Connect with us

Equipment

Jason Day’s new putter inspired by venomous Australian Spider

Published

on

With two wins already in 2016 (Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Dell Match Play), and four wins late in the 2015 season that included the PGA Championship, you wouldn’t think Jason Day would change putters… but he did.

e612b89b97ac8c227e2a717faf835efe

Day’s previous gamer (left) and his new Spider Limited Red putter.

Day has used a TaylorMade Itsy Bitsy Spider prototype putter since 2015. He’s a huge fan of the color red, though, and made a special request for a matte red model, which become the “Spider Limited Red.” The particular shade of red employed is inspired by the venomous Redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti), which, like Day, is native to Australia. After the 2016 Masters, where he finished T10, Day put the new putter in play at the RBC Heritage, where he finished T23.

RedbackSpiderJasonDay

Photo credit: China Insider (www.scmp.com)

It may sound like a ridiculous connection to make, but to be fair, the red spot on this particular Redback — which was actually found in Guangdong in a shipment of metal frames from Australia — looks like the putter itself. Impressive work from TaylorMade.

PutterBent

If you’re interested in buying one, TaylorMade will be releasing 15,000 Spider Limited (black-and-red) putters for $219, and 2,000 Spider Limited Red (all-red) putters for $299 on June 3.

Each release includes TaylorMade’s Pure Roll face insert. Both putters will be sold with a sightline, and in the following lengths:

  • Black and Red: 33, 34 and 35 inches (RH only)
  • All Red: 34 and 35 inches (RH only)
Your Reaction?
  • 78
  • LEGIT12
  • WOW7
  • LOL7
  • IDHT2
  • FLOP5
  • OB4
  • SHANK19

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Myvoice

    Aug 26, 2016 at 10:28 am

    I purchased one of these putters from a previous run, made in Japan. It’s by far the best putter I’ve ever used. The main reason it works well for me is the balance and face loft; gets the ball rolling without skipping, which is what I’ve always noticed on Jason’s putts. After that, the most powerful thing is that you can change the weight of the putter using the Taylor Made standard weights. I purchased two kits. The putter comes standard with a 1G weight in each side. I ended up with 10G in each side as perfect for me and the greens I generally play on. It makes sense; pros are usually playing very, very fast greens, but the greens we play on are generally a lot slower. Heavier weight for slow greens and lighter for fast. All you have to do is unscrew the weights and replace for various conditions.

    NOW, they come out with the new one for general release. Guess what? That’s right, they glued in a cheesy aluminum thing that resembles a weight, but it’s not, and there are no screw holes to use the Taylor Made weights with these new putters. For me, that defeats the best part about this putter.

  2. gunmetal

    May 1, 2016 at 1:04 am

    Good idea for Day to switch his putter. With the season he had last year, 2 wins this year, and his shaky #1 ranking in the world, what better time to switch flatsticks.

  3. Brian

    Apr 30, 2016 at 7:25 pm

    Is the one on the left modeled after an Eastern Grey Kangaroo?

  4. GolfRocks

    Apr 28, 2016 at 11:47 pm

    Cool write up for Day. He ditched this putter already. Is it just me or does the spider that inspired it look burnt orange and the putter looks maroon? Seems a bit cartoonish. Taylor Made felt like having another reason to release something today. I’ll still take an old Scotty or a milled Miura putter any day.

  5. Hooker T. Washington

    Apr 28, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    I enjoyed reading this, and always find it cool to hear the stories or reasons behind a player’s choice of club colors, stampings, etc. I myself carefully chose all of my different paint fill colors for various reasons.

    …However, Day has already ditched this one and is back to using the matte black model this week at the Zurich…

  6. Hooker T. Washington

    Apr 28, 2016 at 6:06 pm

    I enjoyed reading the article, and always think it’s cool to hear the story behind a player’s choice in club colors, stampings, etc. I myself carefully chose all of my different paint fill colors for various reasons.

    …However, Day has already ditched this one and is back to using the matte black model this week at the Zurich…

  7. RoGar

    Apr 28, 2016 at 3:12 pm

    Every company world wide does this!!! Who cares? If you like it buy it, if you don’t, don’t. TaylorMade makes very good products, so does Ping, Titleist, Callaway, etc. etc. If they release a new driver every week, great!!! I still game the R1, cause it gives me the best numbers, and I’m happy and confident with it…

  8. Nick

    Apr 28, 2016 at 1:20 pm

    Im glad theyre re-releasing this. I used a friends itsy and it felt great. 15,000 more will be released… Ill take one ar two for sure

  9. Rob

    Apr 28, 2016 at 11:29 am

    So, it’s the same putter he used before except it is red.

  10. Jim

    Apr 28, 2016 at 10:30 am

    And again… The same worthless comment

  11. mitch

    Apr 28, 2016 at 9:44 am

    and again taylormade flooding the market with “new” stuff that is the same just different color and name.

    • Jamie

      Apr 28, 2016 at 11:59 am

      You think the other OEM’s are putting out groundbreaking stuff that isn’t just repackaged/rebadged gear?

      • Jacob

        Apr 28, 2016 at 2:20 pm

        TM does a much better job of coming out with new putter designs than anybody else dude…

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

Published

on

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.

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

Published

on

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.

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

Equipment

Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

Published

on

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.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

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

Your Reaction?
  • 23
  • LEGIT2
  • WOW1
  • LOL1
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK1

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending