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Spotted: New Titleist “TS2” and “TS3” drivers at the 2018 U.S. Open

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Titleist first went to market with its 917D2 and 917D3 drivers on October 21, 2016. Now, on Monday of the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, the company has announced its new TS2 and TS3 drivers — and we have in-hand photos of them here.

According to Titleist, the company is starting its “rigorous validation process.” Essentially, that means Tour players will begin testing, playing and providing feedback to Titleist on the new drivers and what tweaks need to be made before the company brings them to retail.

Of course, Jimmy Walker had already been spotted testing a Titleist TS3, but that was before Titleist made its big U.S. Open announcement. There had also been rumors swirling in our forums about the new driver for months.

Check out more photos of the drivers below, and see what GolfWRX Members are saying in our forums.

Titleist TS2 driver

See more photos of the TS2 driver here.

Titleist TS3 driver

See more photos of the TS3 driver here.

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34 Comments

34 Comments

  1. Michael Lee

    Jul 15, 2018 at 9:59 pm

    spotted *insert random new club*…. new club goes just as far and straight as 5 year old clubs! Manufacturers still want you to buy!!

  2. Kieron

    Jul 6, 2018 at 1:02 am

    Guess I’ll be sticking with my 910’s for now 🙂

  3. truth

    Jun 28, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    If this were a JDM release you guys would be posting “SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!”

  4. Chuck Barkley

    Jun 13, 2018 at 3:25 pm

    Damn near resembles that Wilson customer trap!

  5. Travis

    Jun 12, 2018 at 8:51 am

    Boy is this a step in the wrong direction… you know, there used to be a joke where people would say that instead buying new equipment, shouldn’t you spend that money on lessons? Well… the manufacturers are starting to make that really easy by just releasing ugly equipment!

  6. Jeff Martin

    Jun 11, 2018 at 5:32 pm

    I saw a thread in the junior forum that this was the US Kids Golf Tour Series TS3. Hilarious!!

  7. Joey5Picks

    Jun 11, 2018 at 4:11 pm

    Wouldn’t $400 be better spent on lessons?

    • Steve

      Jun 11, 2018 at 5:27 pm

      More like $500 in the recent trend. Cant afford a new drivers these days

  8. Steve

    Jun 11, 2018 at 3:48 pm

    Ts2 looks exatly like the Bridgestone J40 driver. Look it up and tell me what you guys think!

  9. Thomas Horonzy

    Jun 11, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    You want us to rave looking at a number on the sole? Show me how it look when holding it behind the ball, from the rear, front, and side.

    • James T

      Jun 15, 2018 at 9:21 am

      Show me what it does. I don’t care about how it looks.

  10. Kool Aid

    Jun 11, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    Looks like a component club that was made at Budget Golf in 1997

  11. Bushwood Caddie

    Jun 11, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    At least the removed the AAA battery!

  12. Dane

    Jun 11, 2018 at 11:09 am

    Kind of unfortunate looking clubs

  13. scott

    Jun 11, 2018 at 10:22 am

    I currentley play the 915 d2 and love it.The biggest change I see & most excited abput is the headcovers????. They finally decided to change them from the horrable ones that they have been using for years and were the biggest P.I.T.A. to put back on.

  14. dat

    Jun 11, 2018 at 9:52 am

    Looks like a JDM release, but it isn’t. Interesting.

  15. Pullhook

    Jun 11, 2018 at 9:21 am

    Well I guess it will be another two years before I get a new driver. Pick a line titleist, are you taylormade or the classic titleist I know and prefer. If ugly looks are a mainstay I might as well go to a competitor with better performance.

  16. juststeve

    Jun 11, 2018 at 9:08 am

    Unlike the rest of these guys I can’t intelligently comment on the product before I hit it

  17. Shawn Mcbride

    Jun 11, 2018 at 9:06 am

    Looks exactly the same as all their old drivers.

  18. Bingobango

    Jun 11, 2018 at 9:05 am

    Looks kinda cheap

  19. golfraven

    Jun 11, 2018 at 9:01 am

    Long awaited pics since I am in the market for the new Titleist driver. Intrigued why the ARC went away and why the TS2 has the traditiona weights from pre 917 models. Eager to test those once they hit my local Titleist fitting center. At this moment I would likely go with the TS3 since this looks like the D3 option

  20. Man

    Jun 11, 2018 at 8:45 am

    What happened to the ARC? Got chased by TM for patent infringement?

  21. Joe sponcia

    Jun 11, 2018 at 8:34 am

    Looks like an r9

  22. Jeffrey

    Jun 11, 2018 at 8:32 am

    No active recoil channel on either? TS2 a rebadged 913 and TS3 a rebadged 913 with 917 weights.

  23. BirdieBouy18

    Jun 11, 2018 at 8:26 am

    TS2 would be like Ping G400 MAX

    • HDTVMAN

      Jun 11, 2018 at 9:41 am

      Sorry but the Ping G400 Series, including the MAX, are the real deal…long and straight. I’m a fitter and have not suggested a Titleist driver for years. They are short on distance and forgiveness. With the exception of the new AP3, the AP1 & 2 irons leave a lot to be desired.

      • JJVas

        Jun 11, 2018 at 11:11 am

        If I played a driver on just looks and sound, it would be Titleist every time… but every time I put them against Cally and TM drivers, they come up last… and not by a little. Hopefully these are better.

  24. JB

    Jun 11, 2018 at 8:13 am

    wow i love it! FS3 looks like jt contains the surefit cg like the 917D (Thomas & Walker my guess would be using the FS3)… while the FS2 is more up the alley of the 915D weight placement and sole appearance (Speith i guess would be using something like the FS2)

  25. Wiger Toods

    Jun 11, 2018 at 8:11 am

    But why?

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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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