Equipment
Rickie Fowler’s golf clubs are like no one else’s
This story was selected as one of the 15 best GolfWRX stories of 2015!
There’s no one like Rickie Fowler on the PGA Tour, and there’s no one that plays golf clubs like him either. Casual golf fans recognize Fowler for his flashy orange outfits and flat brim Puma hats, but most don’t know that his irons and wedges are unique, as well.
During Fowler’s marathon victory at The Players Championship, his deadly wedge play was on full display at TPC Sawgrass’ Island Green. He attacked No. 17’s Sunday pin location three consecutive times (once in regulation, twice in the playoff) en route to victory, making birdie each time.
In Fowler’s bag for his critic-silencing win was a set of irons and wedges that took him and the Cobra Golf team years to fine tune. Recently, I spoke with the man responsible for Fowler’s unique clubs, Ben Schomin, Cobra’s director of tour operations, who told me the story of Fowler’s unbelievably custom clubs.
Related: See all the clubs Rickie Fowler currently has in his bag
The Magic Metal: Tungsten
About three years ago in the locker room at Riviera Country Club, Fowler told Schomin that he wanted to try shorter-length irons. That led to a blind test in which Schomin built Fowler more than a half-dozen different 6 irons with different lengths and different shafts to see which one he liked best.
After the range session, Fowler decided on a length that was 0.5 inches shorter than standard, and True Temper’s Dynamic Gold X100 shafts that were “soft-stepped.” Shortening a shaft makes it stiffer, which is where soft-stepping comes in. It’s a process where a 4 iron shaft is installed in a 5 iron club head, a 5 iron shaft is installed in a 6 iron club head, and so on, which makes the iron shafts play slightly softer than they would if the set was built traditionally.
But something else happened due to the length change, and it’s what makes Fowler’s clubs so special. Shortening the shaft 0.5 inches caused the swing weight of the clubs, a measurement of a club’s balance point, to drop three points. That caused the clubs to feel lighter to Fowler, as the balance point moved toward the handle of the club. Fowler played the shorter, lighter-feeling irons for several months, but then had another request. He wanted to try irons with a heavier swing weight.
It was time for another blind test, after which Fowler chose irons that had a swing weight of D3. Schomin had to find a way to add those three swing weight points to Fowler’s irons, which required an additional 6 grams of head weight. Six grams is a lot of weight to add to an iron head, Schomin said, and to accommodate the request a dense metal called tungsten was used.
Schomin and Cobra’s machinists began boring holes through the toes of Fowler’s irons so that they could add tungsten plugs behind the hitting area. It worked so well for Fowler’s irons that Schomin tried it with Fowler’s wedges, which presented its own set of problems.
“Say a wedge weighs 308 grams and the target is 320,” Schomin said. “You’d need to add 12 grams. But boring the hole takes it down to 300 grams, so now you need 20 grams.”
Wedges also tend to have shapes that are much more curved than irons, particularly in the toe area where the tungsten plugs were installed. To make it work, a fixture was developed to hold the wedges in place as an end mill was bored through the toe of the club.
Then, tungsten plugs — which are custom, individually milled conical rods — were installed using intense pressure, and the clubs were sanded and polished to look (almost) exactly like they were before.
“Each wedge takes about 2 to 3 hours,” Schomin said. “It’s a very complex process.”
I asked Schomin if an average, everyday golfer wanted to have this done to their wedges where they could go. I heard a chuckle on the other end of the line. There are machinists who can do the work, but it won’t be cheap, and good luck finding them. And with computers, 3D milling machines and advanced technology taking over at factories these days, fewer and fewer people have the necessary skill to pull this off, Schomin said.
“We used to have a shop full of guys, now we have two,” Schomin said.
Now for the story of Fowler’s most unique club, his 62-degree wedge.
Fowler’s 62-degree wedge wasn’t for him
When preparing for The Masters, many Tour players make changes to their equipment to help them with Augusta’s special challenges: tight lies, fast greens and severe slopes. And the 62-degree wedge Fowler used in the 2015 Masters came from an unexpected source — country music singer Jake Owen.
Owen is an avid 3-handicap golfer who once pursued a career in professional golf. Golf fans may know him as Jordan Spieth’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am partner, and the pair finished T6 in 2015.
Here’s how Fowler ended up with Owen’s wedge. He and swing coach Butch Harmon were on the range with Schomin at The Floridian in February before the Honda Classic, and the three were tweaking Fowler’s driver. Owen, who’s a friend of Schomin and Fowler, was also at the range. Sometime during the range session, Harmon learned that Schomin had built Owen a 62-degree wedge, which caught his attention — and then Fowler’s.
“What do you think of this wedge at Augusta?” Fowler asked his swing coach.
“I think that’s a fantastic idea,” Harmon said.
To put the wedge to the test, Fowler took it over to the chipping green and picked out the most difficult shot he and Harmon could find, attempting to replicate the diabolical chipping areas at Augusta, with Schomin looking on.
“The ground was so firm and he had no green to work with,” Schomin said. “It was honestly an impossible shot.”
Fowler proceeded to hit every shot within 3 feet. After that, it became Fowler’s wedge.
With some modifications — tungsten was added, and a 0.5-inch short, soft-stepped True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 Tour Issue Shaft was installed — Fowler put the new 62-degree wedge in play at the Honda Classic and then The Masters, and it hasn’t left his bag since.
It’s been a good change for Fowler, who used to carry wedges with lofts of 47, 51, 55 and 59 degrees. To make room for the 62-degree model, Fowler removed the 55- and 59-degree wedges from his bag, splitting the difference with a 57-degree model.
Fowler’s Current Irons
Fowler’s current irons, unlike his wedges, now have three Tungsten plugs bored straight into the sole from the bottom, not through the toe. That’s because Cobra’s Fly-Z Pro irons, which were designed with feedback from Fowler, already have Tungsten in the toe to add forgiveness — but Fowler’s irons still needed the additional head weight because of their shorter length.
Fowler’s Iron Specs: Cobra’s Fly-Z Pro (4-9) with KBS C-Taper 125 S+ shafts, 0.5 inch short (37-inch 6 iron), soft-stepped, D3 swing weight
Stepping up his stampings
Schomin, who does all of Rickie Fowler’s stampings, says he keeps running notes, and tries to surprise Rickie with new designs.
“I don’t compete with other wedge makers. It’s more like a competition to see the players reaction… how big of a smile or reaction can I get from a player for a stamping.”
SO what about the famous mustache stamping?
“Obviously people know the mustache stamping, which yes, I did come up with,” Schomin said. “But it’s another year now. I have to keep it fresh.”
Related: The Best Wedge Stampings of 2015
Wedge stampings have become more and more popular in the bags of Tour players in the last few years, and Schomin definitely helped fuel the fire.
“I won’t say I started the movement,” Schomin said. “But I was the first one that started putting it all out there and being goofy. Taking risks. It’s been sort of a trickle down effect.”
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Whats in the Bag
Rory McIlroy’s winning WITB: 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @8.25) Buy here.
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X
Irons: TaylorMade Proto (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9) Buy here.
Shaft: Project X 7.0 (4-9)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB) Buy here, Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-K @59) Buy here.
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (46-54), Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X3 Buy here.
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour
Ball: 2024 TaylorMade TP5x Buy here.
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Rory McIlroy’s WITB in the forums.
View this post on Instagram
The winning WITB is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
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Whats in the Bag
Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)
- Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
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?
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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aa
Mar 10, 2016 at 11:18 pm
So how on earth does a 5’7″ golfer stand a chance at getting a properly spec’d set of clubs if the only way to get an 0.5″ short D3 club is to go to the ends of the earth and have them personally machined?
Brian
Feb 11, 2016 at 10:03 pm
So he made his irons 0.5 inches shorter in length. He then soft stepped them. So his 4 iron shaft would be in his 5 iron. Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of shortening them. I know this seems stupid but they didn’t really explain. You trim a shaft to the specs you want. So is each club actually 0.5 inches shorter than standard?
Nocklaus
Aug 14, 2016 at 10:09 pm
When softstepping you get a longer/softer tip. Then you can trim the butt to desired length.
Bob
Nov 20, 2015 at 8:46 pm
Pretty awful soft stepping description.
kloyd0306
May 22, 2015 at 10:17 pm
While this article is interesting regarding the use of tunsten etc, the whole premise for Ricky’s use of shorter shafts seems to have been overlooked.
His physical stature, (leg length, arm length, torso length) is the real story. Like Anthony Kim, he figured out that so called “standard length” is a folly. Due to his physical dimensions “standard” doesn’t fit him. In other words, if you don’t fit “standard” – “standard” means nothing, much like there is no “standard” size of apparel or shoes because we are all different, sometimes in major ways, sometimes in more subtle ways (grip sizes, shaft flexes).
The ONLY purpose of “standard length” is if you are making clubs for the great unknown, the masses. That’s why everyone should be measured for the length that fits dimensionally and one they can efficiently use. Don’t tell the major OEMs that though – they’ll have a heart attack.
Jeez Utz
May 23, 2015 at 6:14 pm
Phuh-Q
kloyd0306
May 24, 2015 at 6:09 pm
My guess is: Your courage to dispute my comment is about the same size as your brain.
