- 3 hours ago
During a recent episode of the @KickPointGolf show podcast, Joe Ferguson caught up with two-time DP World Tour winner and Ryder Cup hopeful Marco Penge about the clubs he uses to such devastating effect on the DP World Tour.
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00:00A special treat, we've got last week's winner with us, we've got Marco Penz.
00:02You look like a very happy man, am I right?
00:04You are indeed. Yeah, over the moon, on cloud nine, really.
00:08What a week for you, sort of life-changing stuff.
00:10We've got a few juniors here, so apologies for any of you coming in here.
00:13We've got a little bit of moving parts, but we're going to delve into your bag
00:16and see what propelled you to victory and what's been helping you play so well.
00:19So, Mizuno staff player, right? How long have you been with Mizuno?
00:22I think this is my fourth year now, so yeah, I've built a really nice relationship with them
00:26and, you know, they've been great since day one, really.
00:30Do you know, I mean, I'm going to chat to them about this separately,
00:32but as a very high-speed player, so you're sort of the top 1% of the 1%, right?
00:38Is it difficult for them and there's stuff they have to do differently for your equipment
00:41than some of the other players who don't have quite the speed?
00:44I think so. You know, my lofts and my irons are pretty strong.
00:49The shafts are kind of hard-stepped, kind of a lot of tweaking around.
00:53It's quite fine margins to get it right.
00:54So, yeah, all credit to them for my success, really.
00:57Are you someone who takes a lot of interest in the equipment side?
01:00Are you a bit of a gear guy or you kind of let them get on with it
01:02and you just play what you're told?
01:03I kind of let them get on with it.
01:05I obviously have my feelings and pretty self-aware of when something's not quite right.
01:11But, you know, they're the professionals at that,
01:13so I kind of stay out of the way and leave them to it.
01:15Good decision. Seems to be working well.
01:17So, we're an older driver.
01:18So, in the STX, now this, the 230 STX, this had like a slight draw bias to it,
01:26was sort of designed to help shape the ball a little bit.
01:28What's your thought?
01:28How did you end up here out of all the drivers we've tested?
01:30I think it's just, that's the first driver I had with Mizuno
01:34and it's just been great since I've had it really.
01:37Predominantly, you know, I shape the ball predominantly left to right off the tee,
01:41slowly trying to draw the ball more.
01:44But again, that's another place that's really tough for me with the speed.
01:48You know, I'm trying to, with my speed,
01:50keeping the spin down with a fade is quite key because I hit that shot a lot.
01:54But then when I've got that in a good place,
01:56it's then hard to turn the ball right to left.
01:58So, it's just finding the balance really.
02:01So, is that why, if you're predominantly left to right off the tee,
02:05and that seems to be your stock shot,
02:06is that why we've introduced mini driver further down?
02:08Is that something you can turn a really a bit easier?
02:09Yeah, it's something I can turn right to left with ease, yeah.
02:12You know, I can move, I can barely hit a cut with that mini driver.
02:16You know, it's kind of stock shot moves 10, 15 yards right to left,
02:19whereas a stock shot with driver moves 10, 15 yards left to right.
02:22So, I've got a nice little balance there between the two.
02:25And, you know, at times I'd like to be able to draw it with driver,
02:29but, you know, you can't whisper too much.
02:30You can't have everything, can you?
02:31So, shaft-wise, we're in quite meaty shafts.
02:34We're in Ventus.
02:35Is it Black T?
02:36Yeah, it is Black TR, 7X are quite heavy.
02:39So, again, matching up with your speeds,
02:41I guess you need stability here.
02:42Do you know stuff, do you take an interest
02:43in kind of how much they're tipped, things like that?
02:46Do you know that kind of stuff?
02:47Kind of leave it to the guys.
02:48Yeah, leave it to the guys.
02:49But just something very, very strong.
02:51Grip-wise, you're in a golf-fried, tall velvet.
02:53A couple of layers.
02:54Round, two layers of tape.
02:56Is that the same throughout the set?
02:57Same throughout, yeah.
02:57Always been the same?
02:58I used to be the multi-compound up until last year,
03:02then my hands were getting torn apart.
03:05I think it was multi-compound, the golf-
03:07A bit more cord, yeah, so just a bit rougher.
03:08I've gone to these just as, it's a bit easier on the hands.
03:11When you're practicing a lot, right, yeah.
03:13Okay, cool.
03:14So, down into MiniDriver.
03:14Now, this area of your bag,
03:15I was sort of looking at a bit earlier in the year,
03:18and it seems to be the one bit that sort of does chop and change a bit.
