19th Hole

WRX crib sheet: Highlights from Cobra’s Tour Rep talking Rickie Fowler’s clubs

Published

6 years ago

May 4, 2018

For the second installment of his Gear Dive podcast, our Johnny Wunder talked with Ben Schomin, Tour Operations Manager for Cobra-Puma Golf.

Schomin talked about his path to working on the Tour, and shared stories about building clubs for everyone from J.B. Holmes to Rickie Fowler, to Bryson DeChambeau, to Lexi Thompson, to the Great White Shark himself, Greg Norman.

While you should absolutely listen to the full pod, for those of you who are more textually inclined, here’s a crib sheet from an excellent “dive” into Cobra’s maestro of tour equipment’s work with longtime Cobra staffer, Rickie Fowler.

Schomin discussed the addition of tungsten plugs to Fowler’s iron heads.

–Fowler begins tweaking his equipment for the Masters around the beginning of the year. However, they’re constantly “making sure the wedges are dialed. Fowler puts a new lob wedge in play every six to eight weeks.”

–Fowler always puts a new lob wedge in play the tournament before a major so the grooves are sharp and he’s used to the club by the time the major begins.

–“Last year for the U.S. Open, on the Monday of…he ended up putting a Cobra Forged CB 2-iron in play.” Fowler had said the rough was so thick, he wouldn’t be able to hit his 5-wood out of it. He also felt because of the speed of the fairways, the club could function as a great driving iron.

–Regarding preparation, Schomin says, “As much as we do on the front end…months out, there’s still the chance, the possibility, that three days out, there may be something else we need to work on.”

–Fowler first switched to shorter lengths in his irons before going with shorter shafts in the rest of his clubs. This is the fifth or sixth season Fowler has played shorter-than-conventional-length irons.

–“How it came about: We were at Riviera, and we were sitting in the locker room, and he had mentioned…trying a shorter iron.” Fowler said he thought he might be able to control shorter clubs better and flight the ball lower more easily. “Being able to control the flight overall was what had him thinking.”

–“There are some inherent difficulties with shorter clubs…the weight needs to increase,” Schomin says. So he put a run of test clubs together for Fowler to try. Schomin used the same True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shaft in a number of 6-irons: straight in, soft-stepped, bringing weight to get it to D3, leaving at D0.

–They did a “blind taste test” at the Medalist. After extensive testing, Fowler narrowed the field to two clubs, and then picked one from there. The iron he picked is the same length he continues to play: X100 soft stepped, half an inch short. He went with D0 swingweight (although he has since changed to D3).

–“He ended up winning Wells Fargo with those irons, and he put them in the bag permanently. He played with that set the whole season. In the offseason, we were working on putting a new set of irons in play” at which point Fowler decided he wanted to go back to a heavier swingweight, which required adding six or seven grams to the head.

–They’ve essentially been making Fowler’s irons the same way since (adding tungsten plugs to the head). Cobra removes six to seven grams of steel from the iron’s head and fills it with 12 to 14 grams of tungsten.

–“It’s actually a really, really involved process,” Schomin says. The company has an in-house machinist who works on the irons, and it takes a whole day just to do a couple of irons. “It’s a pretty precise operation.”

–Schomin indicated there’s a set of irons for Fowler in the Tour truck. Rickie has one at home, and there’s one at Cobra HQ.

–A couple of years ago, Rickie was struggling with a 3-wood he had loved up until that point, he was like, “Dude, I gotta do something. I’ve lost confidence in my 3-wood.” At that time, Fowler’s 3-wood was 42.5 inches. After Fowler repeatedly pured a 42-inch 3-wood Schomin built for him, he put it in the bag immediately.

–With the 5-wood it’s the “same deal.” A 5-wood is typically 42-42.5 inches, but Scomin built Fowler a 40.5-inch 5-wood with added weight since Rickie wanted something between a 5-wood and a hybrid. “It’s a golf club that has a lot of utility.”

–Last year, prior to the Honda, Fowler spent Monday and Tuesday testing a shorter driver. “He was striping it…then he goes out and wins the golf tournament.”

Schomin talks about his work with Rickie Fowler from around the 18 minute mark to around 28 minutes in the podcast. As mentioned, he addresses his work with a number of other pros and talks about his route to building clubs for some of the game’s best players.

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19th Hole

‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage

Published

20 hours ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

Over the past year or so, PGA Tour star Patrick Cantlay has taken a great deal of criticism for his pace of play.

Now, Cantlay is once again under fire for a questionable decision he made on Sunday at the RBC Heritage.

After the horn sounded to suspend play due to darkness, Cantlay, who’s ball was in the fairway on the 18th hole, had a decision to make. With over 200 yards into the green and extreme winds working against the shot, conventional wisdom would be to wait until Monday morning to hit the shot.

On the other hand, if he could finish the hole, he may just want to get the event over with so he could get out of Hilton Head.

Curiously, Cantlay chose neither of those options. After hitting 3-wood into the green, and still coming up short, the former FedEx Cup champion chose to mark his ball and chip and putt on Monday morning.

Ian Woosnam, who was watching from home, took to X to give his thoughts on Cantlay’s decision making.

Can’t believe my eyes watching Patrick Cantlay why on earth would you hit your second shot then mark your ball absolutely crazy, maybe says a lot ?

— Ian Woosnam (@IWoosnam) April 22, 2024

Cantlay would end up getting up and down for par when play resumed at 8:00 am Monday morning.

Following his round, Cantlay explained his decision to wait to hit his third shot the next morning:

“I really did want to finish last night, so I felt like if I could get the ball up there maybe in an easier spot, maybe I would have finished, but as I got the ball up near the green, I realized it would be easier to finish this morning. That’s what I decided to do.”

GolfWRX has reached out to Patrick Cantlay’s management team for a response to Woosnam’s comments.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview

Published

21 hours ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.

TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.

Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.

However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.

Past Winners at TPC Louisiana

2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)

2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks

Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)

Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.

This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.

McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.

Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)

Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.

Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.

Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)

Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.

NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 LIV Adelaide betting preview: Cam Smith ready for big week down under

Published

21 hours ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.

For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.

The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.

The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.

*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*

Past Winners at LIV Adelaide

2023: Talor Gooch (-19)

Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami

Green in Regulation

Richard Bland
Jon Rahm
Paul Casey

Fairways Hit

Abraham Ancer
Graeme McDowell
Henrik Stenson

Driving Distance

Bryson DeChambeau
Joaquin Niemann
Dean Burmester

Putting

Cameron Smith
Louis Oosthuizen
Matt Jones

2024 LIV Adelaide Picks

Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)

When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.

At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.

The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.

Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)

Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.

In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.

For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.