mgranato
New
The facts in this discussion are being mixed and matched to fit a certain point of view and bias against Phil and/or Pelz.
He opened the tournament with 4 wedges, NOT 5. He opted for the 5th wedge on Friday because he said he didn't need the 3 iron as it was setup. He replaced the 3 iron with a gap wedge. Pelz teaches a 4 wedge system not a 5 wedge system. Phil says he carries 5 wedges to every tournament and decides what to use based on the course setup. Keep in mind that these aren't 5 clubs used inside 100-110 yards, he hits the PW 150+ yards. Most golfers have 8,9,PW,SW,LW for 150 and in - that's still 5 clubs. Whether they are labeled "irons" or "wedges", they are still used to cover the scoring distances. He has won using 5 wedges, so it's not something new for him (not like that jacked-up "3" wood).
IIRC, he didn't hit more than 6 fairways on either of the first 3 days. At a US Open, that alone makes strategy and set make-up pretty much a mute point. He simply didn't put the ball in play enough to have the scoring opportunities, and that one's not on his number of wedges or his short game coach.
When playing with Tiger, Phil has a tendency to get in a "long driving contest" mentality (especially at Torrey). He probably wanted to help remove that temptation by not carrying a driver, and if he hit it in the fairway, he probably wouldn't have been hurt too bad by it. But with his self-destructive stubborn tendencies (and with those comments from the likes of Dotty Pepper), he probably had a hair to show everyone that he could top Tiger's "no driver Open win" with his own "no driver US Open win".
Regardless of the reasons, he had the final say on how he felt he should play this setup. While I'm sure he discussed it with Butch and Pelz, I think it's a safe bet to say Phil made the decision to put whatever in his bag. It's a naive cop-out to blame his performance/decisions/shot selections/club choices on anyone other than the guy with 34 wins and 3 majors.
He opened the tournament with 4 wedges, NOT 5. He opted for the 5th wedge on Friday because he said he didn't need the 3 iron as it was setup. He replaced the 3 iron with a gap wedge. Pelz teaches a 4 wedge system not a 5 wedge system. Phil says he carries 5 wedges to every tournament and decides what to use based on the course setup. Keep in mind that these aren't 5 clubs used inside 100-110 yards, he hits the PW 150+ yards. Most golfers have 8,9,PW,SW,LW for 150 and in - that's still 5 clubs. Whether they are labeled "irons" or "wedges", they are still used to cover the scoring distances. He has won using 5 wedges, so it's not something new for him (not like that jacked-up "3" wood).
IIRC, he didn't hit more than 6 fairways on either of the first 3 days. At a US Open, that alone makes strategy and set make-up pretty much a mute point. He simply didn't put the ball in play enough to have the scoring opportunities, and that one's not on his number of wedges or his short game coach.
When playing with Tiger, Phil has a tendency to get in a "long driving contest" mentality (especially at Torrey). He probably wanted to help remove that temptation by not carrying a driver, and if he hit it in the fairway, he probably wouldn't have been hurt too bad by it. But with his self-destructive stubborn tendencies (and with those comments from the likes of Dotty Pepper), he probably had a hair to show everyone that he could top Tiger's "no driver Open win" with his own "no driver US Open win".
Regardless of the reasons, he had the final say on how he felt he should play this setup. While I'm sure he discussed it with Butch and Pelz, I think it's a safe bet to say Phil made the decision to put whatever in his bag. It's a naive cop-out to blame his performance/decisions/shot selections/club choices on anyone other than the guy with 34 wins and 3 majors.
