Fred Couples, background, and Charlie Woods Saturday at the PNC Championship.
Getty Images
Tiger Woods, looking inside Fred Couples’ golf bag, begins to count. One, two, three. But the Couples run out before he needs the second hand.
Yes, he is playing six ‘forests’.
“One, two, three, four, five, six,” pairs said.
They are catching the competition at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Fla., the day before PNC Championshipthe (mostly) friendly pro-relative scrimmage event that closes out the golf year. Forests15 times major winner and teenage son Charlie playing for the fifth time, Couples and the teenage stepfather Hunter Hanneman for the first and it doesn’t take long for Woods’ eyes to go to Couples’ golf bag.
There have been several conversations since August, when members of the PGA Champions Tour’s social media content team had a look himself. While the ‘standard’ setup features a driver and maybe two or three woods or hybrids, Couples had six headgear – which led to this exchange, initiated by the social team.
“You have an old man’s bag.”
“I have six woods,” said Couples. “Driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, 4-save, 5-save, 6-save.
“And I love life. I will get through these three days.”
Why is that so? For years, Couples has struggled with back ailments, and braces were problematic, especially in this case This year’s Masters. “I was shot in the back,” he said at the time. “I have more things just to play. The longer the club, I’m good. I had no speed. I was driving that 260. But most of them were going straight. It was a pleasure. It was really hard. If I’d had more woods, honestly, yesterday, I probably could have shot 75, but I didn’t know – I cut back on how bad I felt. I should have had 11 wood to hit 140 yards. I couldn’t even hit an 8-iron. I couldn’t swing.”
So the Couples made a move. Some irons came out. Several hybrids were introduced.
Fred Couples called the LIV-PGA matchup ‘strange’. Here’s why
Alan Bastable
“Well, at Augusta, I hurt myself, or before, and I played, and I really think if I had all these woods at Augusta, I could have — the scores were a little higher, I might have been able to pitch better, but I wasn’t even really swinging,” Couples said Thursday at PNC. “But I hit these clubs very well.
“And then when I got home, I had a couple of companies make me a save 3, 4, 5 and 6. And honestly, they’ve become my favorite clubs. I chose it very quickly – now, again, in the wind, things can change a little. It’s hard to six a 6-wood or save or hybrid low, but I can hit it high and I can fly it a little bit.
“But only from hitting the ground. You know, I’ve always hit driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, pretty good, but I seem to hurt myself on most 4, 5, and 6 irons because you’re still going really, really hard. . Just tried these on and absolutely love them.”
Have there been any comments from friends?
“I wish I owned a company,” Couples said. “They’ve sold a lot of them, or people are using them. They are very easy to hit. And I say this loosely, but if I was 50, 55, I wish I had these. I’m a better 5- and 6-iron player with these than I’ve ever been.”
Back to the range moment, which was captured by the PGA Tour social media team on friday. Woods also offered a comment. Just five words over two sentences.
“Oh, you have six?” Woods asked after the Pairs count, laughing.
“Seriously.”
In the video, Couples then wanted to show him the benefits. He hit one. Couples said it was equal to a 5-iron.
Which drew another shot from Woods.
“Is that an 8 iron or a 5 iron?”
“>
