Upon its inception as a sporting pastime, golf was a weird little activity that required people to hit a small feathery ball with a stick shaped like a gardening tool. If that concept wasn’t odd enough, the sticks – or clubs – golfers used had names like “niblick”, “mashie” and “spoon”. Personally, I don’t know how anyone ever managed back in the day.
True, the game hasn’t changed much over the years. Golfers still chase little white balls around extravagant acreage with ugly clubs made of space-aged materials. The clubs’ names have been streamlined a bit, of course, now sporting names like “driver”, “irons” and “wedges”. Numerical symbols have also been stamped on the soles of the modern golf club, making club selection simpler.
Thanks to a few creative minds on the PGA Tour and the equipment side of the game, however, club nicknames might be making a huge comeback.
Over recent years, touring pros like Hunter Mahan and Rickie Fowler have added a little flare to their clubs for reasons unbeknownst to us. Mahan prefers to stamp his “jersey number” (95) on his wedges while Fowler engraves everything from his favorite song titles to nonsensical names like “Mongoose” and “Go Time” (his Twitter battle cry).
According to Golf Magazine, Tour player Luke List is even getting in on the club nickname game these days… but to an extreme level. List has worked with Callaway Golf to remove the number markings from his new RAZR X irons and replace them with phrases like “Fireball”, “Rack’Em” and “’Merica”.
Professionals aren’t the only golfers who can get in on the nickname action. B9N’s very own Greg Hopkins offers a line of fully customizable wedges that can be personalized to the taste of amateur golfers. Options include a wide range of colors, stamps and engravings to make your wedge stand out above the rest.
Web.com Tour player and B9N ambassador Johnny DelPrete even took the initiative to blur the lines between sports by having a set of wedges bearing the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals name on one and “Who Dey” on another.
While I doubt all club manufacturers will turn to offering nickname-only markings on their products anytime soon, it will be interesting to see what other ideas begin popping up in golf bags around the globe.
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