Equipment
BGT launches all-new Stability Tour putter shaft
Breakthrough Golf Technology (BGT) hit a home run with the introduction of the original Stability Putter shaft. Now, to build on that success it is introducing the Stability Tour which offers the same massive boost in putter performance, with improved feel and looks.
Stability Shaft Technology Recap
The principle behind the BGT Stability Shaft is that by increasing the stiffness and reducing the torque of the putter shaft you reduce club head twisting and greatly increase putts made percentage, especially on mishits. Of course, using a higher MOI putter design helps with that, but there is still an inherent flaw—what happens when you’re using 2019 putter technology with 1950s steel shaft technology? Less than ideal results.
We featured the original BGT Stability on GolfWRX earlier this year when I had the chance to do a fitting with VP of R&D Blair Philip (BGT’s Stability putter shaft: Real numbers, real improvement). As someone with experience using the Quintic Putting fitting system and the information it produces, I was extremely impressed with the performance benefits the Stability Shaft offered me.
So where does the new Stability Tour improve vs the original Stability? By taking player feedback from the original and tweaking the design to offer the same technological advantage and putting it into a more player-preferred package.
The Tour Difference
As much as the original is loved by those who put it into play, the biggest deterrent that kept golfers from making the switch was the looks—and BGT took on the challenge to improve it!
The original Stability had a consistent diameter of .600″ all the way from the shaft transition adapter to the butt end. .600″ is the standard butt diameter for must shafts on the market including irons and driver shafts, but having the .600″ run the entire length makes the shaft appear oversized compared to standard putter shafts and creates a very noticeable transition from the graphite portion to the steel at the bottom.
The new Stability Tour has a slow consistent outside diameter taper from .600″ at the butt to just over .520″ at the tip, .080″ might not seem like a big difference, until you understand just how sensitive the human eye is to detecting measurements and recognizing parallel lines. This small change makes a huge difference to how the shaft appears at address.
With this change in the specs of the outside diameter, a lot of other things had to change on the inside too. The construction of the Original shaft and its four parts can be seen below:
The new Stability Tour uses 30 percent more graphite to reinforce the shaft and no longer uses the aluminum insert to create the extra rigidity. When talking with Blair Philip about the construction of the Stability Tour, the new shaft is actually stiffer and stronger than the previous versions but offers better feel, and here’s how
Graphite wall thickness: By increasing the wall thickness of the Tour, it reduces the acoustic vibration potential and makes it sound and feel softer. Think if a crash symbol vs a solid block of steel—it’s an extreme example but the symbol is going to be a lot louder when hit with the same force because it’s thinner and has the potential of vibrate more. You add in the inherent vibration dampening properties of the material (graphite) itself, and you have a shaft that sounds softer, feels better, and keeps the ball online more often.
Balance point: The other element for feel is the balance point of the shaft. The new Stability offers a balance point much more inline with a traditional steel shaft vs. the original Stability. This means that for players used to a specific weight feel (swing weight) of their putter before re-shafting, this can eliminate one variable for the converting player.
Per BGT: “It will balance like a steel shaft which makes it easy to recreate a specific swing weight when re-shafting. Better golfers can replace their steel shaft without changing the balance of the putter, which allows the most discerning players to achieve precise specifications on their equipment.”
When all of these changes are combined together into the new Stability Tour putter shaft, you get the same benefits of the original in a smaller, sleeker, player-preferred package.
For more information check out BGT’s Website: BreakThroughGolfTech.com, and you can see what our members are saying in the GolfWRX Member testing thread here: BGT Stability Tour, GolfWRX Member Testing Thread
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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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Martin Barrier
Nov 25, 2019 at 4:07 pm
Success, I am not sold on that and am in the golf business
Jamey
Nov 23, 2019 at 8:33 pm
Matt K sucks
JP
Nov 23, 2019 at 6:50 pm
A home run? I’ve only noticed ONE on tv. And the only one I’ve seen in person is on the used putter rack in a Ping B60 style head at Golf Galaxy right now. I rolled it and the whole putter just wasn’t for me and didn’t suit my eye, wrong length, wrong grip, etc… Maybe it is good, I’ll never know. But I don’t see how it was a “home run”…