Fred Couples smashes golf stigma with new club setup

Telltale signs of aging: gray hair, balky back, golf bag filled with hybrids.

These days, Fred Couples checks all those boxes. But even at 64, with a silver mane, assorted aches and pains, and a much slower swing speed than he once possessed, the famously laidback veteran retains his youthful spirit. And he’s not too proud to poke fun at himself.

A reminder came on Saturday morning, in a social media post from Pebble Beach, where Couples is playing in the Pure Insurance Championship, on the PGA Tour Champions. The snippet is vintage Couples: cool, collected, self-deprecating.

With a camera on him as he stands in the fairway of the par-4 8th hole, Couples is asked about the arsenal of woods and hybrids he now carries. Six altogether.

“Everyone keeps talking about ‘em,” he says of his newly configured setup. Other golfers might be embarrassed. Couples simply shrugs off the stigma. “I’m like, so I got my longest iron is a 7. Who cares?”

A former World No. 1, with 64 professional wins to his name, including the 1992 Masters, Couples was one of the game’s biggest hitters in his prime. Not for nothing was his nickname ‘Boom-boom.’ And, despite longstanding back problems, his languid swing still has some pop. 

But age drains distance from every golfer’s game, and, as Couples detailed at the Masters earlier this year, long- and mid-irons are also no good for his balky back. 

Informed by his caddie that he has 177 yards remaining to the green, Couples doesn’t hesitate in club selection.

“A little 6-rescue for the boys,” he says before flushing an approach that earns the approval of his playing partner, Jay Haas.

Instruction

“6?” Haas asks.

“6-rescue,” Couples replies. “Better than the 5. You know, I couldn’t hit that with a 6-iron. I’m not strong enough anymore. I hate to say that.”

He pauses. Grins.

“Very soft,” he says.

It’s a relatable moment for any golfer facing the ravages of time, delivered by a Hall-of-Famer who has long had an Everyman’s appeal. 

There are other charming tidbits in the post as well, including a semi-explanation for why he wipes his grips down with a towel before every shot (“It’s a bad habit,” he concedes), and a story about his former caddie, Joe La Cava, who used to rib Couples by telling him his game had “a lot of too’s.”

“Too weak. Too much rough,” Couples says. “How many balls you want to hit? Not too many.”

When Couples is at his easygoing best, fans can never get too much.