Equipment

Bettinardi launches new BB Series putters, unveils Inovai 3.0

Published

7 years ago

Nov 19, 2015

“Classic Bettinardi, with a modern flair.”

That’s how Sam Bettinardi describes his company’s new BB Series, which will please golfers looking for something a little different from Bettinardi’s most wide-ranging putter line.

Bettinardi’s BB1 putter.

The putters use a Midnight Black PVD finish that flashes subtle rainbow accents. The finish is paired with lime green paintfill, as well as a lime green grip. Connecting those parts is a new Brushed Nickel shaft, which is stepless, glare-free, and of course has a lime green shaft band.

Putter enthusiasts will recognize the BB Series’ BB1, BB1F and BB8 putters, which have undergone small tweaks for 2016. Totally new, however, is the BB40, a low-profile mallet that offers big forgiveness.

Bettinardi’s Studio Stock 6 has the company’s Super Fly-Mill Face Milling

The launch also includes a retro-styled putter — Bettinardi’s Studio Stock #6, an ode to the famed 8802 putter. It extends the Studio Stock family to three putters, including the Studio Stock 2 and Studio Stock 16 that were released in late 2014.

Bettinardi’s Inovai 3.0

Last but not least is the company’s Inovai 3.0, the newest multi-material putter from Bettinardi. Continue reading for more details on the new Bettinardi putters, as well as Sam Bettinardi’s thoughts on each model that will be in stores Jan. 16, 2016.

BB1 ($299)

Plumber’s Neck
1/2 Toe Hang
350 grams
Midnight Black PVD Finish
Hyper Honeycomb Face

What Sam says: “The BB1 has been in our line since 1999, and it’s a staple of our line. It’s for a player looking for a classic heel-toe style putter. It has more toe hang than last year’s model, because it has a little bit shorter neck.”

BB1F ($299)

Flow Neck
3/4 toe hang
350 grams
Midnight Black PVD Finish
Hyper Honeycomb Face

What Sam says: “The BB1F is for those players who like an unadulterated view of the golf ball – they don’t want any distractions. The flow neck makes this putter a great option for them. It’s also really cool to be able to see the mill lines on the neck. That kind of precision … that’s what we’re all about.”

BB8 ($299)

Plumber’s neck
1/2 toe hang
350 grams
Midnight Black PVD Finish
Hyper Honeycomb Face

What Sam says: “The biggest difference between the BB1 and the BB8 is the top line and the bumpers. If you’re looking down at the BB8, you’re going to see a really flat top line and bumpers that are really flat.”

BB40 ($299)

Spud Neck, Single Bend
Face Balanced
350 grams
Midnight Black PVD Finish
Hyper Honeycomb Face

What Sam says: “What I really like about this putter is the low profile of the pocket. It’s kind of like an old muscle car or a racing car. Being a mallet guy, I like how wide the flange is. Instead of a player’s mallet, I would call this a forgiving mallet.”

Studio Stock 6 ($399)

Flow Neck
Full toe hang
358 grams
Olympic Bronze Finish
Super Fly-Mill Face

What Sam says: The last time we made this putter was in 2011, and there’s always a demand for this style. The classic golfers, the guys who are looking for something vintage … we wanted to bring this back for them, and bring it back in a more modern way.

Inovai 3.0 ($299)

Face Balanced
Single Bend shaft
358 grams (also available in a counter-balanced model)
6061 Aluminum (anodized black), Stainless Steel (hand polished)
FIT Face, Fly Mill

What Sam says: “This is a putter that we’ve literally been working on the last 8 months. It uses our Bi-Metal technology, and blends 6061 aluminum and 303 stainless steel. We mill the two pieces separately, and spent a lot of time making sure they fit together seamlessly. The stainless steel makes up two-thirds of the weight of the putter, which gives it very high outside perimeter weighting.

See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the new putters in our forum.

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Whats in the Bag

Sam Burns WITB 2023 (January)

Published

1 day ago

Jan 27, 2023

GolfWRX Staff

Sam Burns what’s in the bag accurate as of the The American Express. More photos from the event here.

Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 TX

4-wood: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (17 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X

Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Irons: Callaway Apex TCB
Shafts: Project X 125 6.5

Wedges: Callaway Apex TCB (AW), Callaway Jaws MD5 (56-10S
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (AW), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (56)

Putter: Odyssey O-Works #7s Black
Grip: Odyssey

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align

See the rest of Sam Burns’ WITB in the forums.

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Whats in the Bag

Aaron Wise WITB 2023 (January)

Published

1 day ago

Jan 27, 2023

GolfWRX Staff

Aaron Wise what’s in the bag accurate as of the The American Express. More photos from the event here.

Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (15 @ 15.75)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 TX

Hybrid: TaylorMade SIM2 MAX (19 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 100 6.5

Irons: TaylorMade P750 (4-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (52-12F, 56-08M)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Putter: TaylorMade Ghost Corza
Grip: SuperStroke Traxion

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

See the rest of Aaron Wise’ WITB in the forums.

More Aaron Wise WITBs

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Equipment

TOUR REPORT: Jason Day’s new Scotty Cameron, celebrity Ben Baller’s WITB, and Xander’s new 3-wood

Published

2 days ago

Jan 26, 2023

Andrew Tursky

The West Coast swing continued this week on the cliffs of San Diego at Torrey Pines for the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open, and we caught up with some of the top players (and celebrities) in attendance to see what clubs are in their bag, and what changes they’re making.

As GolfWRX uncovered, Xander Schauffele, Jason Day and Justin Rose made equipment changes ahead of the event. We also caught up with famous celebrities Ben Baller and Gareth Bale to get glimpse at their equipment setups; both players competed in the Pro-Am on Wednesday. We also spotted some new equipment that players were testing, and we caught up with Gary Woodland to check out his new Cobra setup.

