Steel, 13 degrees Irons (2-9): TaylorMade rac CF Wedges: TaylorMade rac (50 degrees); TaylorMade rac Fe203 (54 degrees); Titleist Vokey (60 degrees) Putter: TaylorMade Rossa Mezza Monza
Lorena Ochoa Ball: Callaway HX Tour Driver: TaylorMade R510, 8.5 degrees 3-wood: TaylorMade V Steel 7-wood: TaylorMade V Steel Hybrid club: TaylorMade Rescue Mid, 22 degrees Irons (4-PW): Ping i3+ Blade Wedges: Cleveland 588 Gunmetal (51, 56 degrees) Putter: Odyssey Classic 224

A peek inside Long John's bag reveals equipment with unique playing and cosmetic characteristics, particularly his putter. Daly's Dunlop Redneck Wilbur has a bigger head than a standard blade and boasts an extra 35 grams of weight. Add a lightweight graphite shaft and the result is a monstrous D-6 swingweight, about six points heavier than the average tour pro's club.

OK, a graphite shaft in a putter is one thing. But in the wedges, too? And a weak flex at that? Explains J.D.: "I use a very weak graphite shaft in my wedges to get a soft feel. Fuzzy Zoeller suggested I try it. It allows me to work the ball."

And sink it. Daly's Cleveland CG 10 wedges are stamped "Dr. Chipinski," a name a friend of Daly's coined after watching him regularly chip in while caddieing for him.

Daly's irons also boast a stamp on the back -- that of his beloved lion logo. In fact, Daly wouldn't put the Dunlop RG blades into play until the beast was on them. Daly prefers blades, saying his distance control is better and the chance of getting a flier is less.

Control also was a key in ball selection. Daly uses a 432-dimple Dunlop LoCo Pro with a lower trajectory. It has cost him a yard or two, but it reacts well on pitches, chips and putts -- feel triumphing over distance again.

But as Daly has honed in on his ball, irons, wedges and putter, his woods remain in flux. After a stint with new Dunlop products, Daly used TaylorMade's r7 quad driver and V Steel 3-wood last week. The one constant is Penley's ETA triple-X, 75-gram graphite shafts.

Cobra 454/414 Comp
The latest entry into the composite/titanium driver category boasts a lightweight carbon-composite crown that allows for more weight to be used for larger face areas and head sizes in addition to low and back weighting. The driver (SRP: $450, graphite) is available in three models: 454 Comp, 414 Comp and 414 Comp Tour.

Other Daly equipment oddities include his grips (midsize with two extra layers of two-way tape underneath), his golf balls -- number 3s only ("to remind me to get a third major title") and tees (printed with "grip it and rip it.")

But the first thing in the bag is six packs of cigarettes. "They go in before balls, tees, anything," said Daly. "I can't run out of smokes."

Equipment scoop from the tours

Just four weeks after its debut, TaylorMade's r7 quad became the most used driver on the PGA Tour with 26 in play at the EDS Byron Nelson Champ-ionship. Among those switching to the club last week were Sergio Garcia (winner), Tim Herron (T-4) and Nick Price (T-7).

Coming into the Nelson ranked 63rd in putting, Ernie Els made a change, hauling out his old Ping Anser2. The result was a modest improvement on the greens as the Big Easy ranked T-26 in putting average for the week en route to a T-7 finish.

Price is right
196.92: The average price, in dollars, of a metal wood at on- and off-course golf shops during the first quarter of 2004, according to Golf Datatech. The price represents nearly a $13 decrease (6.2 percent) from the same period three years ago.

It was a good week for Ping on the LPGA Tour as each of the top-five finishers at the Franklin American Mortgage Championship used the company's irons.

Nationwide Tour grad Chris Couch carries three McHenry Metals fairway woods (3, 5 and 7), making him the only player on tour currently using the brand's clubs.

There are left-handed compliments and then there was the compliment lefty Steve Flesch, a Cleveland Golf staffer, lavished on TaylorMade's r7 driver during a recent interview on The Golf Channel. Flesch was so effusive in his praise, TaylorMade replayed the segment for 2,000 employees, retailers and media last week in San Diego. Ouch.

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