Vertical Groove Driver Wins: Kenny Perry, John Daly and 3 mystery men

Vertical Groove drivers could be the next hot piece of equipment for senior players – Kenny Perry and John Daly are winning with them.

Shhhhh! They can’t talk about it, but Vertical Groove let us know without saying it that Kenny Perry, who just won the U.S. Senior Open, used a Vertical Groove Driver. The reason they can’t say that is because Perry is not under contract.

John Daly, who won at Insperity in May, is under contract to the company, and so is Rocco Mediate.

However, according to a story in the Salem News, it was known that Perry was using the driver before he won with it.

Then, after the victory, in a press release announcing that the U.S. Senior Open winner used the club, the headline was “Vertical Groove Golf Captures First Major Championship as Winner of The U.S. Senior Open Uses The World’s Only Vertical Groove Driver.” Cumbersome, but you get the point.

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The release noted that three additional unnamed players used the Vertical Groove club in the championship.

We had no other information. Time for sleuthing.

Managing Partner of Vertical Groove Golf, Rubin Hanan, said in the same Salem News article that Perry added five yards to his drives, that Mediate gained 12 yards and that Daly added eight yards and had fewer mishits.

So, who are Nos. 4,5, and 6? It’s the closest we have to a third mystery in golf this season, trailing the Phil Mickelson/ Jim Mackay split and the Lee Westwood/ Chubby Chandler split.

That leaves three mystery men playing the club. That’s as of last week. This week, however, there’s another senior major, the Senior Players. If someone should win using the club, we will certainly get additional insight.

The way these new club things work is as follows: First one golfer signs with the company, as Mediate did. Then Daly. Then, amazingly, Daly won for the first time in 13 years. Now other golfers who might not have won in a while say to themselves, ‘Hey, I can beat John Daly. It must be the club. I better have one.”

Then the steamroller begins to move. At the Insperity, there were five players using the Vertical Groove Driver, Daly, Mediate, Perry and two others, according to the company. By the time of the U.S. Senior Open, it was six.

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This week? We don’t know yet. Essentially the only way to find out who the rest of them are is to go to a tournament with binoculars and wait until a guy takes the headcover off his driver. Or else wait for another press release to show up without a winner’s name, but saying he used the club in the victory.

Naturally, Vertical Groove is elated.

Jeff Barry, CEO, Vertical Groove Golf, said in the release about Perry’s victory,

"It’s been an incredible 6-months for Vertical Groove Golf with two victories, including a Major Championship. This is only the beginning as the best players in the world continue to reap the benefits of vertical groove technology, as they are driving the ball longer and more consistently off the tee."

So, if you are over 50 and looking to change to a new driver, maybe this kind of result means it’s time for you to go vertical.

Next: Top 50 golfers of the Tiger Woods era

Even if you are under 50. What the heck. Two out of six golfers winning with it last two months? Maybe it’s worth a look.

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