Equipment
Davis Love III was still using a persimmon driver in 1997?!
The revolution of metal drivers was happening quickly in the early-to-mid 1990’s, but Davis Love III was set on sticking with his Cleveland Classic Oil Hardened RC85 persimmon driver. He wasn’t oblivious to the emerging technology, though. He knew exactly what he was doing, and why.
“The Cleveland has been in my bag since 1985,” Love III wrote in his 1997 book, “Every Shot I Take.” “It was given to me by a good friend, Bob Spence. I experiment with metal drivers often; I find – for me, and not necessarily for you – they go marginally longer than my wooden driver, but they don’t give me any shape. I find it more difficult to create shape to my drives off the metal face, which is important to me. …I also love the sound my ball makes as it comes off the persimmon insert of my driver.
“I’m no technophobe,” he added. “My fairway ‘woods’ have metal heads … but when it comes to my old wooden driver, I guess the only thing I can really say is that I enjoy golf more with it, and I think I play better with it…golf is somehow more pleasing to me when played with a driver made of wood.”
Although his book came out in 1997, Love III switched out his persimmon driver for a Titleist 975D titanium driver in the same year.
It was the end of an era.
During Love III’s 12-year-run with the persimmon driver, though, he piled on four wins in the year of 1992, including the Kmart Greater Greensboro Open — now known as the Wyndham Championship.
Love III, who’s captaining the 2022 Presidents Cup United States team next month at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., is playing in the 2022 Wyndham Championship in nearby Greensboro. In celebration, we took a look back in the archives to see what clubs Love III used for his win in 1992 for an article on PGATOUR.com. We discovered he was using a Cleveland Classic persimmon driver, in addition to a nostalgic equipment setup.
In our latest Two Guys Talking Golf podcast episode, equipment aficionado and co-host Brian Knudson, and myself (GolfWRX tour reporter Andrew Tursky), discuss Love III’s late switch to a metal-made driver, and why he may have stuck with a wooden persimmon driver for so long.
Check out the full podcast below in the SoundCloud embed, or listen on Apple Music here. For more information on Love III’s 1992 setup versus his 2022 WITB, click here.
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- Stephen Stallings’ WITB accurate as of the ISCO Championship.
Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6 X
4-wood: Titleist TSi2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 70 TX
Irons: Srixon ZX Utility (3), Srixon ZX7 Mk II (5-PW)
Wedges: Cleveland RTX6 ZipCore (50-10 MID, 54-10 MID, 60-10 MID)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: TaylorMade Spider X
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Stephen Stallings’ WITB in the forums.
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- Adrien Saddier what’s in the bag accurate as of the ISCO Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Mizuno ST-Z 230 (9.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 70 TX
3-wood: Mizuno ST-Z 230 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
Hybrid: Mizuno ST-Z (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 9 TX
Irons: Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi (1), Mizuno Pro 243 (3, 4), Mizuno Pro 241 (5-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 9 TX (1), KBS Tour-V 130 (3-9)
Wedges: Mizuno T24 (46-08S), Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (50, 56-08M), WedgeWorks (60-A)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Putter: L.A.B. Golf DF3
Grips: Golf Pride MCC, Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Check out more in-hand photos of Adrien Saddier’s clubs here.
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This week on the Three Swing Challenge, we have the Edel Array F-2 putter. With the Array line of putters, Edel gives golfers several different options to match their putting styles and tendencies. It is a cool concept, but let’s see how it performs.
Why three swings?
Many years ago, the legendary Barney Adams, founder of Adams Golf told us this:
“My formula as a fitter was three shots only. I discounted No. 1 just because it was the first one, counted 100 percent of No. 2 and discounted No. 3 because the player was starting to adjust.”
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Edward
Aug 8, 2022 at 5:20 pm
Who would win on the pro tour if players were only allowed woods, forged blades, and balata balls? Tiger.
Rich
Aug 9, 2022 at 9:02 am
I think the PGA should be like MLB. Standard clubs and balls. Tiger would win.
Hi my name is Davis
Aug 8, 2022 at 9:06 am
Love the turd
Garry Flanders
Aug 8, 2022 at 8:46 am
This guy says its a 6.5 975D in ’97 https://www.instagram.com/p/CZQooODsU-B/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Tom Newsted
Aug 8, 2022 at 8:23 am
I think thats pretty cool. I remember when the metal woods first hit and many players like Davis Love III, Fred Couples and many others said they wouldnt switch. After the Big Bertha and the Yonnex driver they all started to move over to them. Cobra had a great driver for a little while. This Tiger kid used it in 97 to win some tournament in Georgia.
The truth
Aug 6, 2022 at 5:17 pm
Kuch sucks…
Dustin
Aug 6, 2022 at 11:23 am
Remember when he spearheaded the fact the Ryder cup was not being paid. The event was making over $20,000,000 and the PGA tour was reaping the $. What if I told you the tour spends over $100m just off top level brass? Non profit?
Hollabachgt
Aug 5, 2022 at 9:10 pm
Pretty sure Davis changed from Persimmon to a 976R. The same for Leonard. Who started the 1997 season with Persimmon, but by the Open was playing a 976R.
chip75
Aug 5, 2022 at 6:33 pm
If I remember Davis used a persimmon to a record 380+ yards drive during his first few years on tour. The 975D was a huge gamechanger. After that it was the widespread adoption of a solid-ball (Pro V1).
Snoozer
Aug 5, 2022 at 5:26 pm
Snore