Simply line the driver up to the target, adjust the yardage range between 25 and 200 yards, and hit it straight every time. Swingless driver: If you've ever wondered what it would take to hit every fairway during a round - aside from using a wedge or putter off every tee - there is a club on the market that makes it virtually impossible to miss the short grass.ĭesigned for golfers who otherwise might not be able to make a conventional swing, the Swingless driver uses small powder charges, called power strips, and a firing pin to hit the ball without ever having to move the club. The metal power core that sits right behind the face claims to add 30-50 yards to each drive. Touted as the "longest, straightest and fastest driver of all time," Hamm's creation has a see-thru design that was intended to reduce drag and backspin. What we do know is the non-conforming club is one of the most recognized equipment oddities in the industry. Whether his drive makes it over the rocks - or travels 473 yards - is unknown. Spokesman and former long-drive champion Jack "The Hammer" Hamm is featured taking huge lashes with the driver while repeatedly yelling "Boom," as he attempts to take his tee shot over a rock outcropping. Hammer X driver: The infomercial alone makes the Hammer X a worthy addition to the list. It had a dot face design that was reminiscent of an old niblick, and a wide, “triple radius sole" that was meant to keep the club from digging too deeply into the turf or sand.Īlthough the wedge head was roughly the size of a modern-day 5-wood - something most manufacturers have never embraced - Simmons' anti-chunk sole remains an integral part of many recent wedge designs. (Ben Hogan was the other.) Norman’s stance was wider than most, his backswing shorter than most, but his quick-trigger swing produced laser-like accuracy.Īlien wedge: The Alien wedge has undergone numerous design changes over the years, but the original remains the gold standard for bizarre clubs.įormer minor league baseball player Pat Simmons came up with the odd-looking wedge one day in his basement. Moe Norman won more than 50 tournaments in Canada, and according to Tiger Woods was one of only two people ever to own his own swing. But it worked wonderfully, and was yet one more aspect of Palmer’s everyman appeal. He’s also the only man ever to shoot 59 and 58 on the PGA TOUR.Īrnold Palmer’s action was not so much rhythmic and free-flowing as it was herky-jerky and powerful, and with copious leaning on the follow through and even a modified helicopter finish. The loop in his swing makes Jim Furyk look like no one else, but he is fundamentally sound through the hitting area and bound for the World Golf Hall of Fame. Lee Trevino did a brief two-step dance with his feet before getting set, then brought the club back to the outside and back through the hitting area so consistently he’s been called one of the best ball-strikers ever.
Broadaway hits full shots cross-handed-very, very well. Not that unusual, you say? Maybe not, if the club is the putter. Josh Broadaway made it all the way to the Web.com Tour using a cross-handed grip. Even more impressive was that he did so using an anti-hook helicopter follow-through - a bizarre swing that he said “only a mother could love.” Jim Thorpe won 13 times on the PGA TOUR Champions. Raymond Floyd won the Masters with such a quirky move he liked to say to his critics, “It ain’t how it’s how many.” Floyd flipped the club back inside, brought it straight up, and delivered it down into the hitting area perfectly every time. Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey uses a 10-fingered “baseball” grip, bends down low at the waist, and has what Peter Kostis has called “a great home-built golf swing.” And with great results: Gainey shot a final-round 60 to win the 2012 McGladrey Classic. Barber told Golf Digest in 2007: “…after I loop the club to the inside on the downswing, I look like any other good player. X” Barber had a loopy, home-cooked move that made him stand out on PGA TOUR driving ranges. You can see those influences in his odd move that nonetheless yielded 11 PGA TOUR Champions victories. With the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in town this week at Austin Country Club, we’re putting our own spin on the slogan and keeping golf weird.Īllen Doyle didn’t start playing golf until he was 14, grooved his swing in a room with a low ceiling, and played hockey for Norwich University. Seventeen years ago, a librarian in Austin called a local radio station and uttered a phrase that eventually became a civic rallying cry of the quirky-cool college town in Texas.