03:21You might have Mini, and I saw you with a more standard three at one point.
03:24I saw you at one tournament with just driver, one iron, two iron,
03:27so no fairway woods at all.
03:29Yeah.
03:29How does that sort of process formulate if you know what you're going to put in the bag?
03:34Does that change week to week, or do you feel like you're in a settled place now?
03:37I'm in a settled place now.
03:38The reason why it used to chop and change a lot is because I'm no good with a three-wood,
03:42to be honest.
03:44I've never had kind of confidence in hitting a three-wood off the tee,
03:47so I've been so confident with my two iron and my driver,
03:50it's kind of been a bit of a hole in my bag in a way.
03:52And, you know, I did a bit of experimenting with the MiniDriver,
03:55and it's been awesome since I've had it. So, yeah, it's filled a really nice gap in the bag.
04:01You know, it's in there to draw, basically.
04:04Do you hit it off the deck much, or is it more of a...?
04:05Yeah, it's pretty versatile in that way.
04:08You can hit different flights with it, the spin rate's really consistent.
04:12But like I said, it's mainly in the bag to move the ball right to left when I need to.
04:15So, I like to hit driver a lot. So, yeah, it only really comes out if the hole doesn't suit
04:22driver, really.
04:22We were discussing tactics for this week off camera, weren't we?
04:25The word full send was used a couple of times, so we could be there.
04:29Saint shaft, as in profile, as in driver, just going up in weight into the 8X Vented Black TR.
04:35So, again, really stable product. Nothing on the loft sleeve, just playing standard loft at 13.5.
04:40Cool. Then we go into this 2-on. I saw a couple of ludicrous shots
04:43last week in Denmark with this, driving par 4s with two irons over trees.
04:48How long has this been in, and what do you love about it?
04:50So, we've got the fly high in the black finish, hybrid shaft 10TX Vented Black.
04:55Yeah, I mean, before I was any good, I'd say I couldn't really hit the key to the ball on
05:04the planet in the past.
05:05So, this was like a big replacement for driver when driver wasn't behaving in my earlier days.
05:11Now it's, yeah, you know, I still use it when drivers misbehaving, but it's very, again,
05:18can hit different flights with it. I would never go away from having a two-iron in my bag. It's
05:23kind
05:23of quite a big asset of mine.
05:24I saw 173 ball speed off one of those shots.
05:28I said to my caddy after I hit it, I said, that's all I've got.
05:31Yeah.
05:31And then to see it after on video was pretty cool.
05:33It was actually quite cool, scrolling down the comments from people.
05:36That was a joke.
05:37Some people were saying it can't be 175, blah, blah, blah.
05:41It was, so.
05:43I was watching, I know it is.
05:44I'm absolutely certain it is.
05:46So, yeah, so moving then into the irons.
05:48I think you've got the best looking set of irons in the game today.
05:52So, you've got the Pro S3s from Mizuna.
05:55You've got a nice little bit of custom stamping on the toe.
05:57Yeah.
05:57And you said, shaft-wise, we're in the KBS V10 130.
06:02Hard step as well, right?
06:03Yeah, yeah.
06:04Just purely to cope with your speed.
06:05Keep the spin down, yeah.
06:06Spin's always been a big issue for me.
06:09I used to be, I actually, funnily enough, last week,
06:11I tweaked my loss two degrees weaker before the week.
06:15So, you're saying they were generally,
06:17they've generally been pretty strong.
06:18Three, four degrees strong.
06:19So, you've gone weaker, but you're still strong to standard, if you like.
06:22Yeah, still strong to standard.
06:24But yeah, it was quite a bold decision last week
06:26to weaken them.
06:28But I was seeing things in there that, you know,
06:31I was struggling to kind of hit a nice high tower and long iron.
06:35In the short, you know, pitching wedge nine iron
06:37was tough to take distance out of it.
06:40So, I had a little experiment, really.
06:42Last week for kind of next year playing in America
06:45was I'm trying to get ready for that, really,
06:48and keep the ball higher into the firmer greens.
06:50So, yeah.
06:52When you've gone as much as like three, four degrees strong,
06:54do you notice any difference in A, the offset?
06:58Because obviously, when you're taking loft off,
06:59you tend to put more offset on.
07:00B, you can take bounce off as well.
07:02Do you notice any difference in turf interaction,
07:04or have they kind of counter that?
07:05I used to use the blades, and that's the reason I went to these
07:09was because of the turf interaction.
