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Sugarloaf Social Club + Don White = The most beautiful wedges ever?

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Sugarloaf Social Club is rolling out one of the most interesting limited-release club offerings you’ll ever see. If you’re unfamiliar with the good folks at SSC, a little background.

What was once, as the name suggests, a small group of likeminded friends has grown into a small-batch goods producing company. They’re the brilliant minds behind the Pimento Loafwich hat featured in our Masters gear guide.

Sugarloaf Social Club Pimento Loafwich

We’ll let Ian Gilley, creative maestro behind SSC’s efforts, tell it, as he does in the aptly titled “Hello, friends” section of the site.

“Sugarloaf Social Club is a small group of friends dedicated to economic, architectural, environmental, and socially sustainable golf initiatives. We were worried that—after a few years of living, playing, and talking—golf and the camaraderie would fail to continue after college. So, after having a day at the nearby Coore and Crenshaw course during our last week of classes at Sugarloaf Mountain, NLE, we formed our official group sealed with a scotch game and a few handshakes as a way to keep the fire alive.”

“Our most visible presence may be on Instagram, but what a lot of folks don’t see are the hours, days, weeks, and months devoted to talking and consulting with creative brands, superintendents, golf course architects, and fellow tastemakers, offering our thoughts on how to make golf a more exciting, interesting, and endurable landscape.”

Which brings us to Sugarloaf’s most recent, and ambitious, offering to date. Following successful collaborations with the likes of Imperial Headwear, Seamus Golf, Holderness & Bourne, and Bluegrass Fairway, Sugarloaf is joining forces with Don White (yes, that Don White) for a custom wedge offering that’s second to none.

Don White SSC

Discussing White’s immeasurable contribution to clubmaking, Gilley says

“His experience making clubs is really unmatched with decades at MacGregor during the height of that brand’s coolness. He made custom sets for the best players in the game – Nicklaus, Palmer, Norman, Crenshaw, Cook, Stricker, Weiskopf, Alcott, Azinger, Lehman, Lopez, Mize, Strange, along with countless of other professionals. This is a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

SMALL+DW+Wedges+for+SSC+(2+of+53)“More importantly, being able to bring Don White’s craft (which is nowadays a lost art), to entirely new generation of players, is an honor and a privilege. He’s one of the all-time greats of this game and preserving/adding to Don White’s legacy is what this project is about.”

DW+Wedges+for+SSC+(5+of+53)Once a wedge is purchased ($300), Sugarloaf will be in contact with an extensive custom fitting questionnaire. Patrick Boyd, former VP of Scratch Golf and President of Boyd Blade & Ferrule Co., will personally guide the process. Only 20 of these beauties will be produced per month.

DW+Wedges+for+SSC+(11+of+53)

Check out Sugarloaf’s website for all the details on these 1018 carbon steel masterpieces (and plenty more drool-inducing photos).

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9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Powder skier

    Sep 11, 2017 at 7:52 pm

    Beauties…wish I had the money lying around for a set of 3

  2. Mike

    Sep 11, 2017 at 3:49 am

    Too cool for school ……how much?

  3. Wally Kim

    Sep 10, 2017 at 8:03 am

    The hats on sale reminds me of caddy shack and Ted Knight.

  4. AW

    Sep 9, 2017 at 6:23 pm

    Beauty resides in the eye of the gearhead beholder who passionately declares “I luv it”!

  5. Miuralovechild

    Sep 9, 2017 at 6:07 pm

    Save your money and buy Kronus wedges! Forged in the USA and he can engrave anything on them.

    • neil

      Sep 11, 2017 at 8:13 am

      are they still going>not on iron factory website?

  6. rymail00

    Sep 9, 2017 at 5:54 pm

    Can’t lie this is pretty cool! Love my DW wedges!!

  7. Bert

    Sep 9, 2017 at 4:24 pm

    I like the club-head but the stamping looks cheap and tacky.

  8. Al

    Sep 9, 2017 at 3:33 pm

    Custom clubs are virginal and to be cherished and loved for many years of play…. until they are worn out and then discarded for a new gear.

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4

More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.

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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

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With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.

On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.

Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?

Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’

So that’s why I went back.

 

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OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?

It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.

Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.

It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.

Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.

Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.

So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?

Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play? 

Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.

There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.

It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.

Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.

And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?

Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’

If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’

My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’

I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”

And you’re going with it this week?

Hundred percent.

Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week. 

Thanks, man.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

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