Equipment
WRX Spotted: LA Golf Shafts “Rebar” wedge shaft
Regarding a golf shaft: “It feels like a piece of rebar” is one of those phrases in the golf vernacular. In the case of LA Golf Shafts and its newest prototype being tested on tour, “being as stiff as a piece of rebar” is exactly what the company is going for.
To get the inside information on the new Rebar prototype, we reached out LA Golf Shafts Chief Product Officer John Oldenberg to find the out about the origin and development of the shaft
“The word “rebar” says it all. Our team did some testing with Bryson about a month back in San Diego with the Cobra folks on iron and wedges. At the time Bryson asked if we could make him a graphite shaft that was stiffer than the Dynamic Gold X7 that has been gaming. The answer to him was absolutely!”
This is the biggest misconception that many consumers still have about graphite—it’s not as strong or as stiff as steel, since when it was originally introduced the shafts were targeted as a softer, lighter alternative to steel.
Back to John
“I told Bryson that with graphite, I could make the shaft as stiff as rebar. He was intrigued and ask that we make him shafts to test that were as stiff as we possibly could. So that’s what we did, hence the working name ‘Rebar’. He tested a ‘Rebar’ 7 iron shaft at Cobra about 2 weeks ago and really liked it, and asked for some wedges to test.
“The shafts that he is testing now (that we spotted at the Safeway) are the ‘Rebar’ wedge shafts. They are at least a full flex stiffer than his X7’s and are a whole lot stiffer in the tip, while also being a bit lower in torque. So far the response from him has been very positive. Last I heard he had re-shafted his three wedges with the “Rebar” and was taking them out on the course for a practice round.
“If these shafts work, the plan is to work him into a full set of graphite by the end of the year.”
This is certainly an interesting development since currently there isn’t a single player in the top 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings who plays graphite iron shafts—and the only one in the top 50 right now (based on current bags) is Matt Kuchar. Designers have said for years graphite can be made stiffer and even more reliable than steel, and now we are slowly seeing these product developments make their way to the PGA Tour.
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Equipment
Why Rory McIlroy will likely use the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper at the RBC Heritage
Although we spotted Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper last week during practice rounds at the Masters, he ultimately didn’t decide to use the club in competition.
It seems that will change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage, played at the short-and-tight Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.
When asked on Wednesday following his morning Pro-Am if he’d be using the new, nostalgic BRNR Copper this week, McIlroy said, “I think so.”
“I like it,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday regarding the BRNR. “This would be a good week for it.”
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According to Adrian Rietveld, the Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, the BRNR Mini Driver can help McIlroy position himself properly off the tee at the tight layout.
Here’s what Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday:
“For someone like Rory, who’s that long at the top end of the bag, and then you put him on a course like Harbour Town, it’s tough off the tee. It’s tight into the greens, and you have to put yourself in position off the tee to have a shot into the green. It kind of reminds me of Valderrama in Spain, where you can be in the fairway and have no shot into the green.
“I’m caddying for Tommy [Fleetwood] this week, so I was walking the course last night and looking at a few things. There’s just such a small margin for error. You can be standing in the fairway at 300 yards and have a shot, but at 320 you don’t. So if you don’t hit a perfect shot, you could be stuck behind a tree. And then if you’re back at 280, it might be a really tough shot into the small greens.
“So for Rory [with the BRNR], it’s a nice course-specific golf club for him. He’s got both shots with it; he can move it right-to-left or left-to-right. And the main thing about this club has been the accuracy and the dispersion with it. I mean, it’s been amazing for Tommy.
“This was the first event Tommy used a BRNR last year, and I remember talking to him about it, and he said he couldn’t wait to play it at Augusta next year. And he just never took it out of the bag because he’s so comfortable with it, and hitting it off the deck.
“So you look at Rory, and you want to have the tools working to your advantage out here, and the driver could hand-cuff him a bit with all of the shots you’d have to manufacture.”
So, although McIlroy might not be making a permanent switch into the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper, he’s likely to switch into it this week.
His version is lofted at 13.5 degrees, and equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft.
See more photos of Rory testing the BRNR Mini here
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Equipment
Spotted: TaylorMade P-UDI driving iron
It seems like the RBC Heritage is full of new gear to be spotted, and you can add TaylorMade’s P-UDI utility irons to that list.
We spotted a 17-degree P-UDI 2-iron in Nick Dunlap’s bag yesterday, and now have some photos of both the 3- and 4-irons. Nick has his P-UDI 2-iron setup with a Project X HZRDUS Black 4th Gen 105g TX shaft.
From what we can tell, this new P-UDI utility iron looks to have some of the usual TaylorMade technology as we can see the Speed Slot on the sole of the club for additional face flexibility. A toe screw is usually used to close off the hollow body design that will probably be filled with a version of TaylorMade’s Speed Foam that is present in the current iron lineup. This hollow body, foam-filled design should offer additional ball speed, soft feel, and sound, as well as an optimized CG for ball flight.
“Forged” is etched into the hosel, so we can assume that either the face, body, or both are forged for a soft and responsive feel. The club looks good from behind and at address, where we can see just a little offset and a topline that I would consider medium thickness. We don’t have the full details on what is under the hood or how many loft options will be available yet.
TaylorMade P-UDI 3-iron – 20°
TaylorMade P-UDI 4-iron – 22°
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
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Whats in the Bag
Collin Morikawa WITB 2024 (April)
- Collin Morikawa what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage. More photos from the event here.
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX (45 inches)
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (4), P7MC (5-6), P730 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Mid 115 X100 (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (7-PW)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (50-SB09, 56-LB08), TaylorMade MG4 TW (60-TW11)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: TaylorMade TP Soto
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0
Grips: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
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Longus Hitterus
Sep 27, 2019 at 5:08 pm
I need this in a Driver. Thanks
Big Dawg
Fred
Sep 25, 2019 at 6:13 pm
Bryson is a brilliant idiot who will soon think himself out of golf.
Brent
Sep 26, 2019 at 12:13 am
Really Fred? He got to be a top 10 player on earth with multiple wins on the PGA tour, doing and thinking exactly how he does. But please, enlighten us what he should do differently with his equipment.
Scott
Sep 26, 2019 at 6:51 am
Says the guy who can’t break 80 from the forward tees.
Chris P. Bacon
Sep 26, 2019 at 7:32 am
Fred is the type of guy who uses iron covers.
Brent
Sep 27, 2019 at 11:29 pm
????????????
Brent
Sep 27, 2019 at 11:30 pm
@Chris Those were supposed to be laughing faces.
James Awad
Sep 25, 2019 at 3:36 pm
About 25 yrs ago, when graphite shaft innovations were finally yielding some good breakthroughs, one of my students, an engineer (of course) brought me an 8 page print out of all the computations he did and ‘proved’ rebar would be better than any steel or graphite shaft…(as long as you’re Iron Byron)
Kinda been done with wedges – see ‘Lobster Shaft’…
I’m in favor of really stiff wedge shafts, but very little tech is required for that 🙂