Equipment
Golf Shop Confidential: “Can we change the grips”
Welcome to GolfWRX’s Golf Shop Confidential. In “The Shop,” we do a lot more than sell equipment — we bring enjoyment to the game. They say that the players are on the course and the hackers are on the range. But the best stories are here in The Shop. Here’s a few funny ones from last week:
“Can we change the grips?”
I can’t describe the look that appears on a 50-year-old man’s face when he knows he hits the Cobra AMP clubs the best, and then realizes that he’s going to be rocking those bright orange grips in front of his buddies.
Him: “I’ll take them, but can we please change the grips?”
Me (with a wry smile): “Sure”
“Like cheating”
I recommended the Srixon Q-Star to a customer who was trying to correct his slice. He came back two weeks later raving about the straight ball flight and said it was “like cheating.” A guy one aisle over holding Polara golf balls just snickered.
“Cutting it down”
You wouldn’t believe how many guys ask me what the USGA is going to do about belly-and-long putters. It’s not like I’m going to be at a table inside USGA headquarters in the finals stages of the discussion. Pretty soon my answer is going to be to scream ,“THIS!” and snap the putter in half and hand it back to them. But for now I just smile and shrug.
“White Rocket”
It’s amazing to see how TaylorMade’s insistence on the white paint has found fewer and fewer objectors. Last year many older guys scoffed at the white R11 and Superfast 2.0. This year, they’re not (but they’re still buzzing about the “Rocketballz” name though).
Speaking of the name, I’ve learned that it’s more effective to introduce the new TaylorMade clubs as “RBZ” to ladies. When I say “Rocketballz” to them, they look at me funny and take a rather large step backwards.
“The wrong answer”
A customer tried to point out that we spelled “Anser” wrong on our PING sign (He said it should be “Answer”). I told him we’d correct it immediately.
“New fashion trend?”
Guys love the “flair hair.” I can’t explain it.
Orange rhymes with orange
A customer ordered the Graphite Design Tour AD-DI shaft (Tiger’s shaft) in a Cobra AMP driver. He rationalized it as “The only driver that the shaft color actually matches.” The only thing tougher than finding a word that rhymes with orange is finding a driver that matches a bright orange shaft.
That’s all for this week, stay tuned for more.
Click here for more discussion in the “Equipment” forum.
By “The Simulator Operator”
GolfWRX Contributor
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- Patrick Reed what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G400 (8.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125 MSI 70 Tour X
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125MSI 80 Tour X
Hybrid: Callaway Apex Pro (18 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila RIP Phenom Hybrid 100 TX
Irons: Titleist 716 TMB (2), Grindworks PR-202 (4), Grindworks PR-101A (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (50-10 Mid), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56-08M @55), SM10 (60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey White Hot RX Pt Customs No. 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
More photos of Patrick Reed’s WITB in the forums.
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Welcome to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
In the last two PGA Championships held at Valhalla, Tiger Woods won in 2000 – when he famously pointed his golf ball into the hole during the historic duel with Bob May – and Rory McIlroy won the 2014 event, basically in the dark on the final hole.
The point is, history shows that Valhalla tends to produce top-tier champions and plenty of drama.
This week at the 2024 PGA Championship, GolfWRX got its first up-close look at what some of the LIV Tour players have in their bags in 2024. We also caught back up with a few PGA Championship legends, such as Rich Beem and John Daly, and we dove into the bags of PGA Sectional qualifiers, too.
In total, we captured 47 different photo galleries this week, including 32 individual What’s In The Bag (WITB) forum threads. Click here to see all of our photos from the event, or continue reading to see my 10 equipment highlights from Valhalla.
1) Brooks Koepka’s new putter
Koepka was previously using a Scotty Cameron T5.5 putter with a slant neck, which he used to win at the beginning of the month in Singapore on the LIV tour. This week, however, he tried a T5.5 with a plumbers neck instead of the slant neck, and it’s immediately going in the bag. According to Scotty Cameron Tour rep Drew Page, Koepka already loved the head, and now finds the plumbers neck a bit more familiar to the blade-style putters he’s used throughout most of his career.
2) The lead tape king returns, with putting goggles
Phil Mickelson has always been one of the GOATs when it comes to lead tape usage, so it was no surprise to see his 64-degree custom Callaway wedge slathered with slabs of lead tape on the back.
The big surprise was that lefty was spotted using ProAim putting training goggles on Wednesday during his warm-up session.
The ProAim goggles are helpful to find center lines and ensure proper alignment to the target.
