Equipment
Wie trusts iron game, lucky ball marker in U.S. Open win
Being a favorite to win a major championship, like Michelle Wie was this week at the U.S. Women’s Open Pinehurst No. 2, is usually more of a curse than a blessing.
It was especially daunting this week because of the USGA’s decision to play the tournament the week after the U.S. Men’s Open… on the same course. That brought more eyes to this women’s professional golf tournament than any in recent memory, making it all-the-more impressive that the 24-year-old was able to accomplish golf’s toughest feat.
Many expected her to win and she did.
Pinehurst’s greens were firm, fast and repelled everything but the best-struck iron shots. That was a huge advantage for Wie, who is one of the few women on the LPGA Tour who has enough swing speed and skill to play muscleback irons (7-PW) and slightly more forgiving forged cavity-back middle irons (5, 6).
She has her 6-foot-1-inch frame and David Leadbetter-approved mechanics to thank for that, and she hit towering cut shots into Pinehurst’s turtleback greens that — unlike most of her competitors — stopped pretty much where they landed. That helped her hit 50 of 72 greens this week, about 11 more than the field’s average.
Click here to see photos of all the clubs Wie used to win the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open.
Wie also averaged 263.5 yards off the tee this week, which doesn’t sound that impressive until you consider her conservative style. In her closing nine holes she hit only one driver off the tee, opting to use her 13-degree Nike Covert 2.0 Tour fairway wood for most of her tee shots.
Those who know a little something about golf equipment also know that most LPGA Tour players don’t often use fairway woods with so little loft. They’re tough to elevate and even tougher to stop on the green. That’s why Wie said she uses the club mostly as slightly shorter, straighter option than her driver, but it’s what she said next that’s more impressive.
“I hardly ever have a shot into a green that’s more than 250 yards, so I don’t really ever have to hit it off the ground,” Wie said.
Why not have two driving clubs then?
And of course there’s Wie’s putting, which most golf analysts have targeted as her weakness and the reason why she hasn’t won the dozens of tournaments they expected from the golf prodigy when she was barely a teenager. It was the best club in her bag this week, though, which might have to do with something she picked up in her home state of Hawaii.
In April, she grabbed her third LPGA Tour victory at the Lotte Championship in Hawaii, but also picked up a ball marker adorned with the Hawaiian state flag. She hadn’t used it since then, but she used it to mark her ball this week. The results? No three putts and the most clutch putting performance of her career.
Could a lucky ball marker really have helped Wie win this week? A better question is this: What happens when one of the LPGA Tour’s best ball strikers starts putting better and feels more confident about her game?
That’s the funny thing about luck. Winners tend to have it; losers don’t.
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- Patrick Reed what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G400 (8.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125 MSI 70 Tour X
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125MSI 80 Tour X
Hybrid: Callaway Apex Pro (18 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila RIP Phenom Hybrid 100 TX
Irons: Titleist 716 TMB (2), Grindworks PR-202 (4), Grindworks PR-101A (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (50-10 Mid), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56-08M @55), SM10 (60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey White Hot RX Pt Customs No. 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
More photos of Patrick Reed’s WITB in the forums.
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Welcome to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
In the last two PGA Championships held at Valhalla, Tiger Woods won in 2000 – when he famously pointed his golf ball into the hole during the historic duel with Bob May – and Rory McIlroy won the 2014 event, basically in the dark on the final hole.
The point is, history shows that Valhalla tends to produce top-tier champions and plenty of drama.
This week at the 2024 PGA Championship, GolfWRX got its first up-close look at what some of the LIV Tour players have in their bags in 2024. We also caught back up with a few PGA Championship legends, such as Rich Beem and John Daly, and we dove into the bags of PGA Sectional qualifiers, too.
In total, we captured 47 different photo galleries this week, including 32 individual What’s In The Bag (WITB) forum threads. Click here to see all of our photos from the event, or continue reading to see my 10 equipment highlights from Valhalla.
1) Brooks Koepka’s new putter
Koepka was previously using a Scotty Cameron T5.5 putter with a slant neck, which he used to win at the beginning of the month in Singapore on the LIV tour. This week, however, he tried a T5.5 with a plumbers neck instead of the slant neck, and it’s immediately going in the bag. According to Scotty Cameron Tour rep Drew Page, Koepka already loved the head, and now finds the plumbers neck a bit more familiar to the blade-style putters he’s used throughout most of his career.
2) The lead tape king returns, with putting goggles
Phil Mickelson has always been one of the GOATs when it comes to lead tape usage, so it was no surprise to see his 64-degree custom Callaway wedge slathered with slabs of lead tape on the back.
The big surprise was that lefty was spotted using ProAim putting training goggles on Wednesday during his warm-up session.
The ProAim goggles are helpful to find center lines and ensure proper alignment to the target.
