Equipment
WRX Insider: Rafa Cabrera Bello swapped out his whole bag in less than 24 hours during U.S. Open Week
I have been covering the PGA Tour heavily for almost two years and obsessed with it for 25. I have never heard of anything like this, and at 2 under going into the weekend with rounds of 68 and 70, Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello may have the craziest equipment story of the year.
It’s not uncommon for a player to make a wedge change, metal wood tweak amongst a couple of other things on any tournament week—but a full bag fitting and immediately putting it all in play—on the week of a major? Unheard of in my travels.
Let’s just start with what Cabrera Bello showed up to Winged Foot with.
Driver: Titleist TS3 (8.5 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) *9.5 pictured from earlier in the year
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Yellow 75 6.5
3-wood: Titleist 915F (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X 10A2 100 7.0
5-wood: Titleist 915F (18 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X 10A2 100 7.0
Irons: Titleist 718MB (3-PW)
Shaft: Project XLZ 7.0 130
Wedges: Vokey SM7 Tour Chrome (48-10F, 54-08M, 60-04L)
Shaft: Project XLZ 7.0 130
Putter: Scotty Cameron Tour Rat GSS Newport 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
I had to get the inside scoop, so I chatted with Titleist Tour Rep J.J Van Wezenbeeck to find out how this crazy scenario came to be. This is nuts—especially before a major.
Here’s what he had to say
“Rafa has always liked a lower ‘European’ ball flight and very stable shafts and through the years we have used statistics to move his ball flight up slightly but he likes all his club heads to match and with stable feeling shafts – see 7.0 LZ and 10A2 fairway wood shafts.
“During TS launch Rafa realized his driver needed to come up and moved from 8.5 to 9.5 which increased lauch conditions substantially.
“During the 620/T100 iron launch we discovered his long irons could be better and moved to U500.
“The last few weeks Rafa has struggled and with his swing coach on site this week he realized he needed to go farther. The first look was testing LZ 6.5 in his irons. He had better directional control and increased spin slightly which was needed.
“He was so excited about the feel and results that he said “Let’s go! Show me woods!”
“He loved the look of the new driver and after some shaft testing saw Project X Hzurdus RDX Blue 60 increase ball speed, launch and carry. The RDX Black 80 in both fairways gave him the same feel through the set.
“This was all done Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning.”
The new setup is as follows
Driver: Titleist TSi3 (9.5 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS RDX Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Titleist TS3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS RDX Black 80 TX
5-wood: Titleist TS3 (18 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS RDX Black 80 TX
Irons: Titleist U500 (3,4) Titleist 620MB (5-9)
Shafts: Project X LZ 6.5
Wedges: Vokey SM8 (48-10F, 54-08M, 60-04L)
Shafts: Project X LZ 6.5
Putter: Scotty Cameron Tour Rat Newport 2
Ball: Titleist ProV1X
He’s in contention and will perhaps be in the final group with Bryson come tomorrow afternoon. As a total gearhead, this story warms my heart and soul like very few do. I’m quietly praying he gets it done this weekend. That would be one hell of a story.
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Whats in the Bag
Russell Henley WITB 2024 (March)
- Russell Henley WITB accurate as of the Cognizant Classic.
Driver: Titleist TSi3 (10 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 6.5 TX
3-wood: Titleist TS3 (16.5 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist TSi2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT Hybrid 100 TX
Irons: Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold AMT (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (7-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 50-08F @51, 54-10S, @55, 60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron T5 Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
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Whats in the Bag
Vince Carter WITB 2024 (March)
- The NBA legend was teeing it up in the Arnold Palmer Invitational Pro-Am.
Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K (9 degrees)
3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees)
7-wood: Ping G430 Max (21 degrees)
Irons: Ping i230 (4-PW)
Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 (50, 54, 58)
Putter: Ping
Ball: Renegade Mbu
Check out more photos of Vince Carter’s WITB here.
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Equipment
From the Forums: I need more forgiveness in my irons – Looking for recommendations
In our forums, our members have been discussing the most forgiving irons currently on the market. WRXer ‘TheShark1’ is on the hunt for a new set of irons, saying:
“Currently gaming the Mizuno Pro 225’s but think I need more forgiveness in my irons. My well struck shots are real nice, but my mishits are not performing as good as I had hoped anymore. I really like hollow body irons so if I could find something more forgiving in a hollow body iron that would be great.
Open to any and all recommendations other than Ping. Can’t hit Ping irons at all.”
And our members have been sharing their best suggestions in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- AvidSwampThing66: “Another vote for the super forgiving and fast Paradym irons. They look really good for being a GI iron.”
- bobfoster: “I just went from MP20 MMCs to the new 245s in my scoring irons (just played my first round with them today). If you have a chance to try them, you might find them worth a serious look.”
- vman: “Shoot me down, but spend the money on lessons.”
- J_Tizzle: “i525s are great off the heel in my opinion.”
Entire Thread: “From the Forums: I need more forgiveness in my irons – Looking for recommendations”
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RafaBrother
Sep 18, 2020 at 11:15 pm
I switched my whole bag out every month for the last 34 months. Went from a 2 HDCP to am 18. Here’s to next month!
Trevino
Sep 18, 2020 at 6:43 pm
Rafa was one of the few Pros who still used a full 3-PW in blades. Even he’s converted to getting help in that 3 and 4 iron… just shows the 3-PW bladed style iron is dying a slow death.
Greg V
Sep 18, 2020 at 5:09 pm
this brings to mind Jack Fleck putting new Hogan irons in the bag for the 1955 US Open, delivered by Ben Hogan himself.