Jeez Utz
May 26, 2015 at 11:42 am
Double Phuh-Q
kloyd0306
May 26, 2015 at 7:09 pm
Oh, even smaller than I thought……..
Jeez Utz
May 28, 2015 at 2:23 pm
God bless you
KCCO
May 22, 2015 at 6:22 pm
OP….really enjoyed this article. And to each is own, but the lead tape comments I can’t agree with. I know “they are only tools” but I personally don’t like the look of lead tape on my irons.
Jang Hyung-sun
May 22, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Also Seiko S-yard Bold wedges in 2013 had customer option for tungsten inserts done at ENDO, based on customer feel when ordering.
Jang Hyung-sun
May 22, 2015 at 3:45 pm
Nothing new here. I’ve had my EPON wedges bored with tungsten back in 2011 at E.M. Niigata. Service Endo provides for guys that don’t want lead tape mucking up aesthetics.
Pingback: Rickie Fowler Has Exotic Golf Clubs - Golf Training News
Fred
May 22, 2015 at 1:05 am
Chuck, you’re an amateur, hobby lobby moron. Lead tape has a density of ~7g/cm^3 while tungsten can be up to 18 g/cm^3. That means you would need more than double the amount of lead tape than a simple piece of tungsten. Anybody can stick lead tape to a club. The work and effort to eliminate lead tape seems highly worth it to create one of a kind creations.
Chuck
May 22, 2015 at 6:07 pm
Hmmm.
Let’s say they were your clubs, and I told you that I could get your C-9 irons to D-2 for $120 with lead tape and my Maltby Swingweight Scale, or you could send your clubs to a place in Texas or California and they would put Tungsten plugs in all of them and get them to D-2, for $5000, which would you choose?
(I’ve chosen $5000 on a whim; my guess is that the billable time for Rickie Fowler’s irons might actually be in the low five figures. Not that Rickie paid. They pay Rickie! Anybody else care to make a guess on what that custom job cost?)
KCCO
May 22, 2015 at 6:28 pm
All depends on machinist….I was in that business for a while (CNC) and would do it for the experience and clean look. I don’t know how many club building machinists would there are, but If there were, id assume in the $500 an iron range. About 5 main steps, $100 a step. Bore, making plug, making fit, hiding it/flushing it, then final clean up polish is how I would figure.
Chuck
May 23, 2015 at 9:56 am
That seems like a rather informed view. $500 per club. Times eight clubs (4-PW and just two wedges, being modest) equals $4000.
And how would a talented machinist figure, within 0.5 swingweight points, how much steel to drill out, and how much tungsten to install? When the ultimate shape of the plug (“shaped” to blend with the club) is such an odd and irregular volume? Where do you get tungsten alloy plugs? What sort of equipment do you need, to seal a tungsten plug in the head?
I don’t doubt it is doable. I don’t doubt that it is done regularly as a part of retail club manufacturing now, in some club models. And I don’t doubt that it is useful in moving the center of mass in some clubheads. I just doubt that for three swingweight points, it’s worth it for any normal recreational golfer.
Rich
May 22, 2015 at 9:16 pm
Chuck, you’re probably right. It would be out of reach for the normal person to do what they did to Ricky’s clubs, but that’s not the point of the article. It was not a suggestion that that’s what we should do, it was merely and interesting piece on how Ricky got his clubs working for him. Of course cost is not the issue there.
COGolfer
May 21, 2015 at 10:29 pm
Tungsten in the toe, just like my i20’s. I do think having Ricky is good for their products. Their driver two years ago felt great but went 20-40 yards shorter than the competition. Bravo to them for making improvements on the equipment (assuming these ideas make it to the shelf models).
Matt
May 21, 2015 at 7:33 pm
The Oven has been doing this to Tiger’s irons for years. Hence the new shape of the Vapor Pro’s.
reallt
May 22, 2015 at 12:57 am
how does this article have anything to do with Tiger?
Rich
May 21, 2015 at 6:39 pm
Cool story. It’s interesting to see what lengths they go to, to get the right set up. Nice!
RG
May 21, 2015 at 3:07 pm
Takes “custom fitting” to a whole other level. If I’m good do you think Santa will bring me a tour van to tweek out my sticks?
Josh
May 21, 2015 at 2:01 pm
So his lob wedge is 34.5″ long? That seems short.
KCCO
May 22, 2015 at 6:30 pm
I play same length at 5’10”, but sand is half inch longer.
random guy
May 21, 2015 at 1:43 pm
so, i was under the impression Hard Stepping made the shaft play stiffer than the normal flex. IE, hard stepping a set of DGS300 makes them play stiffer than normal but less stiff than X100, for example. And viceversa for “softstepping.” Do you mean that he just tipped his irons or butt cut them to the desired length???
