Why are loads of tour players wearing silly hats?
By James Savage
Firstly, they aren’t silly. We think it’s great to see professional golfers breaking the mould of what a stereotypical tour player looks like.
We’ve seen players on both the European and PGA Tours mixing it up with their golf hats this week and if they all got together, they’d look they were on their way to a Stone Roses gig.
On the PGA Tour, Ben Crane and Joel Dahmen have been keeping cool in the Memphis heat with these efforts.
It’s actually a bit of a shame the likes of Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth are tied down to such strict scriptings by their sponsors.
It’d be nice to see what they’d wear if just playing casually with friends. Oh hang on, we already know how Spieth, Fowler and Thomas roll during spring break. Yes, more bucket hats.
And over on the European Tour we’ve seen Ryan Evans getting in on the act.
It’s more of a Triby but Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen is still a trailblazer when it comes to his headwear.
Even Jeff Winther’s caddie wants a piece of the action.
We’ve been talking dress codes all week and have concluded that all golfers should simply be able to wear what they want.
And Sweden’s Johan Edfors is behind us 100 per cent.
Henrik Stenson’s 3-wood still bossing it off the tee
Henrik Stenson is leading the way off the tee in many PGA Tour stats thanks to his trusty 3-wood.
We’ve already been deep on his Callaway Octane Tour model but Stenson is proof that tour players don’t actually NEED to hit driver as much as they do.
When Stenson won the Wyndham Championship last year he didn’t even have a driver in the back.
“It’s a good club to lean on while I’m waiting for a yardage,” he once joked.
The likes of Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods can all hit their 3-woods far enough to shoot good scores on any golf course in the world.
Stenson is miles ahead in driving accuracy with 79 percent of fairways hit (second place is 73 percent).
So if you’re looking for someone to back at the US Open, maybe someone who doesn’t go in the rough might be a good shout?
What gear have we been testing?
We’ve been up at Rudding Park filming lots of new equipment reviews including the Callaway XR Speed driver.
Bit of wedge, shoe, driver and utility iron filming up @RuddingPark today. Check the @NCGmagazine Instagram story for more… pic.twitter.com/8OQGGUzcET
— James Savage (@JamesSavageNCG) June 5, 2018
We’ve also rounded up the best new electric trolleys for 2018 including Motocaddy’s updated M-range and the Powakaddy C2i.
And this is the new @PowaKaddy_Golf Compact C2i which may even fit in the absolute shambles that is the boot of my car pic.twitter.com/Q5bVbm2bu0
— James Savage (@JamesSavageNCG) June 7, 2018
So testing trolleys is definitely on the agenda over the next few weeks to see how all these new models perform out on the course.
Which are the best new electric golf trolleys for 2018?
The best new putters for 2018 – tried and tested
James Savage
Former equipment editor of NCG. Inconsistent ball-striker and tea-maker.