See Phil Mickelson’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship
3) Dobyns’ old-school gamer setup
Speaking of lead tape, check out Matt Dobyn’s old Titleist 718 T-MB irons, which are so loaded with lead tape that the club is nearly unrecognizable.
Respect.
The head professional at Meadow Brook Club is making his sixth start in a PGA Championship, and he’s using a throwback Callaway GBB Epic driver with MOI-boosting lead tape and adjustable weight placements.
As GolfWRX Forum user “InTheBag” pointed out in our Matt Dobyns’ WITB thread, he has the type of setup that makes you want to hide your wallet: “I don’t know Mr. Dobyns, but one look at that bag tells me he can take your money,” writes InTheBag.
Spot on.
4) John Daly’s custom Sub70 irons and wedges
We first saw John Daly using $750 direct-to-consumer Sub70 659-CB irons and TAIII wedges at the 2023 PNC Championship, and he still has them in the bag, but he’s since stepped up the customization on the Sub70 clubs.
Does Daly ever NOT keep things entertaining?
View this post on Instagram
A true showman.
5) DJ’s custom putter
Dustin Johnson has always been one to test multiple putters week-to-week, and he has a keen eye for different alignment lines and crowns. This week, he’s opting for a completely gray TaylorMade Spider Tour “T3.0” prototype with a short slant neck.
See the rest of DJ’s WITB from the week here
6) Patrick Reed still rocking GrindWorks irons
Patrick Reed knows his stuff when it comes to equipment, and he’s a prolific tester. Still, however, the GrindWorks PR-101A irons are squarely in the bag after his departure to the LIV tour.
The most notable new addition to Reed’s bag is this Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond 3-wood.
Click here to see Reed’s full WITB from this week
7) Beem’s Scratch set
Rich Beem, who won the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, came to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla with a bag full of Scratch Golf irons, which are loaded with lead tape and equipped with some of the coolest custom ferrules in professional golf.
See Rich Beem’s full WITB here
8) Jon Rahm’s 10-iron
Before going to LIV, Rahm was using a Callaway Apex TCB pitching wedge.
Now, he’s using a Callaway Apex TCB “10 iron.”
He’s also since upgraded to three Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke metalwoods, and fresh stampings on his Jaws Raw wedges. Click here to see Rahm’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship.
9) “Why so serious?”
Tyrrell Hatton, another LIV player in the 2024 PGA Championship field, channels his inner Joker to ask everyone, “Why so serious?”
10) Block’s “Proto” iron, from address
As you probably know by now, Block switched out of his old TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2014 irons, and into a full set of TaylorMade’s new “Proto” irons. We’ve already seen the Proto 4-iron in the bags of Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, but this is our first look at the higher-lofted irons in the set.
Here’s a look at the 7-iron from address:
See what GolfWRX members are saying about the Proto irons in our Forums
And, with that, we say goodbye to Louisville, and the second major championship of the 2024 season. We’ll see you next week at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas after a champion has been crowned.
Until then, don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week at the 2024 PGA Championship!
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We will be one quarter of the way through Thursday night men’s league season after this week. BK played much better last week, so he is hoping to continue that success and post another good score.
Here are the 14 clubs that will hopefully win him some skins!
Driver: PXG 0311 Black Ops (9 degrees, neutral setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X (2024)
3-wood: Cobra Dark Speed LS Titanium (14.5 degrees, set +1)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-7x
Fairway: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura ATMOS Tour Spec Blue 8 X
Hybrid: PXG 0311 Black Ops 4h (22 degrees, Flat Setting)
Shaft: KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype 85 S
Irons: TaylorMade P770 Phantom Black (5-PW)
Shaft: KBS Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (50-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (56-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (60-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Putter: L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max
Shaft: Accra x L.A.B. White
Ball: Titleist ProV1 Enhanced Alignment
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Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
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Patrick Reed what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Ping...
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We will be one quarter of the way through Thursday night men’s league season after this week. BK played much...
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Drew
Oct 18, 2012 at 2:55 pm
My favorite is when guys come in with clubs snapped in half and assume we can just glue them together
Christian
Oct 15, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Write more! These are hilarious, I especially love the anser, RBZ, and the Q-Star one… Makes me want to work at a pro shop, just for this!
Apotheosis
Oct 15, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Hilarious 😀
josh
Oct 15, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Holy crap this is priceless! I have wanted to do a reality show on golf channel for this reason alone. Some of the ridiculous things we are asked seems to always puzzle the mind and entertain for weeks.
I look forward to reading more and getting a chuckle knowing we are hearing the same thing.