Golfer Playing With Wooden Clubs He Made Himself In Contention For Tour Card At Q School

Todd Dempsey golfer

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Todd Demsey is far from a household name, as the golfer who was roommates with Phil Mickelson at Arizona State arguably peaked in college after winning an individual NCAA Championship in 1993. He did spend some time on the PGA Tour after graduating, but he’s only earned around $300,000 over the course of a pro career that was hampered by injuries.

With that said, Demsey has still been able to leverage his love of the game into what seems to be a fairly enjoyable existence.

There’s nothing particularly unique about his decision to pivot a bit by charging for lessons and other coaching services. However, the same can’t be said about the fairly unconventional side hustle that’s allowed him to carve out a solid niche for himself, as he has spent years perfecting the art of crafting custom drivers, putters, and other old-school clubs made of persimmon wood.

While persimmon drivers and woods were once viewed as the gold standard for golfers in the early and mid-20th century, they understandably fell out of fashion after the metal heads that revolutionized the long game were introduced in the 1970s. You only need to take a quick glance at a chart documenting the rise in average driving distance over the decades to understand why that’s the case, as it would be foolish for any pro golfer to not take advantage of the many advances that have been made.

However, that didn’t stop Dempsey from deploying a very bold strategy when he decided he would try to earn his PGA Tour Champions card at the Q School tournament that kicked off at TPC Scottsdale on Tuesday. The 50-year-old headed down to Arizona with a bag full of wooden clubs he made himself, and when play wrapped up on Thursday, he was tied for 13th after posting a total score of -7 over the course of three rounds.

It seems like his chances of actually qualifying for the Champions circuit are fairly slim. In order to secure a card, Demsey would need to sneak into the top five by the time the final round of the tournament wraps up on Friday, which is no small task when you consider Fran Quinn currently leads at -13 and is trailed by four golfers who sit all at -12.

Watching him defy those odds would be one hell of a story, but the fact that he’s even in contention while playing with wooden golf clubs in 2022 is still incredibly impressive on its own.

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Connor Toole is the Deputy Editor at BroBible. He is a New England native who went to Boston College and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Frequently described as "freakishly tall," he once used his 6'10" frame to sneak in the NBA Draft and convince people he was a member of the Utah Jazz.