Zach Johnson
Titleist Vokey Design Wedges
2007
Cold, dry, windy conditions and a toughened up Augusta National measuring a stout 7,445 yards, made for a rather dull 2007 Masters. But the eventual winner, 31-year-old Iowa native Zach Johnson, put on a master class in course management.
Johnson didn’t go for any par-5 in two, relying instead on his dialled-in Vokey Design wedges to knock his approach shots stiff. Johnson ended up playing the par 5s in a cumulative 11-under par and finished the tournament at 289 (one-over), a score that tied the highest winning total in Masters history. As Stuart Appleby put it, “Zach chipped his way around. He neutralized us with smart play and good putting.” Yawn-inducing it may have been, but certainly it reconfirmed what all these pros have been telling us over the years: work on your short game!
Bubba Watson
PING Tour-W Wedge
2012
What’s most remarkable about Bubba Watson’s second shot on the second play-off hole of last year’s Masters (the par-4, 10th) was what it looked like from above. The Florida southpaw’s ball was on pine straw in the right trees. With 155 yards left to the pin and an opening under the branches, the big hitter pulled his PING Tour-W wedge and hit a screaming hook that somehow turned 90 degrees to the right. When it landed on the green, it kicked right at another ninety degree angle, thus looking like a bit like the letter “C” from the aerial camera. Watson two-putted for par, defeating Louis Oosthuizen who pulled off a miracle shot of his own earlier in the day [see sidebar].
Later the 33-year-old jokingly described his shot as “pretty easy.” There was nothing easy about it. It was a testament to both his shot-making skills and how far equipment has come in the past decade. Wedges, after all, were never made to fly 155 yards and hook like that.
