In a concession to misplaced distance, the longest membership {Couples} carries is a 7-iron.
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Telltale indicators of growing older: grey hair, balky again, golf bag full of hybrids.
Lately, Fred {Couples} checks all these containers. However even at 64, with a silver mane, assorted aches and pains, and a a lot slower swing velocity than he as soon as possessed, the famously laidback veteran retains his youthful spirit. And he’s not too proud to poke enjoyable at himself.
A reminder got here on Saturday morning, in a social media put up from Pebble Seaside, the place {Couples} is enjoying within the Pure Insurance coverage Championship, on the Champions Tour. The snippet is classic {Couples}: cool, collected, self-depreciating.
With a digicam on him as he stands within the fairway of the par-4 eighth gap, {Couples} is requested concerning the arsenal of woods and hybrids he now carries. Six altogether.
“Everybody retains speaking about ‘em,” he says of his newly configured setup. Different golfers is likely to be embarrassed. {Couples} merely shrugs off the stigma. “I’m like, so I obtained my longest iron is a seven. Who cares?”
A former World No. 1, with 64 skilled wins to his identify, together with the 1992 Masters, {Couples} was one of many recreation’s greatest hitters in his prime. Not for nothing was his nickname ‘Growth-boom.’ And, regardless of longstanding again issues, his languid swing nonetheless has some pop.
However age drains distance from each golfer’s recreation.
Knowledgeable by his caddie that he has 177 yards remaining to the inexperienced, {Couples} doesn’t hesitate in membership choice.
“Slightly 6-rescue for the boys,” he says earlier than flushing an strategy that earns the approval of his enjoying companion, Jay Haas.
Fred {Couples}’ fast tip for improved tempo? It options ‘dancing’
“6?” Haas asks.
“6-rescue,” {Couples} replies. “Higher than the 5. You recognize, I couldn’t hit that with a 6-iron. I’m not sturdy sufficient anymore. I hate to say that.”
He pauses. Grins.
“Very delicate,” he says.
It’s a relatable second for any golfer dealing with the ravages of time, delivered by a Corridor-of-Famer who has lengthy had an Everyman’s enchantment.
There are different charming tidbits within the put up as properly, together with a semi-explanation for why he wipes his grips down with a towel earlier than each shot (“It’s a foul behavior,” he concedes), and a narrative about his former caddie, Joe La Cava, who used to rib {Couples} by telling him his recreation had “a variety of too’s.”
“’Too weak. An excessive amount of tough,’” Couple says. “What number of balls you wish to hit? Not too many.”
When {Couples} is at his easygoing greatest, followers can by no means get an excessive amount of.
