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| Don't let his quiet demeanor fool you, when it comes to golf Ernie Els sweats the small stuff. In fact, his attention to detail whenever he's on the course has catapulted the Big Easy to one of golf's most renowned players. When asked to describe a typical practice session he said: |
If I feel like I want to work on something… I might spend four or five hours a day hitting balls. At a tournament… I'll spend pretty much the whole day at the golf course, either playing a practice round, hitting balls, or working on my short game. [And] before a round, I do the same thing every time. I start off with the wedge - you know, just hitting a few gentle pitch shots. Then I basically work my way up through the bag to the driver. At the end of the session I'll usually wind down with a few easy pitch shots. Then I'll go hit some chips and putts on the putting green and after that head straight to the 1st tee. I'm ready to go.
| Not coincidentally, his pursuit of perfection inspired our prototype design. Ernie had this to say about the development process and the final result:
The Odyssey guys were very patient with me during the whole process. I made several minor tweaks but after many rounds of adjustments the putter had the perfect offset, and the butane finish made the sight line really pop, so the final result was a putter that I felt really confident standing over. I put it into play the first day I got it and ended up winning, so that just contributed even more to the confidence I was already feeling with it.
Every detail of Ernie's new White Hot XG #5 was precisely engineered to match his playing style - offset double-bend 35" shaft (no hosel), butane finish that highlights the sightline, and the new Tour Insert also found in the Black Series i and White Hot Tour Putters launching in 2008. All of which helped him to the award stand. More on his victory at the 2007 World Matchplay:
Before the afternoon round in my semi-final match against Henrik Stenson in the World Match Play last year, I spent pretty much my whole lunch break on the putting green. I'd putted really poorly in the morning round and needed to find something fast! Fortunately, it worked out well. I just leaned on to my left side a little more in my set-up and tried to make the stroke a little shorter; a little punchier, so to speak. As I said, it worked and straight away I found I had a much better roll on the ball. I putted great in the afternoon and that basically won me the match. |
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