Connect with us

Equipment

WRX Spotted: Sergio Garcia with prototype Callaway Apex MB Smoke irons

Published

on

Last week, at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, Sergio Garcia was spotted with some fresh new Callaway Apex MBs with a smoke finish. The specs appear to be the same as his previous set in chrome but with the obvious finish change.

Trends for black/smoke or raw irons seem to be cyclical with some players just like with the general consumers. We have seem a number of companies, from Callaway to Titleist, produce their most popular sets with a darker finish recently. With Callaway, the black irons are found in the Apex line (but not including the Apex MB), so maybe, just maybe, this is an indication that we could see a limited release down the line.

It wouldn’t be the first time Callaway has done a product for tour that was eventually released to the general public—remember the Triple Diamond Epic anyone? (How could you not?). It’s also not the first time Sergio has used an iron with a darker finish, because if you remember back to his days with TaylorMade, they did the second version RAC MB TP in a smoke finish that looked great (it’s also one the sets I regret selling to this day).

With Sergio Garcia currently sitting at 62nd in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, we should see these in the bag a few more times and potentially at the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta—if he can get his game on track.

Your Reaction?
  • 133
  • LEGIT15
  • WOW8
  • LOL7
  • IDHT1
  • FLOP6
  • OB3
  • SHANK32

Ryan Barath is a club-fitter & master club builder with more than 17 years of experience working with golfers of all skill levels, including PGA Tour players. He is the former Build Shop Manager & Social Media Coordinator for Modern Golf. He now works independently from his home shop and is a member of advisory panels to a select number of golf equipment manufacturers. You can find Ryan on Twitter and Instagram where he's always willing to chat golf, and share his passion for club building, course architecture and wedge grinding.

18 Comments

18 Comments

  1. 2putttom

    Aug 5, 2019 at 12:23 pm

    wow ! I’ve always liked the Callaway blade and finish looks great

  2. PGA

    Aug 4, 2019 at 1:34 pm

    Who cares, he’s finished anyway except acting like a child!

  3. Robert Coppersmith

    Aug 4, 2019 at 9:58 am

    Those babies will leave a real dent in his caddy’s athletic cup.

  4. Charles Panco

    Aug 4, 2019 at 6:56 am

    Can they survive smashing through a tee marker?

  5. Martin

    Aug 4, 2019 at 6:46 am

    Nice finish

  6. EinNM

    Aug 3, 2019 at 9:27 pm

    So now we know the next set of clubs Sergio will be throwing at his caddie.

  7. Mike B

    Aug 3, 2019 at 9:14 pm

    If Callaway wants to test their black finish, no better jacka$$ to do it. Maybe they are petulant child proof

  8. gery katona

    Aug 3, 2019 at 9:08 pm

    A blade is a blade is a blade, but those are stunning blades.

  9. JROC

    Aug 3, 2019 at 8:53 pm

    You’re telling me that Sergio Garcia is getting prototype anything at this point. Why have companies not dumped this fool and put as much distance between them as possible. He has run out of chances, we all know his true colors. No more passes

  10. Benny

    Aug 3, 2019 at 8:46 pm

    These are sick and I will try my best to get a set. Or even the raw heads. Love them all and have had this infatuation since 10 years ago with my first MB2 set.
    Thanks Callaway and Sergio. Now go win. I can only imagine how friggen hard it is to not snap clubs out there let alone want to take huge divots out of a green. You want to take a backhoe to that perfect place because you are so mad you could push a buttom tha launch an A-Bomb. Its golf, we all get there!

  11. Rich Douglas

    Aug 3, 2019 at 10:59 am

    I’d rather he kept his clubs and changed his attitude.

  12. Gunter Eisenberg

    Aug 3, 2019 at 9:39 am

    Even though a man-child is using these clubs, will it be in a more durable DBM finish like the black irons used by Matlby, Cobra, an Ben Hogan?

  13. Dave Maddux

    Aug 2, 2019 at 8:10 pm

    A list of other athletes who want to win and thrown tantrums on a regular basis…..and we didn’t care

    LeBron James
    Rafael Nadal
    Roger Clemens
    Draymond Green
    Bryce Harper
    John McEnroe
    OBJ
    Philip Rivers

    Like it or not, and I don’t agree with damaging tee boxes….Sergio just wants to win. BTW those black finished are perfection.

    • Rich Douglas

      Aug 3, 2019 at 11:00 am

      Interesting list. Which one of those guys spit in a hole? Oh, right. None of them.

    • JP

      Aug 4, 2019 at 9:26 am

      Which of those named are golfers?
      .
      Golf is not just a game but a noble sport where the blessings of good manners and behaviour can shape one’s character and social reform. A Gentleman’s Game played by Gentleman known as such because of the Art of Etiquette that grooms a ‘Man’.

    • JP

      Aug 4, 2019 at 12:59 pm

      Who on that list played the “Gentleman’s Game” professionally?

  14. Leave a reply

    Aug 2, 2019 at 6:30 pm

    Wooo Weee, big deal!! I hope he swings those irons around his neck and knocks some sense and sportsmanship into that thick head of his!

  15. James

    Aug 2, 2019 at 6:30 pm

    Such a rotten child does not deserve such pretty tools.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

Published

on

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.

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

Published

on

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.

Your Reaction?
  • 1
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

Equipment

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

Published

on

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.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

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

Your Reaction?
  • 33
  • LEGIT3
  • WOW1
  • LOL2
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK3

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending