St. Petersburg Times Online: Business

Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

What's in the bag? John Huston

Times Staff
Published October 29, 2003

CLUBS: Golf rules stipulate that a player can carry 14 clubs. Huston has a Callaway driver and 3-wood, an Orlimar 4-wood, 3-PW TaylorMade, a Cleveland sand wedge and lob wedge and a TaylorMade Rossa putter.

BALLS: Huston plays Maxfli golf balls. He typically has two sleeves in the bag during each round and brings one with him from the locker room. He's obviously confident. Only nine golf balls!

TOWELS AND GLOVES: Huston uses a new Maxfli Revolution golf glove each day, and keeps two to three spare ones in the bag. His caddie brings a towel but puts an extra one in the bag if rain is on the horizon.

UMBRELLA AND RAIN SUIT: These are always in the bag, with very few exceptions.

MEDICINE: A bottle of Advil is in there, just in case. So are a few bandages.

SNACKS: An occasional energy bar makes its way into the golf bag, but they usually are available at various tee boxes.

RULE BOOK: Although he rarely refers to it, Huston keeps one just in case.

YARDAGE BOOK: This is the job of caddie Brian Smith, who carries a yardage book for each course and takes meticulous notes so Huston can refer to previous years and situations. It does not, however, stay in the bag.

Golf Club manufacturers consider it validation when PGA Tour players use their equipment. In fact, the information is so important to them that it is tracked each week. A representative of a survey company actually counts what brands are in play at each tournament. Here is a snapshot of a recent weekend on the PGA Tour, when just about everyone was in action at two tournaments, the American Express Championship and the Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

American Express

Drivers: TaylorMade 29, Titleist 16, Callaway 11

Fairway Woods: TaylorMade 44, Callaway 30, Titleist 14

Irons: TaylorMade 15, Cleveland 10, Titleist 10

Wedges: Cleveland 52, TaylorMade 29, Titleist 64

Putters: Titleist 29, Odyssey 16, TaylorMade 7

Farm Bureau

Drivers: TaylorMade 52, Callaway 33, Titleist 21

Fairway Woods: TaylorMade 90, Callaway 66, Sonartec 20

Irons: TaylorMade 25, Cleveland 24, Titleist 18

Wedges: Cleveland 115, Titleist 98, TaylorMade 52

Putters: Titleist 46, TaylorMade 26, Odyssey 19

© Copyright, St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.