Equipment
Confessions of a Golf Ho
You know what I’m talking about. That golfer you know that can’t ever seem to find that perfect club. Personally, I can hit all of my clubs straight and as far as I should. My philosophy is to not fix what isn’t broken. Someone very close to me feels differently. I wanted to get to the bottom of this behavior so I asked that they tell me what the big deal was:
“Ever feel like clubs are to golfer as women were to Wilt Chamberlain – there is always another one out there? I am on a current club binge and honestly do not see the end as long as there are new products every three months. Why the 90 days you might ask? Well, that is the time I have to play a club and be tempted by another companies advertising and claims. Or, the hardest of all is the feedback and debates brought up on this very site without losing a dime of my purchase. I approach each trade with the guilt of a bad break up knowing I have left the signs of a traded club on the rack. Whether it be the matching grip or the lead tape, there’s an anxiety that goes when parting with what was once hope. There is guilt, but once I think of the unbelievable profits these companies make it is easier to find fault when the club does not deliver. I’m not biased to one particular club, but I do find comfort in my irons and will trade a wood or driver in a heartbeat. I would like to strike out at the endless options of shafts that have left me wanting that perfect combo and even when happy thirst for more. Now, I have a new fairway wood and driver on order and I think these could be keepers. Wow! I just lied, so it will be Christmas again this month without the long return line.”
Hmm…I guess it is just a matter of preference. I know that I’m not alone and am more advanced than many of my golfer pals. For instance, my irons are only about a year old and the set I had before that didn’t even last a year. I did trade my driver a few times before settling on this one. Since my clubs are working I will wait until they aren’t anymore. I know some golfers that have had the same clubs for years and years. That I can’t do. I know my game and technology will keep improving.
What kind of golfer are you? Do you stick with a club until the bitter end? Do you get every new club that comes out?
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- 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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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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Equipment
Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird
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.
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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
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Nick Messi
Mar 22, 2014 at 4:36 pm
I play tennis once a week and for the last 5 years have only used 2 different racquets.
But golf is a different monster all together. In the last 5 years :
6 iron sets
4 drivers
5 hybrids
6 putters
3 fairway woods
3 buggies
2 bags
8 wedges
In hindsight this is just nuts.
Obsessive compulsive silly behaviour (that I always seem to logically and prudently justify without fail every single time !!)
Every time I say to myself that this purchase will be the last I always seem yo be tempted just one more time…and sooner rather than later.
H E L P !!!!
Roy Perry
Dec 17, 2012 at 2:16 pm
^^
I wouldn’t say that we are “hacks”. You just said that you’ve been clean for only 12 months, so are you a recovering hack :). As for me, I had a set of irons given to my by my dad that he bought new in 1994. I was introduced to the game late at about 25 years old (12 years ago) and I played those old Callaway Hawkeye’s along with an Orlimar driver, woods, and hybrids, purespin wedges and a Ben Hogan Bettinardi putter. Two years ago, I traded everything minus wedges and putter and dropped for a FT (08) iron set, and FT-iz driver, woods, and hybrid. Cracked the shaft in the driver THREE times and went the Diablo Octane Black tour. Loved it, but there was just something that didn’t feel just right in it. Last year, I took the forged plunge and liking the classic look of a player’s iron, I made my own mixed set of 4-6 razr x forged, and 7-9 razr x muscleback. I purchased an Adams superblack 19* hybrid that I couldn’t make go straight if I wanted to, so traded that for what I have now, a 910h 19* with the PX 6.0 shaft. For the FW wood battle, it only went from FT-iZ to Diablo, to Cleveland FL, to now my R11 ti with a PX 6.0. The driver has evolved from FT-iZ, to FT-5 (still have), to Diablo Octane Black tour (still have), and the current 910d2 with the Px 6.0. I have had my putter now for almost 10 years and bought 3 others only to go back to the one I know and love. Aside from the driver, I have been “clean” for about 9 months now and couldn’t be happier with my setup. If I could change anything, I would go from the 8620 milled Scratch wedges that I have and take the plunge to the 1018 forged in the same lofts. Who knows, maybe Santa will bring next year after I can say I’ve gone over a year :).
bobby bongwater
Jan 22, 2012 at 9:54 am
I had to go to rehab and have been clean for nearly 12 months on getting any new clubs. My game has never been better. Not the arrow but the indian. Now I laugh at club ho’s. They are all hacks.
Leonard
Jan 11, 2012 at 3:49 am
I’m curious as to why different clubs give different feels. For me it’s all feel, and coincidentally, I prefer the feel of hitting it LONG with ease. No CLICKITY! CLACK! CLANK! Sounds. Maybe something that sounds softer? I prefer a smooth, soft transfer of power through the ball. Am I making it up? Or are different clubs made with less pure metals or metals that are less dense. Or for instance with drivers…are they HOLLOW?!? How do they make such deafening, echoeing sounds? Who knows?
Tim Schoch
Jun 16, 2008 at 4:46 pm
The bitter end, hopefully, is a long way off, but I do love to try new wedges and drivers. My putting seems to stay the same, regardless of the club.
What I do change a lot are golf balls. Just about the time I lose or retire a dozen, I’m ready for some fresh faces to look at. Sometimes, a box of balls will seem to last forever, and I get really irritated with them for over-staying their welcome and preventing me from getting another brand. So I give them away to some hacker and slicer, just to teach them a lesson.
Speaking of lessons, I switch teachers, too.
sneak
Jun 13, 2008 at 11:40 am
I have spent the last 3 years doing what you are doing and I think I have built the perfect set for me, 2200.00 in 2 weeks later, okay really I perpetuate the same thing I know in about a month those clubs will be gone and new ones will replace them. Right now I am just focusing on wedges, I feel less guilty dropping 125.00 on a wedge than what I would on a driver, although my driver has been working really well for me. I have also gone through a number of short lived relationships and breakups, not just with clubs but with women, because of golf, so I am sure they all think I need therapy.