Equipment
17 Revealing Photos from the LPGA North Texas Shootout
In this week’s LPGA Photos from the Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout, we get a different perspective on golf — one that’s fun, different and educational.
Nearly ever week on the PGA Tour, our photographer takes viewers inside the ropes to see the clubs PGA Tour players are using. The thing to remember, however, is that the majority of golfers shouldn’t be using the same clubs and shafts as PGA Tour pros. LPGA Tour players, on the other hand, have swing speeds more similar to average golfers, and compete on courses that are more similar in length to what the average male golfer usually plays.
For example, how often do you play a par-5 that measures 510 yards? Pretty often, right? PGA Tour players usually play 510-yard holes as par-4’s, and golfers such as Dustin Johnson, J.B. Holmes and other big hitters regularly hit short irons into them.
Golf bags on the LPGA Tour are also more eclectic than PGA Tour bags when it comes to brands, and they’re more colorful, too, as you’ll see below. Would you ever see a PGA Tour player with pink paintfill on their irons? Or a player wearing a Ping visor with a ponytail hanging from his back.
Well, actually, those were bad examples. Sorry Bubba and Miguel.
We hope you enjoy this week’s Revealing photos from the LPGA North Texas Shootout at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas.
Gerina Piller uses a bunch of Scor 4161 “wedges”
Scor Golf’s 4161 series were said to be “scoring clubs,” not wedges, which is why they come in low lofts that are usually reserved for 9 irons and pitching wedges.
That explain’s Gerina Piller’s the 42-degree “wedge.” If you ever hear an announcer say she’s hitting a wedge from what seems to be too far, you’ll know why.
Callaway’s Mack Daddy 2 wedge stampings on the LPGA Tour are electric
Certainly, the quickest way to make enemies is to have “Roll Tide” stamped on your wedges.
Lexi Thompson’s wedge stampings are dripping in positive energy
The “Nico” wedge stamping could be a reference to one of the following:
- This “Nico, Smile” YouTube video
- Nico, a German musician popular in the 1960s.
- A possible nickname for her brother Nicholas Thompson, who plays professional golf on the PGA Tour.
Regardless, it’s tough not to keep a positive attitude with these colorful, smiley-faced Cobra Tour Trusty wedges.
Insider update: Nico is the name of her nephew, Nicholas’ son. I was close… kind of.
#ScarfLife
Based on the photos, it was cold and windy on Tuesday during the practice round at Las Colinas. Michelle Wie even broke out a scarf — and why it’s not volt-colored to match her driver, golf ball and visor, I have no clue.
Here’s a fun game if you’re bored; Count the number of Nike “Swooshes” you can spot in the photo above (my answer below).
Here’s Azahara Munoz, who’s also bout that #scarflife. Her Ping bag and umbrella are also showing off Ping’s new logo lettering that’s exclusive to the LPGA Tour.
Answer to Nike swooshes: I spot 9. Anyone beat me?
Odyssey’s Limited Edition 2-ball Bear putter cover
Chella Choi’s head cover looks snuggly, and fuzzy, and the only place I can find it online is here. Apparently, they come in three different colors.
Choi is also using Fourteen Golf’s new RM-21 wedges, with a trailing edge grind on her 52 degree wedge, which has 10 degrees of bounce.
Pulled it!
This is merely a reminder how hard putting is. Even with training aids from 4 feet, no putt is a guarantee. Don’t you just love golf?
Any guesses on what this guy is texting while Natalie Gulbis is teeing off?
My guess is he’s texting one of his buddies: “About to tee off on the first hole with Natalie Gulbis. Have fun at work, sucker!”
I’ll bet he used this emoji, too.
Lydia Ko is really good at golf
She’s 18 years old and already has seven LPGA Tour wins. She also has a Callaway Big Bertha Alpha with a custom pink Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 5R shaft in play this week.
Katie Burnett switched to Titleist Vokey TVD wedges with a custom “raindrop” finish
Note: Those are real raindrops.
If you see a wedge company come out with a custom finish called “raindrops,” just remember you heard it here first.
Someone needs to show Bubba Watson this photo
Hey, Bubba. Here’s some sound advice: Get an all pink rainsuit! #urwelcome
Laura Davies with top-heavy Lynx Parallax irons
While most iron designs look to achieve a center of gravity (CG) that’s low-and-rearward or low-and-forward, these are the opposite.
According to Lynk’s website, the forged cavity back irons have a higher CG for more penetrating shots. If you hit the ball high with too little spin, these irons could be something to consider!
(That one’s for you, gear heads).
Ping’s LPGA golf bags, while sporting the new logo, still have turbulators
Surely the caddies appreciate the added foot speed.
Find the reference here in a recent Revealing Photos story.
Um, where’s your face?
If you can’t tell, this is Sadena Parks who was a part of Big Break Florida, a reality TV series on the Golf Channel.
She’s also playing clubs from golf’s most mysterious company in golf — Parsons Xtreme. We don’t know much about the clubs, other than they will be very expensive when they’re released and have a bunch of screws for adjusting weight and CG.
