The real power in golf: Manufacturers bullying even stars like Vijay Singh

This may be hard to believe, but those PGA Tour stars you see on your television there might be using a driver they hate.

“There’s so many new drivers coming out, manufacturers want you to use their latest driver,” Vijay Singh told Jennifer Gardner of the Tour Van newsletter. “So that’s been always a battle. You get comfortable with one driver and then they come up with a new model and that’s what they are promoting, that’s what you’ve got to use.”

Singh and Jerry Kelly said Cleveland asked them to use its HiBore. They did and they hated it, as well as other Cleveland staffers. The whiz kids at Cleveland re-designed it, and Singh won the Mercedes-Benz Championship with it.

According to Singh, all the players are at the mercy of their manufacturers, even if the club makers come up with a dud.

“It happens with everybody,” Singh said. “I think every guy out there is in the same situation. No matter who you look at, they have their manufacturer’s top driver. They will have to try it out unless they cannot use it and they go back to what they are used to, and I’ve done that in the past. That’s not what the manufacturers want. Unless it’s not in the contract, then you have to use what they want you to use.”