As golfers, we all know the feeling where you just want to break all of the clubs in your bag. Well, PGA Tour winner and new True Spec Golf staffer Kevin Chappell hilariously revealed that he really did snap almost all of his clubs following a missed cut several years ago.
Spoiler alert: it didn’t go as smoothly as he hoped.
Recently, Chappell joined the Fully Equipped podcast to talk all things gear. On the podcast, Chappell went in-depth on why he signed with brand agnostic fitter and GOLF.com sister company True Spec Golf. He also revealed his unique fitting process, he explained his weird equipment superstition, and he told a hilarious club-breaking story.
As Chappell tells it, he was well outside the cutline at the 2018 Northern Trust with just a few holes to go in his second round. Already upset with his performance, Chappell added to his own frustration by butchering an easy shot coming down the stretch.
Chappell’s story starts at 43:40 in the full interview below.
Standing in the fairway with a wedge in his hand for his approach, Chappell says he was looking at the pin on the right side of the green. There was a tree guarding a direct shot at the pin, but there was a “30 percent” slope left of the green that fed golf balls down to the pin location. Therefore, all Chappell had to do was hit it anywhere left of the pin and the slope would bring it down to the hole. Anywhere left of the pin was good.
Chappell’s shot, however, took off right at the pin, narrowly missed the tree guarding the green, and his golf ball ended up right of the pin.
“That makes me so angry,” Chappell told his caddie after the shot. “That’s it, I’m going to break a club after every shot coming in.”
On the next hole, a short par-3, Chappell missed his target again. The pin was middle-right and Chappell says he hit it middle-left by accident. A nice shot when you’re protecting a lead, but not when you’re trying to make birdies to climb inside the cutline.
Since Chappell told his caddie he was going to break a club on every shot for the rest of the round, it must be club-breaking time after the poor shot, right? Well, not exactly. With his club in hand ready to break it, Chappell noticed a camera on him and he balked, as he said. He decided not to break the club and instead walked back to his bag with his caddie.
“What happened there?” Chappell’s caddie asked, wondering why he didn’t break the club like he said he would.
Chappell pointed out the camera, but his caddie still gave him some grief for not following through.
Fully Equipped: Kevin Chappell explains why he signed an equipment deal with a club fitter
With his clubs still fully intact upon finishing the round, Chappell knew he had to break his clubs in order to keep his word. The problem was, so much time had elapsed from when he actually wanted to break his clubs that it became difficult to execute.
“I start trying to break them, but I’m not mad anymore,” Chappell said, even though he did miss the cut. “I’m just going through the motions. So I’m struggling to break some of these clubs because I’m not even angry anymore. I’m trying to break them over my knee. Finally I get frustrated and don’t break three of them and I leave them in the trash can.”
So, Chappell broke all but three clubs in his bag and trashed them all. But that’s not even the best part of the story; there’s a surprise cameo from Matt Kuchar.
“I come to find out later Matt Kuchar saw [the unbroken clubs] in the trash can and he finished the deal for me,” Chappell said. “He broke the other three.”
Amazing.
The real lesson to be learned here is that if you’re so frustrated you want to break your clubs, just wait a few shots and maybe you won’t even be angry enough to break them anymore. You’ll probably thank yourself later, too, when you don’t have to replace your entire set.
To listen to the entire Fully Equipped interview with Chappell, check out the Spotify embed below!
