Equipment
Mickelson using an RBZ 3 wood in China
Many GolfWRXers speculated that Mickelson was playing a 3 wood of some sort with a slot on the bottom at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China. While the club appeared to be a black-painted TaylorMade RBZ fairway wood, the photos were inconclusive, leading to theories that the 3 wood was actually using a soon-to-be-released Callaway product.
We’ve learned that Mickelson is indeed using an RBZ 3 wood in China, albeit a heavily modified one. It is bent 11.5 degree and includes a lighter-than-normal shaft for Mickelson as well as a lot of lead tape to lower the center of gravity.
Not Mickelson’s, but an example of a black-painted RBZ
How do we know? Frequent GolfWRX poster and Callaway Senior Vice President of Marketing Harry Arnett confirmed it in the forums. Read his post in its entirety below, in which Arnett rewards a GolfWRX member for discerning from photos that Mickelson was using an RBZ 3 wood with a prize, and provides other members with a dozen HexBlackTour golf balls.
Click here to read the thread in its entirety.
Callaway_HarryA:
“First of all, these guesses here were awesome. And I am going to make our R&D and product guys read this thread because there were some killer ideas/concepts you guys threw out. Should have known that the dark knights of club ho-edness could come up with some cool stuff.
Here’s the answer, and I think it will surprise many of you. But like I said when we jumped into this and as part of our mission to be a “different” company, a new company, we are going to do things differently and be more straight shooting and transparent.
About two weeks ago, Phil said that the HSBC at Mission Hills isn’t a course where he can hit driver at all. He doubted he would hit driver on any of the holes. He wanted to play a high COR fairway wood there because he wanted a club that went farther than his current 3 wood but not as far as his driver. He knows we have one coming and he asked to play one of our prototypes. Unfortunately we are not ready to launch this product yet and didn’t have the right lofts in left-handed for him. Our primary interest is supporting our players at all times so we told him to play whatever he wanted until he thinks we have the best possible product for him which we believe we will have imminently. This is pretty much standard operating procedure for us. Not well known to many is that Phil has one of the most flexible equipment contracts of any top player and has played other equipment from time to time during his relationship with us, and is well within his right to do so.
That, gentlemen, in Phil’s hands, is a modified RBZ 13 degree, bent to 11.5, “driving 3-wood.” Phil painted her up matte black because he thought that looked cool, put in a lighter shaft than normal so he could actually launch it in the air, and put a crap load of lead tape on the bottom of it to move the CG location so it could actually get up in the air. Result? He has a mini driver that’s good for 290 [yards] off the tee, right between his current 280 3 wood gamer and his 305 driver. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Phil Mickelson, the Crowned Prince of this Forum and club junkies everywhere.
SethPistol gets the win. Seth, HashtagChad will be reaching out to you to pick/claim your prize.
Everyone else who played? Since nobody’s a loser with the new Callaway, we’re going to send you all a dozen HexBlackTour golf balls. HashtagChad will DM you for your address.
Thanks for playing. Tip your waitresses on the way out….
ps: we have a product coming that will instantly replace this FrankenFairway in his bag…”
Click here to read the thread in its entirety.
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- Alex Fitzpatrick what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 7 X
Hybrid: Ping G430 (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 10 TX
Irons: Ping iCrossover (2), Titleist T100 (4-PW)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 9 TX (2), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (50-12F, 56-12D, 60-08M)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X
Putter: Bettinardi SS16 Dass
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Alex Fitzpatrick’s clubs here.
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In our forums, our members have been discussing Mini-Drivers and accompanying shafts. WRXer ‘JamesFisher1990’ is about to purchase a BRNR Mini and is torn on what shaft weight to use, and our members have been sharing their thoughts and set ups in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- PARETO: “New BRNR at 13.5. Took it over to TXG (Club Champ but TXG will always rule) in Calgary for a fit. Took the head down to 12, stuck in a Graphite Design AD at 3 wood length and 60g. Presto- numbers that rivaled my G430Max but with waaaaay tighter dispersion. Win.”
- driveandputtmachine: “Still playing a MIni 300. The head was only 208, so I ordered a heavier weight and play it at 3 wood length. I am playing a Ventus Red 70. I play 70 grams in my fairways. I use it mainly to hit draws off the tee. When I combine me, a driver, and trying to hit a draw it does not work out well most of the time. So the MIni is for that. As an aside, I have not hit the newest BRNR, but the previous model wasn’t great off the deck. The 300 Mini is very good off the deck.”
