Tour News
Henrik Stenson ditches legendary 3 wood for Callaway GBB Epic
Henrik Stenson has ditched his legendary 3 wood in favor of a new Callaway GBB Epic at the Dubai Desert Classic. “You’re seriously making a big deal out of a 3-wood switch,” you might be saying to yourself. In this case, absolutely.
Related: Read more about Callaway’s GBB Epic fairway woods
For most PGA Tour players a 3-wood switch is barely a side note, but for Stenson it’s noteworthy because of how much the No. 4-ranked golfer in the world has relied on his Callaway Diablo Octane Tour 3 wood throughout the years.
The Diablo Octane Tour 3 wood was produced by Callaway in 2010, giving it an estimated current value of about $24, according to the PGA Value Guide. It’s been worth millions more to Stenson, however, who has relied on it more often than his driver off the tee under the gun. With the Diablo Octane Tour (see it in the cover image), Stenson has won eight times on the European and PGA tours, including the PGA Tour’s 2013 FedEx Cup and last year’s epic showdown with Phil Mickelson in The Open Championship at Royal Troon.
To be fair, Stenson has tried several new 3 woods throughout the years, including Callaway’s XR ’16 last season, but he always seems to resort back to old faithful when he’s playing his best.
Another interesting note: Based on the photos from Dubai, Stenson’s new 3 wood appears to have a bonded-hosel design instead of the adjustable hosel used on the retail version of the GBB Epic. That gives it an appearance at address that’s more similar to the Diablo Octane Tour, which also has a bonded hosel. Stenson is also using his old shaft in the new 3 wood, a Grafalloy Blue (X-Flex).
Related: See what GolfWRX Members are saying about Stenson’s 3 wood switch in our forum.
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Every week we spot some really cool and custom putters out on the putting green and in tour players’ bags. This week is no slouch with some really interesting and beautiful putters being tested. Let’s take a look at some of the standouts we found.
Tyler Duncan: Scotty Cameron Phantom T-11.5
The Phantom 11 is a pretty wild putter by Scotty’s standards with a multi-material design that boosts MOI for more forgiveness. Duncan’s T-11.5. takes the stock model and moves the shaft to the center of the putter head. We don’t mean a center shafted version, but the shaft is installed in the center, behind the face as well. We don’t have any official details on this T-11.5 but it looks like that setup should create a putter where the face points towards the hole or target, similar to a L.A.B. putter.
Zac Blair: Scotty Cameron 009.M Cameron & Co. “Longneck”
Blair might be in possession of the largest Scotty collection on tour! It seems like every week he has something new, and flat-out gorgeous, that he is trying out. I have seen a lot of 009.M putters over the years, but never one with a long plumbers neck on it. This 009 is a Masterful that utilizes additional CNC machine work to reduce the amount of hand polishing needed to complete the putter. The long, or tall, neck on the putter usually is used to reduce the amount of toe hang and make the putter more face balanced. The face contains a very shallow milling while the sole features a tour truck, tour only, diamonds, and the rare Circle L stamp. The Circle L was made for Scotty’s close friends who lost matches or games and was meant to poke a little fun at their misfortune.
Paul Barjon: PXG Prototype
There are a lot of putters out there that become so widely used and popular that other manufacturers will borrow some of the design cues. The Spider is one of those putters and it looks like PXG has made a prototype putter for Barjon that has some similar features. This proto has a tapered mallet shape with twin wings that come out from either side of the rear. Twin movable weights sit in each wing on the sole and the sole features a plate that is bolted in place at the corners. The top contains a single siteline and the face uses PXG’s advanced pyramid face structure.
Odyssey Ai-One Cruiser Broomstick #7
More and more long, counterbalanced, and alternative putters seem to be showing up recently. The long, or broomstick, putter is making a comeback and more than a few players have joined Adam Scott in using that style. Odyssey has thrown its hat in the broomstick arena with a new Ai-One Cruiser model. The head shape is the very familiar #7 model, but with the shaft going into the center of the club head. An Ai-One face is there to help keep ball speed consistent on off-center hits and three white lines are on top for framing ball and aligning the putter.
