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Nike Golf signs Dave Stockton

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Nike Golf has signed short-game guru Dave Stockton to assist with its product development and design, particularly with the company’s putters.

Stockton has worked with several of golf’s best players on their putting in recent years, including Phil Mickelson and Nike’s own Rory McIlroy and Suzann Pettersen.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of what I believe is one of the most innovative brands in sports,” said Stockton.  “I look forward to sharing my putter insights with Nike engineers so they can continue to create amazing product that help golfers putt better.”

Stockton currently runs Stockton Golf — a golf instruction program — with his two sons, Ron and Dave, Jr. Stockton. He was previously associated with TaylorMade, where he also assisted with product development and design.

Stockton was known as one of the best putters on the PGA Tour during his professional golf career, which started in 1964. He won 11 Tour events, including two PGA Championships (1970 and 1976).

In 1991, he joined the Champions Tour, where he won 14 events including three majors. Stockton was also a part of three winning U.S. Ryder Cup teams — in 1971, 1977 and in 1991 as a captain.

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11 Comments

11 Comments

  1. chris

    Aug 22, 2013 at 12:42 am

    dave stockton is an amazing putter and coach. he will do great things for nike’s putters and would not have signed with nike if they had not assured him a decent level of control/influence over their putter development.

    dude knows what he is talking about. i was fortunate enough to have a couple hour session with him, his son and laurie hammer this summer and it has helped my putting immensely. if you ever have the chance to chat with him or get a lesson, jump on it.

  2. Deacon Blues

    Aug 21, 2013 at 5:27 pm

    Lucas Glover won the 2009 US Open with a Method just a few weeks before Cink won at Turnberry.

    I think Suzann Pettersen also uses a Method, though I don’t think they had come out yet when she won her only major (the 2007 LPGA Championship).

  3. Todd

    Aug 21, 2013 at 12:10 pm

    Tiger seems to be the only guy on staff that can use that Method Putter. I bet they bail on that and start making a Stockton brand of milled putters similar to Scotty Cameron. Seems like the other guys who play these Methods either don’t like it (Rory switching) or can’t hit the broad side of a barn (Stanley, Watney, Noh)

    • Blaise

      Aug 21, 2013 at 3:03 pm

      I like the idea of the stockton brand from nike, but they seem like to stubborn of a company. they thought they hit it big with this method, problem is it isn’t working for anyone. has anyone won a major with it? maybe Schwartzel did but he isn’t known for his putting either. I know when majors roll around tiger putts like he’s fresh out of that scandal.

      • GGG

        Aug 21, 2013 at 4:15 pm

        Cink won the British with the Method and Shwartzel won the masters, correct. I think the method line is phenomenal to be honest, its nike though and has a hard time selling. But you are right, If tiger or rory put a few of them together, they might sell..maybe too late.

    • Mark

      Aug 22, 2013 at 5:21 pm

      It’s not the putter Todd, The biggest difference that these players have experienced since switching to Nike is definitely the golf ball. Tiger still uses the Tour D and these guys are all using the 20XI. ProV1 to 20XI is a radical change. I think the Method line of putters is one of the best putters on the market today, but the same cannot be said about their golf balls (or wedges for that matter).

      • Kyle

        Aug 22, 2013 at 8:32 pm

        Their wedges are unreal. Way better than vokeys. My opinion of course but don’t say Nike’s wedges aren’t good because they are one of the best, no doubt.

        • cj

          Aug 25, 2013 at 10:27 am

          I’ve tried their wedges on a demo day once at my local course and i have to say their great for attacking pins from afar but are terrible when used around the green but other than that i’m a pure nike head and also i love my method core it always has a good forward roll and a nice soft feel to it. i chose the core over the milled one because of feel the core just felt better to me.

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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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Equipment

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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