- JAM01: “Ok, just put the BRNR in the bag along side a QI10 max and a QI10 3 wood. A load of top end redundancy. But, I have several holes at my two home courses where the flight and accuracy of the mini driver helps immensely. Mine is stock Proforce 65 at 13.5, I could see a heavier shaft, but to normal flex, as a nice alternative.”
Entire Thread: “What’s the perfect Mini-Driver/Shaft combo? – GolfWRXers discuss”
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At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for an Artisan 0521 custom putter
From the seller: (@Nobody2): “$775 -Artisan 0521 custom putter PVD (black finish) with sweep neck hosel. There are no personal stampings other than my player # in very small print on the side of the hosel (all Artisan products have this along with the date it was made). This putter looks absolutely amazing and has only been used for 3 rounds. It has a black steel shaft and has a very Cam Smith look to it. The putter looks new and has no wear marks anywhere on the putter. It comes with extra weights (one set of of 5 gram weights and one set of 15 gram weights). The head cover is a a navy blue ‘quilted blade putter cover.’ If you are wondering why I am selling…I flat out have the yips and the only thing saving me is a broomstick. New, this putter is $1085, so if the specs work for you (grip, length and lie can certainly be tweaked) it will save you some good money and 2 month wait time.
Specs:
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Artisan 0521 custom putter
This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules
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Mike Kotter
Aug 11, 2013 at 3:01 am
Actually, looking at my friend’s pic of Phil’s bag it appears to say X HOT or HOT X and it didn’t look lime green on the back of the head it looked Denver Broncos orange. Which is my only doubt that it’s a RZR. I think personally the RBZ 3 wood is the best club I have ever hit. It jumps off the face well, unlike anything else I have hit. Better than the R1 in my opinion.
Mike Kotter
Aug 11, 2013 at 2:46 am
I looked in Phil’s bag at the PGA Championship at Oakhill In Rochester during the 1st round. In fact it was on hole 2 & I swear he has a Calloway RZR 3-wood. I have the TM-RBZ driver, 3 wood, & 5 wood. I understand that last year he hit the TM-RBZ but as of Aug 8, 2013 he is swinging a RZR. I had plenty of drinks before He tee’d off that day but I was right behind Bones when I saw it in his bag. Is this thread old news & if so could you point me in the direction of the most current info? Whatever he is hitting, if it is the new RZR 3 wood bent to 11.5 he is hitting it well. I’m sure it was the same club he hit at Muirfield because he didn’t have driver in his bag. I beg everyone their pardon if I am wrong on this. I don’t think I am breaking any news here but I have yet to find any info newer than this message board as of yet.
Blopar
Dec 22, 2012 at 11:36 am
You must be blind Petter!
Petter
Dec 18, 2012 at 1:42 am
Why is he using a right handed club…?
Vint
Dec 3, 2012 at 8:50 pm
I would love to know how and where he put the lead tape. The club is so light I couldn’t feel the clubhead. I tried adding tape into the recessed part of the sole to no avail. After 3 layers of tape I had to put it away.
MJ
Dec 2, 2012 at 11:18 pm
Callaway: “Do you really have to use RBZ?”
Phil: “I can paint it black.”
Lee H.
Nov 20, 2012 at 3:31 pm
11.5 Deg Fairway Food…
Exotics just released the XCG6 line of Drivers and Fairway woods. They do, in fact, have a 11.5 degree fairway wood. I hit it a week or so ago at a local golf shop. Great feel to it. This could in fact replace my current Driver later next year if I still struggle with a new Driver I am getting.
phil04
Nov 6, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Why would Phil not use this magic Rocketballz 3 wood bent to 11.5 deg in the majors in 2013.? His contract is fluid with Callaway, and 290 yards in the fairway works everytime !
tlmck
Nov 4, 2012 at 2:39 am
I would buy a 10.5 or 11.5 degree 3 wood and ditch my driver if available. I have never quite gotten used to the 460cc driver heads. With the right shaft, I could probably hit it as far as the driver.
Derick
Nov 2, 2012 at 8:22 pm
I couldn’t post since I’m a new member to this site. I knew Lefty wasn’t using a new callaway Fairway wood, since Callaway hasn’t released them yet. It looked alot like a RBZ 3wood all taped up to counter the weight and to get alot of loft to get it in the air farther for Lefty…