TaylorMade Spider Tour S Broomstick
Another option in the long putter is TaylorMade’s Spider Tour S broomstick that we saw around the putting green. The head looks to be a little larger than the standard Tour S and that makes sense with the broomstick-style putters demanding heads near or over 400g. A TPU Pure Roll insert is installed in the face and the shaft is a more traditional double-bend design, just much longer! There isn’t the True Path alignment on top, just a full darker grey finish with a single siteline. Two moveable weights are out in the wings of the putter to dial in the specific weight a player might want.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 3M Open
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GolfWRX is on site this week at TPC Twin Cities for the 2024 3M Open for the penultimate event of the PGA Tour’s regular season.
The photos are flying in from Blaine, Minnesota. We’ve already assembled general galleries and a fresh Tony Finau WITB.
Check back throughout the week for more photos!
General Albums
- 2024 3M Open – Monday #1
- 2024 3M Open – Monday #2
- 2024 3M Open – Tuesday #1
- 2024 3M Open – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Tobias Jonsson – WITB – 3M Open
- Keith Mitchell – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Tony Finau – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Maverick McNealy – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Tom Hoge – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Mac Meissner – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Robert Streb – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Sahith Theegala – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Santiago de la Fuente – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Billy Horschel – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Roger Sloan – WITB – 2024 3M Open
Pullout Albums
- Ping putters – #1 – 3M Open
- Ping Putters – #2 – 3M Open
- TaylorMade Spider Tour S broomstick putter – 3M Open
- Odyssey Broomstick #7 putter – 3M Open
- Bettinardi putters – 2024 3M Open
- New EyeLine training aid – 2024 3M Open
- Sam Ryder’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 3M Open
- Odyssey putters – 2024 3M Open
- L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 3M Open
- Tyler Duncan’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 3M Open
- Zac Blair’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 3M Open
- Paul Barjon – PXG putter – 2024 3M Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying 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.
Three years later, Morikawa has once again changed his irons to deal with the unique Scottish turf.
Morikawa has been using TaylorMade P730 blade short irons (7-PW), P7MC mid irons (5-6) and a TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron with a cavity-back construction this year.
However, he switched into a new set of TaylorMade P7CB irons (5-PW) before finishing T4 at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, to go along with his familiar “Proto” 4-iron. TaylorMade’s P7CB irons are the finalized versions of the “Proto” 4-iron that Morikawa has been using, except they remain unreleased to retail.
According to TaylorMade, Morikawa switched into a full set of the new P7CB irons to aid with turf interaction, just like he did prior to his 2021 Open victory.
Morikawa is honing in on his winning formula overseas.
Morikawa also has switched from his usual TaylorMade Qi10 5-wood to a lower-launching TaylorMade P790 3-iron equipped with a Project X HZRDUS 105 Hybrid shaft. The loft of the club has been bent down to 19 degrees.
TaylorMade says that Morikawa switched into the new driving iron In order to “have an option to hit something lower that will roll out in the fairways.”
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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joe
Feb 22, 2018 at 3:46 pm
I found a Titleist 983K with the same shaft in Stiff for $9.99 in the used bin at my local box store. Yes, I almost jumped at it and spilled the whole bucket of clubs over, and I did ask any questions, just went up and bought it, and the Titleist head was in Excellent condition, right from the first swing the thing launches long and straight!!!! Woohoo…selling a bunch of drivers on the ‘Bay now…I just bought an awesome driver for $9.99, hope to use this for 10 years.
jmvargas
Jun 2, 2018 at 9:10 am
he is still using the same shaft…as they say the shaft is the club’s engine..
Dave R
Feb 8, 2017 at 8:30 pm
Why Change is it like a rest?
Miuralovechild
Feb 5, 2017 at 3:51 am
It looks like he has gone with an Oban Kiyoshi tour ltd. in his 5 wood as well as the driver. I wonder why he wont put that in his 3 wood as well. Anyone? Quality wise, consistently, and feel have to be so much better with the Oban. I’ve heard that his 3 wood shaft plays like an XXX.
Good wood
Feb 3, 2017 at 8:52 pm
I talked to Gareth the other day. He’s done with the diablo. He’s donating it to the HOF in Sweden.
Tom54
Feb 3, 2017 at 6:20 pm
The fact that Henrik is still using his old shaft tells you all you need to know about the switch. I’m sure the new model is better but unless it has the same feel it won’t seem to be in his mind. Probably staring at the familiar blue shaft is all he needs
M.S.
Feb 3, 2017 at 5:05 pm
It’s temporary only. Henrik stated this to the main Swedish golf site:
-“…Most likely the Diablo is back when I get home, this new one is OK but I do know where I have Old Faithful….” (my translation)
The truth is that during practice the face on the Diablo caved in, and without a spare head the Epic had to suffice.