See Phil Mickelson’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship
3) Dobyns’ old-school gamer setup
Speaking of lead tape, check out Matt Dobyn’s old Titleist 718 T-MB irons, which are so loaded with lead tape that the club is nearly unrecognizable.
Respect.
The head professional at Meadow Brook Club is making his sixth start in a PGA Championship, and he’s using a throwback Callaway GBB Epic driver with MOI-boosting lead tape and adjustable weight placements.
As GolfWRX Forum user “InTheBag” pointed out in our Matt Dobyns’ WITB thread, he has the type of setup that makes you want to hide your wallet: “I don’t know Mr. Dobyns, but one look at that bag tells me he can take your money,” writes InTheBag.
Spot on.
4) John Daly’s custom Sub70 irons and wedges
We first saw John Daly using $750 direct-to-consumer Sub70 659-CB irons and TAIII wedges at the 2023 PNC Championship, and he still has them in the bag, but he’s since stepped up the customization on the Sub70 clubs.
Does Daly ever NOT keep things entertaining?
View this post on Instagram
A true showman.
5) DJ’s custom putter
Dustin Johnson has always been one to test multiple putters week-to-week, and he has a keen eye for different alignment lines and crowns. This week, he’s opting for a completely gray TaylorMade Spider Tour “T3.0” prototype with a short slant neck.
See the rest of DJ’s WITB from the week here
6) Patrick Reed still rocking GrindWorks irons
Patrick Reed knows his stuff when it comes to equipment, and he’s a prolific tester. Still, however, the GrindWorks PR-101A irons are squarely in the bag after his departure to the LIV tour.
The most notable new addition to Reed’s bag is this Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond 3-wood.
Click here to see Reed’s full WITB from this week
7) Beem’s Scratch set
Rich Beem, who won the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, came to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla with a bag full of Scratch Golf irons, which are loaded with lead tape and equipped with some of the coolest custom ferrules in professional golf.
See Rich Beem’s full WITB here
8) Jon Rahm’s 10-iron
Before going to LIV, Rahm was using a Callaway Apex TCB pitching wedge.
Now, he’s using a Callaway Apex TCB “10 iron.”
He’s also since upgraded to three Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke metalwoods, and fresh stampings on his Jaws Raw wedges. Click here to see Rahm’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship.
9) “Why so serious?”
Tyrrell Hatton, another LIV player in the 2024 PGA Championship field, channels his inner Joker to ask everyone, “Why so serious?”
10) Block’s “Proto” iron, from address
As you probably know by now, Block switched out of his old TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2014 irons, and into a full set of TaylorMade’s new “Proto” irons. We’ve already seen the Proto 4-iron in the bags of Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, but this is our first look at the higher-lofted irons in the set.
Here’s a look at the 7-iron from address:
See what GolfWRX members are saying about the Proto irons in our Forums
And, with that, we say goodbye to Louisville, and the second major championship of the 2024 season. We’ll see you next week at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas after a champion has been crowned.
Until then, don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week at the 2024 PGA Championship!
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We will be one quarter of the way through Thursday night men’s league season after this week. BK played much better last week, so he is hoping to continue that success and post another good score.
Here are the 14 clubs that will hopefully win him some skins!
Driver: PXG 0311 Black Ops (9 degrees, neutral setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X (2024)
3-wood: Cobra Dark Speed LS Titanium (14.5 degrees, set +1)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-7x
Fairway: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura ATMOS Tour Spec Blue 8 X
Hybrid: PXG 0311 Black Ops 4h (22 degrees, Flat Setting)
Shaft: KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype 85 S
Irons: TaylorMade P770 Phantom Black (5-PW)
Shaft: KBS Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (50-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (56-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (60-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Putter: L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max
Shaft: Accra x L.A.B. White
Ball: Titleist ProV1 Enhanced Alignment
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Jake Fro
Jun 24, 2014 at 12:38 am
Can’t wait to see her in adult films….especially in her putting position!!
RSinSG
Jun 23, 2014 at 8:54 pm
She made some clutch shots under pressure on a very hard course. The girl is only 24 – lot’s more to come from her.
larry wilson
Jun 23, 2014 at 5:55 pm
she should send her parents home….to stay, they almost ruined this soon to be great player
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snowman
Jun 22, 2014 at 11:42 pm
Like many, I questioned some of the decisions that Michelle and her parents made earlier in her career, but I am very happy to see her playing well and winning her first Major. When she is “on” she is a force. This is a great win for her, great for Womens golf and Golf in general. Well done Michelle.
JJ
Jun 23, 2014 at 1:00 am
Couldn’t agree more, well said.
Rich
Jun 23, 2014 at 4:38 am
Ditto. Well done Michelle. It’s also great to see how gracious the comments of Stacy Lewis were after the tournament. She had nothing but praise for Michelle. What a class act. Women’s golf is awesome!