The Biggest Equipment-Changing Disasters In Professional Golf

The two best golfers of all time barely ever changed their equipment. Tiger Woods had the same specs for all those years when he was at the peak of his powers and his bag set-up was rarely disturbed.

Jack Nicklaus, meanwhile, played with the same 3-wood for 37 years. His MacGregor 693 was in the bag for all 18 of his Major victories. What’s equally remarkable is that between 1958 and 1995 he only had it regripped once.

Other players like to tinker and change equipment on a regular basis, especially those who aren’t locked into commercial deals.

Although there are plenty of examples out there of players making successful equipment changes - one of the most remarkable being John Daly putting a Wilson Invex driver in the bag just a few days before winning The Open in 1995 - there have also been a few high-profile disasters.

Justin Rose, Honma

This was a strange one. Justin Rose was the reigning FedEx Cup champion when he decided to part company with TaylorMade back in 2019 and sign a multi-year deal with Japanese manufacturer Honma.

Although he won the Farmers Insurance Open in just his second week using Honma clubs and got to World No.1, it wasn’t that long before cracks started to appear and Rose began to miss a few cuts.

The Englishman dropped to No.14, and when he turned up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in the March of 2020 without a single Honma club in his bag, it was clear that he wasn't happy with his equipment.

Two months later, Honma and Rose announced in a joint statement that they had mutually agreed to part ways.

Fortunately for Rose, this equipment change didn’t totally derail his career. As we saw at this year’s Masters, all appears well again.

Bubba Watson, Volvik

It might have seemed like a bit of a surprise when Bubba Watson switched to using a bright-colored Volvik golf ball at the start of 2017, but this was a move that very much suited his brand.

The two-time Masters champion is well known for his crazy shot-shaping abilities, but clearly the ball did not suit his ball flight characteristics.

"My contract is done with Volvik. I do not have a ball deal as we sit here today," Watson told reporters at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in November.

"So I can play with whatever ball I want to. My deal was up, and so I'm ball-free."

Watson returned to using a Titleist Pro V1x. What a balls-up.

Phil Mickelson, Callaway

What? How could Phil Mickelson’s switch from Titleist to Callaway ever be called a disaster? Well, let us explain.

Mickelson put Callaway clubs in the bag just a week before the 2004 Ryder Cup, which left a lot of people scratching their heads. The timing didn’t seem right.

When the American lost both of his matches on the opening day playing alongside Tiger Woods, it did not look like a wise decision.

After leaving his teammate in a few awkward spots with some wayward driving, ‘Lefty’ took a fair bit of flak.

Woods wasn’t impressed and nor was the US captain, Hal Sutton, who didn’t send Mickelson out on Saturday morning.

"Phil created a lot of drama that week, if we remember, because he switched his clubs and his ball prior to that week," Sutton told GolfChannel.com.

"It was very self-serving for him to do that prior to the Ryder Cup in 2004. So, if he needs me to shoulder the blame for his poor play, I can do that."

Anyway, let’s not reopen old wounds. In terms of the long term, Mickelson enjoyed a pretty healthy (and wealthy) 20-year relationship with Callaway.

Bryson DeChambeau, Krank Golf

Only Bryson DeChambeau would change his driver head 20 minutes before teeing off in the final round of a US Open.

Yes, this maverick golfer went on to win his second US Open, but Sunday at Pinehurst could so nearly have turned into a disaster.

Due to the great speed that he generates, DeChambeau believes it’s not long before the face of his driver can start to flatten, slow and deform.

He has become known as ‘The Scientist’, so who are we to say there’s no truth in this? Even so, changing heads just before he went out with a three-shot lead in a Major Championship seemed a bit bonkers.

In the final round, he hit just five of 13 fairways, and he needed his short game to get him out of trouble, plus a little help from Rory McIlroy.

Anyway, here’s what he had to say after his round.

“I probably shouldn’t have changed the heads. I was trying to get a fresh head in there. It had a good curvature on the face, but it was a little bit lower loft.

“For whatever reason, those lower lofted heads have been missing right. Consequently, I missed it right all day.

“A bit frustrating, but the face that I was using for the past three days was just starting to get flat. It was a nine-and-a-half-inch curvature. I won’t go over that.

“Essentially the face was starting to get a little flat. I wanted to get a fresh head in.”