Let’s waste no more time and get right into this week’s Tour Report from the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

Check out all of our photos from Torrey Pines here

Day switches to a new blacked-out Scotty Cameron…and a 7-wood

Back at the 2022 Shriners Open in October, I caught up with Jason Day to learn why he switched into a Scotty Cameron putter for the first time in his career, and what he liked about his new rounded mallet putter. He said the previous putters he used in the last few years – TaylorMade’s Spider Tour, and Odyssey’s Toulon Daytona – sat a bit too square, and looked as if they were pointing left of the target. The rounder Scotty Cameron mallet looked to point a bit more to the right, helping him to start the ball on a better line.

Here’s a look at his original Scotty Cameron build:

Last week at The 2023 American Express, however, Day switched into a nearly identical head, except this time it was made with a “Tour Black” finish. He ended up finishing 2nd in Strokes Gained: Putting on the week, and we caught with him on Tuesday at the 2023 Farmers Insurance this week to get a look at the new putter for ourselves:

Could this be the putter that helps Day get his magic back on the greens?

I went into way more depth into the putter switch over on PGATOUR.com, so click the link if you’re interested. We also have more photos and discussion of the putter in our GolfWRX Forums.

For this week, due to the particularly heavy rough and firm greens at Torrey Pines, Day also put in a TaylorMade Stealth 7-wood, equipped with a Mitsubishi Kuro Kage 80X shaft. His caddie says he flies it about 245-250 yards and lands softly.

Check out more photos and discussion of Day’s switches here

Schauffele finally changes up his 3-wood

While Schauffele upgraded into a new Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions, he kept his old Epic Speed Triple Diamond 3-wood in the bag that week. As we covered in our full story on PGATOUR.com, he struggles with 3-woods that spin too low when he hits a right-to-left shot; he doesn’t want the ball coming in too hot and not being able to hold the green.

Since then, however, he found a new Paradym Triple Diamond 3-wood setup that minimizes that concern. His new 16.5-degree HL fairway wood, which is actually bent down to 15.3 degrees, has helped Schauffele tighten spin variation due to the spin consistency across the face.

He put the new 3-wood into play on Wednesday at Torrey Pines.

Xander Schauffele’s full WITB at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open

Woodland’s new Cobra setup

Gary Woodland officially signed an equipment deal with Cobra at the beginning of 2023, and we finally got a first look at his full WITB setup as a full-time Cobra staffer at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open. Most notably, Woodland switched into a new set of Cobra King MB irons, which he said are “literally off the rack.”

Check out the rest of his 2023 WITB here

Hideki tests an all-new Graphite Design putter shaft

According to Graphite Design rep Erik Boysen, there have been only two prototypes made of a new Graphite Design putter shaft, and Matsuyama tested one of them this week at Torrey Pines. The shaft is designed to provide increased stiffness and stability throughout the stroke. While Matsuyama isn’t putting it in play just yet, we’ll certainly keep an eye on his putter shaft going forward, and keep an eye on Graphite Design to see how this product may progress.

Join the discussion about the new shaft prototype here

Ben is a Baller

Ben Baller is a famous actor/jeweler/designer/entrepreneur/avid golfer/TaylorMade staffer, and he was also on the winning Pro-Am team this week.

Ahead of his victorious round at Torrey Pines, we got a look at all the clubs in Baller’s bag.

We expected nothing less than an eye-popping custom Scotty Cameron Masterful putter, engraved with his name and paint-filled with Lakers yellow. Uniquely, though, Baller went with a driver-less setup to help avoid the rough at Torrey Pines, so he went with a top-end setup full of TaylorMade Stealth2 and Stealth fairway woods and hybrids.

He fills out his bag with TaylorMade Stealth irons, TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges and custom TaylorMade golf balls with his logo on them.

Check out Ben Baller’s full WITB here

Kickin’ it with Gareth Bale

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Gareth Bale – a newly retired Welsh soccer player (or footballer, if you prefer) – also teed it up alongside Ben Baller on the winning Pro-Am team. While we didn’t get a chance to capture photos of every club in Bale’s bag, we managed to capture a few photos of his setup.

He doesn’t have a bad golf swing, either, especially for being a former world-class member of Real Madrid and Tottenham.

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Justin Rose switches drivers

The last time we caught up with Rose at the 2022 Cadence Bank Houston Open, the equipment free agent had an old TaylorMade M2 2016 driver in the bag. He’s been conducting extensive driver testing recently, though.

This week, he ended up switching to a new Callaway Paradym 8.5-degree head, equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6X shaft.

Justin Rose full 2023 WITB at Torrey Pines

Ben Martin’s new EvnRoll putter

Martin was previously using an old Guerin Rife mallet putter, but he switched into a new EvnRoll EV5.2 mallet putter at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open.

James Hahn shows up with a mixed bag

Former PXG staffer James Hahn has apparently gone the free agent route in 2023, since he showed up at Torrey Pines this week with a mixed-brand setup, which includes a Titleist driver, TaylorMade fairway wood, PXG hybrid, Callaway irons, Titleist Vokey wedges, and a Scotty Cameron putter.

See what GolfWRX members are saying about Hahn’s new free agency and golf clubs

TaylorMade’s San Diego head covers

TaylorMade’s Carlsbad HQ is just down the road from Torrey Pines, so the company typically designs some San Diego-inspired headcover heat when the PGA Tour comes into town. The 2023 Farmers Insurance sunset versions certainly did not disappoint.

Unfortunately, the sun is also setting on this week’s Tour Report from Torrey Pines. We’ll see you next week as the Tour travels up the West Coast to Pebble Beach.

Check out all of our photos from Torrey Pines here

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