All of the forums on this site indicate hardstepping makes the irons play stiffer and vice versa for soft stepping. I was told by my fitter to hardstep my dgs300 irons because s300 was too soft and x100 felt way too stiff for my game?
Is all this inaccurate and you are correct?
CHRIS
May 21, 2015 at 2:37 pm
What you are saying is the same thing he said in the article. Hardstepping = stiffer, softstepping = softer. He said when you shorten a shaft is becomes stiffer which makes sense. So they softstepped it to correct this problem.
Neil
May 23, 2015 at 7:57 am
If you shorten a club but make it the same swingweight it plays softer not stiffer.,just more weight in the head
Ask any Rifle expert
devilsadvocate
Jan 24, 2016 at 11:19 pm
Incorrect sah!
Chuck
May 21, 2015 at 1:16 pm
I just have to wonder if all of the effort to put tungsten plugs inside the forging, instead of putting lead tape on the clubhead, is all about appearances. So that teenage fanboys can see Rickie’s irons, and “COBRA” on them. On television, at tournaments and in photos. Because I know for a fact that three swingweight points can be very easily made up in a matter of minutes by a hobbyist with a good swingweight machine and plenty of lead tape that can be purchased for just a few bucks. You just wouldn’t see the manufacturer’s logos anymore. If a player really needs some serious weight moved around, to the toe, or higher, or lower, I’d concede that perhaps you’d need to use a drill or a grinder. Goodbye chrome. Hello rust. And in the end the clubs (which might be terrific, playable gamers) would look like they are ready for the Road Warrior Invitational. But they’d be perfectly usable, without the enormous expense undertaken by the Cobra tour technicians for Fowler.
Brian
May 21, 2015 at 1:46 pm
I think you’re off here. First his wedges aren’t chrome. They’re “Trusty Rusty” so they’re supposed to rust I believe. Also, Rickie is signed to Cobra so why wouldn’t they use this technique instead of covering up the logo with lead tape which will fall off at some point anyway. My fitter even suggested adding weight to my irons by boring a hole and injecting something. Lead tape falls off and what your pro wants to be bothered with that?
Mikec
May 21, 2015 at 7:11 pm
Never had lead tape fall off
kess
May 21, 2015 at 8:57 pm
Never had lead tape fall off either but from what I understand he wanted the weight in the toe to keep cog closer to the center of the face.
Chuck
May 21, 2015 at 9:04 pm
Never, ever, ever have I had lead tape come off a clubhead.
And yes I understand very well that Fowler’s wedges are unchromed.
But I think about how hard it would be, to drill out a clubhead, insert a titanium alloy plug, balancing out (as this article points out very well) the lost weight of the steel being drilled out, versus the increased weight of the titanium fill-in plug, and to make that calculation with the added pressure of knowing that the titanium plug needs to be smoothed to the same surface as the rest of the head. It’s very difficult, complicated time-consuming advanced club-building, for sure. I am not knocking the skill of the Cobra clubmakers. They are really good, no doubt.
But I just don’t understand it except in terms of preserving the appearance of the clubs. I already mentioned that I respect the notion of moving weight around — to the toe especially — and a titanium plug will do that for sure.
It’s totally cool in my book if OEM’s manufacture forged blades with titanium plugs and I’d seriously consider them. But for those of us mortals who don’t have a tour van and a tour staff and a testing center in Carlsbad of our own… lead tape does it for swingweighting.
SB
May 22, 2015 at 8:23 am
Chuck…They are boring out a hole on the toe side and adding tungsten not titanium. This process while time consuming and difficult allows the builder to control the center of gravity
Chuck
May 22, 2015 at 6:15 pm
Tungsten; yes of course. My bad. I thank you for the correction. I don’t know what I was thinking while typing that. I meant tungsten of course.
And yes I understand it is moving the center of mass (which I think is a better term than center of gravity in this case) of the clubhead, and honestly I’m cool with that. I always liked clubheads that had more mass toward the toe. I personally like longer blades and having a bit more mass in the toe.
I think we agree on all of it. You’re right, and it is the critical thing; doing this to a set of irons is tremendously difficult, time consuming and must be very costly for the tour staff.
Funny thing; some of the irons with a lot of weight back toward the hosel were those clubs that Tiger grew up with as a competitive star; his old Mizuno MP-29 / MP-14 split set. He has definitely evolved, in wanting more weight out on the toe.
Designs Clubs
May 27, 2015 at 11:27 am
The calculations to do this are not as difficult as you might think. It’s about a 10 minute job for the CAD designer to figure it out, including the new position of the CG. It’s still a good amount of work for the machinist that has to do the job, but all the calculating is generally done beforehand and relayed to the machinist.