Davis Love III is one of the few players on the PGA Tour who still remembers the dinosaur days of persimmon drivers and metal cleats. To say that Love longs for return to those days might be a bit of stretch, but not by much.
Davis Love III
“I’d rather we go back to wooden drivers,” Love said only half-joking today at the McGladrey Classic near his home in Sea Island, Ga. “I’d still have an advantage.
“But no, I think, you know, when we all had wooden drivers and metal spikes …. that’s what was the best stuff and now we’re all playing with the same stuff. I think the length…., it’s amazing to me that everybody is long. I think that might may have hurt me a little bit.”
Remember when he first came on the scene more than 25 years ago, Love was one of the longest hitters on the Tour.
“I wasn’t necessarily always the longest but I was longer than most everybody else and now everybody I play,” seems longer, Love said. “I play with Keegan Bradley. It’s unbelievable. You don’t consider him a long hitter, but he bombs it; and and then you play Camilo Villegas every once in a while and he will outdrive me about 20 or 30 yards.
“My long drives are still long. I’m not as long every drive – they’re not all smashed out there. But when I hit a good one and then somebody hits it ‑‑ Bubba (Watson) hit it 40 yards by me on hole. I hit a 6‑iron into the par‑5 and he hit a 9‑iron.”