07:10I was losing the bounce, especially with the stronger setup.
07:15Apparently, my irons are pretty offset already.
07:17I don't really have a...
07:18It's kind of what I see as standard.
07:33Yeah, yeah.
07:34Who does that come from then when you go,
07:36have you just decided to weaken them up?
07:37Is it you decided?
07:38You just saw some stuff and you took them on the track?
07:40Or do they monitor that with you?
07:41I think it could be a mix of both.
07:43But last week was more me saying to Joe at Mizuno that I said to him,
07:47look, I want to do some experimenting with making my lofts weaker.
07:52I've improved so much this year in terms of shots that I'm able to hit now.
07:56I can grip down it.
07:57I can take speed out of it.
07:58So, I don't have to fight spin as much as I used to.
08:02Before, everything used to be a bit flat out and just wasn't quite as good.
08:06So, I said to him, look, I want help from the irons to get the ball in the air.
08:12I can take fly out of it if I want to.
08:16So, yeah, we just made the gapping in the bag a lot more consistent, really.
08:21Kind of three, four degrees throughout rather than three in some areas
08:24and five, six degree gap in another area.
08:27It certainly seemed to pay off last week then.
08:29Into wedges.
08:29So, we go into Vokeys, SM10s.
08:32We've got 50, 56 and 60.
08:35So, we're in a fairly standard full sole F-grind in the 50.
08:38We've got the M-grind at 08 and 56.
08:40And the K-star grind, which we've seen a lot of,
08:42it looks like it's had a bit of extra work as well.
08:44What do you like to see in your wedges?
08:46And are you someone who kind of chops and changes wedges depending on course?
08:51And yeah, I change the 60 a lot.
08:52I use the K-star and the A-plus, I think it's called.
08:55I saw you tossing the A-plus out before we came home.
08:57I've had the back worn off a lot out of them both because I play everything pretty open.
09:02I'm not one that plays chips stacked like square face.
09:05So, I like to open the face up just fine when the ground gets too firm.
09:10I kind of get like a, I could fat it, but not from a leading edge, more from the back
09:14of the bounce.
09:15So, we've had that worn off.
09:18Yeah, and it's been a big improvement in my game.
09:22When, at what stage do you make the decisions?
09:24Obviously, we're on the practice ground here with a couple of lob wedges in the bag.
09:26You're presumably going out to play in a little while.
09:29Is it you're going to take them both out and hit a few shots around the greens with each and
09:31then?
09:32Or do you kind of, having played a few of these courses before,
09:35you kind of, I guess you've got an idea of what might be in?
09:37Yeah.
09:38Excuse me, I have a pretty rough idea from the off, really.
09:41It's not so much in the pitch and it's all about around the green for me.
09:44So, like I said, I play a lot of my wedge, my chip shots open face.
09:50A 56, I kind of turn into a 58-60 anyway.
09:54But as soon as I hit one or two chips, I kind of know
09:58whether I need something grinding down or whether I need the other kind of option.
10:01And that's more turf for you than sand or do you factor that in as well?
10:04More turf, but sand does come into it.
10:06But it depends, again, you know, how often do I think I'm going to be in a bunker around the
10:11greens?
10:12You know, how often am I going to be hitting off tight fairways?
10:15Is it mainly rough?
10:16So it's kind of weighing up the options of what the priority is.
10:20And shaft-wise in the wedges, so we've got 7.0 Project X in a love wedge.
10:27So a lot of people tend to go softer down the bag when they're taking speed off.
10:30Is that just a weight thing for you?
10:32Yeah, I think so.
10:33You know, again, I'll leave the lads to it.
10:35That's a wedge shaft in that one.
10:37The 50's got my iron shaft in.
10:39So 50's got iron shaft in.
10:41The 56 has got a wedge version of the Project X, 7.0 still in terms of flex.
10:47And the 60's just got a stock Project X 7.0.
10:50I mean, like I said, I don't know enough about it or it's kind of like,
10:56you know, my clubs would be the last thing to blame in a way.
10:58So it's kind of, unless I'm seeing something really strange, it's the majority of the time it's me.
11:06But yeah, like I said, the bounce on the wedges are the main thing in that area of the game.
11:11The irons for me is, you know, the leading edge again.
11:14Interaction with the turf, loss, spin rates being consistent.
11:17I'll probably do a bit of that today with the lads.
11:20I was a little bit unsure last week whether I took too much loft out of it.
11:24Or added too much loft, sorry.
11:27I just need them to clarify that to me.