StillBoard
Feb 3, 2017 at 4:16 pm
And not once did you mention his Olympic medal.
larry fox
Feb 3, 2017 at 9:47 am
I Love seeing you guys go at it! Such passion
Mike
Feb 3, 2017 at 8:59 am
You can still get the Grafalloy blue pro launch from Sweden, I’ve got 3, one in my 9 degree GBB driver and the other two in the 3 & 5 woods, there bloody good at getting it up there, and a nice feel to boot.
TR1PTIK
Feb 3, 2017 at 10:42 am
Unless they’re simply named differently overseas, the Pro Launch is not the same shaft. There was only one Grafalloy Blue when it was originally released and it looks exactly as pictured. They later did a re-release of the Blue with a white shaft and Blue badge. They also released two Pro-Launch versions – a Red and a Blue.
jgpl001
Feb 3, 2017 at 1:08 pm
Feel?
One thing the Grafalloy Blue doesn’t have is feel, it’s a stout, solid lump, it just bombs the ball low with low spin, excellent if you have th SS though…I did 10 years ago and loved it then
TR1PTIK
Feb 3, 2017 at 4:20 pm
If he’s talking about the Pro Launch version I’d agree that it does have decent feel. Until the middle of last season, I gamed the original Blue and it absolutely was a board. If I could have controlled the clubface better I would have stayed with it though because I could definitely hit some bombs (my version of bombs anyway).
indyvic
Feb 3, 2017 at 11:49 pm
I bought the original from a reputable Golf Store on the advice of the club fitter and had it installed in my driver. Took it to the range, never felt a thing. Took it back within an hour. jgpl001 is correct “if you have the swing speed.”
Ommmmmm
Feb 4, 2017 at 3:19 am
It’s the best shaft ever made, perfect feel and load, stiff as a telephone pole, you can rip it without it ever moving. Only the strong need to use it. I love it
DAVID NATHAN WEEKS
Feb 3, 2017 at 7:17 am
The diablo will be back soon enough.
Scott
Feb 3, 2017 at 4:37 pm
This. I’d bet good money that by the Masters he has the Diablo back in the bag, and is right now willing to try the Epic as part of his contract to help Callaway move product.
BooBunkie
Feb 3, 2017 at 3:11 am
Well, that 3 wood may not make it to The Mahztaz, and neither will Eldrick! Dude just bailed on the tourney in Do Buy! Sheesh, his walking yesterday looked painful. Well, whata’ya think, is that a
wrap for 2017?
MBA-J
Feb 2, 2017 at 10:10 pm
“Legendary?” Strong language for a dude with one major and eight total wins. The overemphasis of marginal accomplishments have turned various sports halls of fame into “halls of ‘very good.'”
Alvaro
Feb 3, 2017 at 7:22 am
Well, when you have made almost 40M$ playing golf, won The Open, 19 professional wins, The FedEx Cup, The Race to Dubai twice while hitting 3w 80% of the time and sometimes outdriving peers hitting a drive, you can consider that a legendary 3 wood, yes.
michael
Feb 3, 2017 at 8:52 am
^^^ What that guy said
The dude
Feb 4, 2017 at 10:50 am
^^what THIS guy said….
TR1PTIK
Feb 3, 2017 at 10:38 am
You obviously only watch the PGA Tour. I feel sorry for you…
S Hitter
Feb 2, 2017 at 9:20 pm
Same shaft though, eh? lol can’t get rid of that shaft
S Hitter
Feb 2, 2017 at 9:20 pm
Oh, and er I’ll buy that for a dollar
Dill Pickleson
Feb 2, 2017 at 9:12 pm
god help us.
The dude
Feb 2, 2017 at 8:30 pm
When is it not considered a 3 wood…..since his “3 wood” is said to be ~ 12deg…
Jim
Feb 3, 2017 at 2:27 pm
Exactly – for some reason we speak of woods only in odd numbers these days …1,3,5, etc. Historically a 12 degree club would have been a 2 wood; more recently a “strong 3”.
McPickens
Feb 6, 2017 at 1:17 am
wouldn’t that be more like a “spoon” or a “brassie”? I also do not like the odd numbers only. I currently game a 16 deg. fairway wood. I would call it a 4 wood, but no, today that would be a 3 wood HL.
BooBunkie
Feb 2, 2017 at 5:12 pm
We’ll see if the 3 wood makes it to the Mahztaz!!