It looks like Parks prefers the CG in her driver more rearward judging by the positioning of her screws.
Check out photos from the rest of her clubs below.
Hannah Arnold’s bag is all business
Mizuno JPX-800 Pro irons and a stealthy Piretti Cortino putter? While she WD’d from pre-tournament qualifying, she didn’t leave without making an impact on the WRX photo galleries. Awesome setup.
Michelle Wie’s 90-degree putting stance…
… makes my back hurt every time.
It looks as though she took the popular instruction “get your eyes over the ball” way too literally, but then again, she’s putting better than ever and won her first major last year — the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open — with this seemingly back-breaking style.
Wie is currently using a Nike Method MC04W Center-shafted prototype putter with a SuperStroke Flatso 1.0 grip.
Is that a BioMech Tech Deck I spot?
These half-pipes are showing up in bags and on practice greens of both the PGA and LPGA tours. I’m beginning to think I should give one a try…
Just like Uncle Tiger, Cheyenne uses the Two-Tee putting drill
And is her index finger really long or is it just me?
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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.”
View this post on Instagram
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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joey5picks
May 2, 2015 at 3:47 am
Call a 510-yard hole a par 5, a par 4, a par 3 or a par 6. It doesn’t matter. Lowest score wins whether it’s -10 or -6 (which is the difference between calling that hole a par 4 or par 5). I find the infatuation with what the “par” is on a hole amusing. Players are going to want to make a 4 on that hole no matter what its “par” is.
Chuck
May 2, 2015 at 1:39 pm
Another 510-yard Par 5 is…
… wait for it…
…how many guessed it already…
The 13th Hole, “Azalea,” at the Augusta National Golf Club.
8thehardway
May 1, 2015 at 11:56 pm
Good move, great article. Looking forward to more.
snowman
May 1, 2015 at 10:36 pm
Lexi and I are still playing the 2010 Cobra S2 Forged Irons, a nice forged cavity back iron.
RG
May 1, 2015 at 3:02 pm
Best yet Andrew! Eclectic and colorful is why WRX should cover more LPGA and Champions than PGA. I’m just sayin’.
Brett H
May 1, 2015 at 2:03 pm
Fun Fact: I’m sort of related to Laura Davies and used to play with a set of her old irons that she just had put away in a closet. Had a really hard time learning on those…
I’ve been watching a ton of LPGA lately and really think the level of talent is just astonishing, a lot of fun watching them play right now.
brian d
May 1, 2015 at 12:26 pm
I am kinda digging those parsons irons…. very sharp
Mike
May 1, 2015 at 12:24 pm
Laura Davies’ irons look like some 15 year-old Lynx Parallax knockoffs! Seriously, how is Golfsmith not all over this?
Justin
May 1, 2015 at 7:38 am
“Sorry Bubba and Miguel.”
BustyMagoo
May 1, 2015 at 1:02 am
But can someone fix the css for paragraph text please? A bit heavy on the eyes in ALL BOLD letters.
BustyMagoo
May 1, 2015 at 12:59 am
Good article. Nice to see WRX going out on a ledge and covering things nobody else is. Well done and interesting read. And yah, it’s fun looking at pics of Michelle Wei. She’s quite easy on the eyes. lol.
mr.Smith
May 1, 2015 at 12:55 am
Golf has turned into such a lame look at me narcissistic batch o barf!
Chuck
Apr 30, 2015 at 9:41 pm
It hurts too much to watch Michelle Wie putt. I say that as someone who loves women’s golf and who loves to watch LPGA players play, and who is extremely interested in equipment news from the women’s tours. Thank you GolfWRX for continuing to bring us news and photos from the LPGA; keep it up. I’m just sorry for Michelle Wie, with her spectacular golf swing, being reduced to putting like a cripple.
RG
May 1, 2015 at 2:58 pm
A cripple? That “cripple” will beat you like a drum ant day of the week and twice on Sunday. She went to that stance because she’s so tall and it helps her to see the line. Remember Chuck, it is better to be silent and be thought an idiot than to post comments and remove all doubt.
Chuck
May 2, 2015 at 11:23 am
Her results are fine; that much you’ve got right. She’s currently 29th on the ladies tour; putting (statistically) like… Lydia Ko!
But as for being somehow forced into that unwatchable stance by her height… she’s 6’0″. (Being 6’0″ myself and having stood next to her, I don’t believe the 6’1″ listings in various places. I think she’s a shade over 6’0″.) She’s not taller than a number of other LPGA players with better-looking stances, and she’s nowhere near as tall as lots of male tour players with normal stances.
Rich
Apr 30, 2015 at 9:23 pm
Yes it is verrrrrry long!
Brody
Apr 30, 2015 at 9:11 pm
Andrew,
Nice article!
greg
Apr 30, 2015 at 7:00 pm
Once again, great job AT. This one is your best one, so far. Look forward to seeing these each week. Best feature on GolfWRX.com