What's in my bag

Golf Digest, August, 2003 by Matthew Rudy

Jim Furyk

'Sometimes a putter just gets stale.'

I guess you can call me a tinkerer without a lot of follow-through. I'm always fooling with new drivers, fairway woods and putters, but I don't switch very often. I've had my driver for about a year, and I've used the same irons for more than three. I just replaced my Titleist Vokey sand wedge for the first time in a couple of years with an identical model. I'll have to tweak it--bend it and change the weight--to get it just right.

My last putter, an Odyssey White Hot #5, almost set a record for longevity. I put it in the bag last year at Colonial, and it made it 51 weeks. Sometimes a putter just gets stale, and you need something new to look at. I'll grab a new one and putt with it until it's time to bring in a relief pitcher. I put two putters in my bag during a practice round at the Byron Nelson and had a good feeling about the HOG model in this photograph. We'll see how long it can survive.

FAIRWAY WOODS

My 3-wood is a 13-degree TaylorMade 200 Steel with a Harrison Pro 1.8 shaft. I also carry a 16-degree Orlimar TriMetal 4-wood with a UST Proforce 65 Gold X-shaft. Two tournaments a year--the Colonial and the British Open--I take the 4-wood out and replace it with an old Spalding 2-iron.

DRIVER

I've been using the Titleist 983K driver since last year. It's a 9.5-degree model with a 4434-inch UST Proforce 65 Gold X-shaft. Why do I like it? It's long.

IRONS

Ben Hogan Apex Plus, 3-iron through PW, Apollo hump shafts, extra stiff. I pinched the lofts of my set together, so I don't carry a 4-iron. My wedge is bent strong, as are the rest of my irons. My clubs get more upright as they get longer. My 3-iron is 3 degrees upright, my 9-iron is 1 degree upright and my wedges are standard.

ACE IN THE HOLE

I tested balls for Spalding last year, and the Strata Tour Ace I now play came from that testing. The balls have card suits, not numbers, on the cover. I only play the clubs and spades, because that's what they send me.

MATCH STICKS

I had two sets of irons made when I began endorsing Ben Hogan in 1999. The 3-, 5- and 6-irons are from the original set. The rest are replacements.

LEAVING MY MARK

Nothing too fancy here. I mark my ball with a quarter so I can see it from the other side of the hole. The other marker is also a quarter, but with an inscription from the 2001 Ryder Cup on one side.

FIRST STRING

I use some string and a couple of bolts as a putting training aid. I stretch the line tight and work on keeping my putter on that line back and through.

MY YARDAGE (carry, loft)

WOODS
Driver:   260, 9.5[degrees]
3-wood:   235, 13[degrees]
4-wood:   225, 16[degrees]

IRONS
3-iron:   203, 23[degrees]
5-iron:   185, 26[degrees]
6-iron:   175, 30[degrees]
7-iron:   160, 34[degrees]
8-iron:   147, 38[degrees]
9-iron:   135, 42[degrees]
PW:       125, 46[degrees]
GW:       115, 50[degrees]
SW:       105, 55[degrees]
LW:        85, 59[degrees]