Greg Moore (GolfWRX)One of the coolest parts about being a professional golfer is all the gear you get. Prototypes, new drivers every few months, and possibly a professional meet with Scotty Cameron himself to customize your own green tool, it doesn't suck to be a pro.

But occasionally you'll see golfers using something very, very old school. We all remember the story of Jim Furyk and the $39 putter he bought himself out a grab-bag and used to win the FedEx Cup, but above is what Brian Gay is using for a hybrid this week at Doral.

The 2013 Humana Challenge winner is using an old-school TaylorMade hybrid that looks like it has been on one too many cross-country flights. How is it working for him? Not bad, as he currently sits T-24 at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

The picture above came from a great Golf Digest gallery of random pro's golf clubs. You can check out the other pictures right here.

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Phil Mickelson is a polarizing athlete. A lot of fans love him, some can't stand him, but no matter your love or hate for the guy it's simply exciting to see a guy play the game of golf with absolutely no fear.

On Thursday at Doral, Mickelson hit his drive on the 17th hole an easy 450-yards (sure, he got some help from the cart path, but still) and was right of the green on the par-4 sitting on the path. Did he take a drop like most everyone does in that situation? No, of course not, and he still made a birdie.

Mickelson talked after his round about the shot, and I don't even want to spoil it because it's so good. From the moment the shot came up you can hear the excitement in the voice of Mickelson, letting the average golfer know that "you'd have to be an idiot to open the club face" and "the ball is going to come out five yards longer than normal."

It's an incredible moment of television and it really makes you appreciate Phil Mickelson as a professional golfer. A regular golfer

Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods — Getty ImagesUsually the matchup between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy is closer than this. The top two golfers in the world have been paired together before, and occasionally Tiger will get the best of Rory or McIlroy will play a touch better than Woods.

But this week's WGC-Cadillac Championship had all the makings of being a different affair for the two, and it played out just like that on Thursday at the Blue Monster. Tiger was in complete control of his golf game, making nine birdies on a day where the hole seemed twice as big for most of the elite field taking on Doral. Woods opened with a 6-under 66 while McIlroy continued to struggle with his golf game.

[Related: Apology won't fix Rory McIlroy's poor golf game]

Tiger has always been comfortable at Doral, and seemed as fluid with his golf swing as we've seen him since Torrey Pines. Woods opened with a par on the par-5 10th, made birdies on Nos. 11 & 12 before back-to-back bogeys brought him back to even par. It was the 16th hole that really

We've all been frustrated on the golf course, that's nothing new (and one of the reasons so many "club repairmen" have made a modest living over the years). But no regular golfer has cameras following us around all the time for a television show that is hoping to improve our respective golf games.

Michael Phelps does, and on "The Haney Project" he let his frustrations fly, literally.

The Olympic hero tossed his driver while playing in the Dunhill Links, and as Hank Haney put it, "that wasn't even a good attempt at being mad."

Now my uncle has taught me plenty of things on the golf course, so I figured I'd share them with Mr. Phelps in case he ever wants to toss another golf club (which I'm sure he will).

[Also: Tiger Woods in complete control in first round at Doral]

Rule No. 1 - Never toss the club vertically. That's a rule we ALL know so well. The easiest way to break a club is by flinging it end-over-end. You always want to throw your clubs like a helicopter's propeller, that way

NikeWelcome to Devil Ball's Proving Ground, where we put the latest golf gear through its paces. Today, we look at the Nike VR_S Covert driver.

Tester — Shane Bacon — Handicap: +1.8

Target Golf Audience — All handicaps

Initial thoughts

Occasionally when I'm first looking at a new driver I put it through the "Dad Test." I ask myself, "would my dad think this club is cool" or "would he put this in his bag" or "is it too much for someone older that is used to more traditional equipment". For the Nike VR_S Covert, the dad test was answered before I even received Nike's latest driver in the mail. My dad called and said he wanted one. He loved the red crown with the simple, non-distracting Swoosh on the head. He had seen the commercials and was convinced this was the "driver to have in 2013" and after opening the box from Nike he might not be that far off.

You're initial reaction is, "Wow." The driver is so. good. looking. The color is mesmerizing to the eyes, and that's saying something

You've heard of walk-off home runs, and buzzer beaters in basketball. We've seen field goals to win Super Bowls and goals to take home the World Cup, but few times do we see golfers actually take a full swing and end of a golf tournament right then and there.

That's what happened in 2004 at the then Ford Championship at Doral. Craig Parry was in a playoff with Scott Verplank and the two were playing the 18th hole when Parry sent his second shot from 176 yards directly at the pin.

The ball never left the pin, landed just short and trickled in for the eagle and the win. That moment at Doral would be the last time Parry stood in the winner's circle at a PGA Tour event but that sure is a nice way to go out.

Tiger Woods — Getty ImagesYou might not know a ton about Michael Thompson, last week's winner of the Honda Classic, but he seems like a good kid with a solid career ahead of him. What you probably didn't know is Thompson has been instructed by the same person, Susie Meyers, for 14 years.

According to an ESPN report after Thompson's win, Meyers and the 27-year-old PGA Tour pro were working on things with his swing, trying to figure out the best approach to make Thompson the best he could be and for some reason dropped this bit of knowledge about, of all people, Tiger Woods.

"Our goal is to have a new fresh beginning every shot, every tournament and see what we can do with it," Meyers told ESPN. "We got sucked into that consistent thing when Tiger was having his long run of great golf and we thought that it was possible to do that. But what we found out was that Tiger lost his soul to do that and it's just not worth it."

Yep, you read that correctly; Meyers said Tiger Woods lost his soul to be the best golfer in

Charl Schwartzel — Getty ImagesThis year I was coerced by a hockey writing friend of mine to do a weekly one-and-done golf pool that allows you to pick one golfer, never to use them again in 2013. Since I'm doing it for fun (and DEFINITELY not for money, no way, no how), I figured I'd post my weekly picks here, with who I've already used under it and my record for the year, and against the others in the pool. We're calling this Darts in the Dark.

WGC-Cadillac Championship pick: Charl Schwartzel

A smart man would put all his chips on Matt Kuchar this week. A shining record in the past at Doral, a win just two weeks ago at the Accenture and probably the best playing American in the world right now, Kuchar is the safe pick. But this game isn't just about picking the best players, it's about strategy, and I'm in desperate need of something good to happen.

Sure, taking Schwartzel isn't pulling some no-name out of the hat, but I think people are looking past the former Masters champion who has two top-nine finishes