11:29Cool. Interesting. And finally, onto putter.
11:31So I've seen you dabble in. I love this one.
11:33This is a bit of tour sauce.
11:34Yeah.
11:34I saw you, you've been in some more blade style putters.
11:37You switched over to a mallet style putter.
11:39So you've got the Scotty Cameron Circle TT 5.2.
11:44One little alignment line on the leading edge.
11:46Yeah.
11:46What do you love about this?
11:47Other than it keeps going in right now.
11:49Yeah, no, I love the top line really.
11:51The top line's a big one for me.
11:53You know, I was loving the blade. I was using the SuperRat, which is pretty cool.
11:57You know, a nice, good looking bit of kit and quite great with the SuperRat.
12:01But it had a line on the back and then a dot on top.
12:04Whereas this has got the line up on the top.
12:06So it sits flush with my line on the ball.
12:08So that's the main reason why I'm using that over the blade at the moment.
12:11But I'm one that can chop and change with my putter more from a comfort standpoint.
12:16And ball-wise, so someone who spins the ball an awful lot, do you try and control that with ball
12:21as well?
12:21Again, you know, last year, stronger irons, stronger loss.
12:25Was using the left dot.
12:27Everything was towards low launch, low spin.
12:30Made some technical changes with my coach this year.
12:33Able to hit more variety of shots.
12:36I'm kind of seeing myself go back.
12:39You know, now I'm in the 25V, which is similar to the left dot, but not as low launching.
12:44And then obviously again with the irons, making them weaker.
12:49Everything at the minute is kind of going towards spin.
12:51Yeah, so I think that's a good sign for me that I'm doing the right things.
12:55But predominantly as a high-speed player, spin is the issue majority of the time.
13:02It's just trying to find that balance.
13:04Just for me, you said something earlier about back when I wasn't very good.
13:07Yeah.
13:07And I've improved, like, I just want to know for me here, what does that look like?
13:12You said you've just made some technical changes.
13:13Yeah.
13:15So presumably some swing mechanics stuff.
13:17Then you said you're better at hitting partial shots now.
13:20Yeah.
13:20Is it just like the whole package?
13:21Did you, how did that come about?
13:23Did you sort of assess yourself and go, this isn't it.
13:25Yeah.
13:25Here's where I need to go.
13:26Yeah, you know, after I had a break, I sat down with my short game coach,
13:31who's now teaching me through everything, Alex Buckner.
13:35I said to him.
13:36You've mentioned Alex on the pod a couple of times.
13:37Great short game coach.
13:38Yeah, he's awesome.
13:39I said, you know, I felt like before this year, I was only kind of at 25% of my
13:43potential
13:44and something that was really bugging me.
13:47You know, I knew, I know I can hit grip down shots.
13:49I know I can hit knock down shots, but I couldn't do it consistently under pressure.
13:52And that's something that I wanted to, that I wasn't going to accept for this year.
13:57And we put tons of work in trying to gain them 1% and get good at everything.
14:03I don't want to be known to be this guy that just hits it far.
14:06I want to be known as an all-round player and that can win anywhere.
14:10So that's been the main goal, to be honest.
14:11It's been, everything's working towards that.
14:16So yeah, just more control, moving the ball left to right, right to left,
14:19bring the spin down, being good with my numbers in, you know, inside 150.
14:25I use the stats, Eduardo Molinari for stats of every week, sitting down, going through them.
14:30And yeah, it's just a massive work in progress, working environment, to be honest.
14:35And we spoke about my stats before last week about how inside 150, I don't hit it close enough.
14:44Okay.
14:45I hit, my proximity is pretty good, but I don't hit it close enough enough.
14:48Which I guess is pretty key for you because of the way you drive.
14:50Yeah.
14:50You're going to be inside that number.
14:52And then it's the opposite outside of 180, I short side myself too much.
14:56So we were kind of, game plan was kind of like doing the same misses with everything.
15:01It wasn't like going further away from the flag as we got further away.
15:05So last week we decided from 150 and in to go at the flags.
15:08And then outside of 170 to just hit the green or the fat side of the green.
15:13And that was our plan.
15:15And we did that really well last week.
15:17You did, yeah.
15:18Yeah, it's just all the work behind the scenes really is paying off.
15:22And it's really nice for my team to get that reward as well as me,
15:27because without them I wouldn't be where I am today.
15:30Mate, you're becoming one of the most popular players on the tour.
15:32People love watching you, people love clipping up your bombs and seeing that.
15:35It's been a great season so far.
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