Branson Reynolds
Feb 2, 2017 at 5:04 pm
This is why i like when guys don’t have equipment contracts. I like to see what they actually like to play with.
Golfer
Feb 2, 2017 at 7:11 pm
He does have a contract…
S Hitter
Feb 2, 2017 at 9:19 pm
lol yeah isn’t he with Callaway?
Branson Reynolds
Feb 3, 2017 at 9:01 am
Damn fellas, give me the benefit of the doubt on being a complete moron. I was saying that Stenson switching from the ol’ trusty to the latest and greatest($$$) is why i like no equipment contracts. I like to see what people actually want to use, not what they get paid to use.
Crash Test Dummy
Feb 2, 2017 at 9:37 pm
He probably doesn’t have a shaft contract with Grafalloy. The Grafalloy Blue is a really interesting choice because it is a pretty old shaft. It is a good shaft though. I think if he had a shaft contract, he would probably be using one of the new premium shafts.
westphi
Feb 2, 2017 at 4:54 pm
We’ll see if it stays. One tournament is hardly a “commitment.”
jgpl001
Feb 2, 2017 at 4:24 pm
Totally agree
If he keeps it the bag it would be a massive endorsement – I might even get one
His 3 wood is as important as an arm or a finger to him
Golfraven
Feb 2, 2017 at 4:23 pm
Epic fail!
The dude
Feb 2, 2017 at 8:22 pm
What’s the fail?
Boobsy McKiss
Feb 2, 2017 at 8:27 pm
He was trolling and you bit. Here’s your trophy.
LD
Feb 2, 2017 at 9:32 pm
That they don’t offer the glued-hosel at retail.
Kevin B
Feb 2, 2017 at 4:07 pm
When you find that one 3-wood you can hit no matter what, you keep it! I am upset I made that mistake many years ago and thought, newer was better. I have now found one that I think I can keep until it breaks, an 07 burner 3W.
3 metal stinger
Feb 2, 2017 at 5:02 pm
Thanks for letting us know. Jk no one cares, hold this L again
Kevin B
Feb 2, 2017 at 7:33 pm
Thanks.
3 metal stinger
Feb 2, 2017 at 8:02 pm
L
Kevin B
Feb 2, 2017 at 8:03 pm
Thanks again, but I think the only person taking an “L” as you call it, is yourself. What grown man follows around another man on a golf forum, to troll? I think its hilarious so I hope you keep them coming, but I really wonder how pathetic your life must be. Anyways, thanks again for the laugh!
3 metal stinger
Feb 2, 2017 at 8:11 pm
L
The dude
Feb 2, 2017 at 8:27 pm
Db
LD
Feb 2, 2017 at 9:36 pm
Decibel?
S Hitter
Feb 2, 2017 at 9:22 pm
You just did, Kevin B, followed the troll lol
And don’t you know this is WRX?
Tony Rich
Feb 3, 2017 at 12:52 am
You’re a waste a space 3 metal….he loves his 3W, I love my Titleist PT 13*, the one Tiger could played and could use right now. Got to TMZ if you want to be tough.
3 metal stinger
Feb 3, 2017 at 12:32 pm
Reading comprehension is hard, I know
Juan
Feb 2, 2017 at 3:44 pm
The Epic fairways haven’t been getting nearly the level of buzz as the drivers, but if Stenson sticks with this one, that’ll be a pretty solid endorsement.
Branson Reynolds
Feb 2, 2017 at 3:34 pm
There’s a small handful of people in the world that find this interesting, and that’s why I love golfwrx. Because they’re all here.
gwillis7
Feb 2, 2017 at 4:06 pm
exactly.
Progolfer
Feb 2, 2017 at 3:28 pm
They’re either paying him through the nose to play it, or he’s getting driver-like numbers out of it. Either way, I wouldn’t doubt seeing his trusty rusty back in the bag before Augusta…
TR1PTIK
Feb 2, 2017 at 4:08 pm
While I’m sure there’s stock lying around somewhere in a corner at Callaway HQ, you’ll notice that the shaft he has bonded to the Epic is the older (original) version of the Grafalloy Blue which makes me wonder if he didn’t actually pull the shaft from his Diablo Octane.
WilCox
Feb 2, 2017 at 4:53 pm
No, Stenson liked the original Blue so much that he stashed some away when Grafalloy moved on to the newer versions. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Diablo back in the bag at Augusta.