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That one time Dustin Johnson got super protective over his M3 weight setup

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Recently, I recounted conversations with Dustin Johnson and Keith Sbarbaro (VP of tour relations at TaylorMade) regarding DJ’s switch into a TaylorMade P-790 long iron, DJ proto irons, and TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges, including a 64-degree wedge.

At the time, TaylorMade’s M3 driver, which is currently in DJ’s bag, was off limits to write about. Given that TaylorMade has officially launched its new M3 and M4 products, however, I can now reveal some very interesting tidbits about DJ and his M3 driver.

As previously addressed, DJ does not like to change driver shafts and will likely continue to play a Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution II Tour Spec for the remainder of his playing career — I joke, but he really might. So aside from the shaft, let’s get into 3 things I learned about DJ and his M3 driver based on discussions with Keith and DJ, and from a hitting clinic at The Kingdom last month in front of 50 or so media members.

1) Dustin’s thoughts on Twist Face

“Twist Face” is TaylorMade’s new design that makes the high-toe area of the face more open and more lofted, and the low heel portion more shut and lower lofted. The goal here is to reduce the slice off the low heel and reduce the hook off the high toe. For Dustin, he seemed most excited to get relief on his high-toe miss.

“Twist Face really helps my miss on the high toe that goes left,” Dustin told me. “So this will definitely help with that. It works, and it’s gonna help the consumer.”

You gotta love the world No. 1 golfer thinking about the consumer.

2) The Long Get Longer

In 2017, Dustin Johnson ranked 12th in ball speed on the PGA Tour, averaging 180.06 mph per drive, with his fastest recorded speed being 184.65 mph. If his early testing with the TaylorMade M3 is any indication, however, he may be picking up some speed this year.

Have a look at this Tweet from the driving clinic at the Kingdom. DJ says his ball speed is up 3 mph, and the 185.1 ball speed is higher than any of the drives he recorded in 2017.

That could partly be due to how DJ and his fitter Keith have the weights adjusted…

3) Do NOT touch DJ’s weight setup in his M3 driver

Since the clinic was put on by TaylorMade, of course the company wants to show how much influence the weights in the M3’s new Y-track have on trajectory. That’s a reasonable thing to expect from a company, especially with a new CG adjustable driver and arguably the world’s best driver of the golf ball to use as your experimenter.

As such, the speaking host of the clinic asked DJ’s fitter to adjust the weights in his M3 driver to showcase the different settings and how the golf ball would react.

DJ, however, did not want his weight settings to be touched. It seemed he was joking at first, but after he expressed his discomfort with adjusting his weight setup that had been dialed in based on testing, it was obvious he was dead serious.

I’m paraphrasing, but DJ said something to the effect of… “if you move the weights and then when we move em back and it’s not performing the same, I’m gonna be mad.”

So, in order for the show to go on and have DJ hit shots with different settings, the TaylorMade team had to fetch an entirely new driver to play around with. The M3 driver they used, however, didn’t even have his Fujikura Speeder shaft in it! While DJ didn’t mention anything about the wrong shaft, you know that hitting a different shaft probably didn’t sit well with him since he’s been “essentially playing the same shaft since coming out on Tour.”

Funny stuff, and lesson learned: Don’t touch Dustin’s adjustable weights, or you will have earned an enemy.

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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.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. JP

    Feb 1, 2020 at 10:18 am

    How could moving them and putting them back how it was change anything? I don’t even see that as possible.

  2. L BRANDT

    May 31, 2018 at 11:43 pm

    “if you move the weights and then when we move em back and it’s not performing the same, I’m gonna be mad.”

    LOL, I can totally relate to this…even if you think something is different, but really isn’t, it’s going to mess with your head

  3. Simms

    Feb 12, 2018 at 12:52 am

    Never had much luck moving the weights around with drivers (have had several with movable weights) then I read an article that made sense..It basically said a player with a firm grip will see very little difference with movable weights where a player with a lighter grip will be more likely to see results moving those few grams around….

  4. Kaven

    Jan 7, 2018 at 9:06 am

    Lolll it’s funny because Dustin uses a M4 for the Hawaii first tournament???

    • Jack

      Jan 10, 2018 at 3:43 am

      Yeah LOL> Guess he really didn’t want the weights adjusted so chose one that didn’t have adjustable weights!

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Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/18/24): Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made

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At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made.

From the seller: (@DLong72): “Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made. ?: $1150. ?? 100% milled collectors item from the limited releases commemorating when Ping putters won every major in 1988 (88 putters made). This was the model Seve Ballesteros used to win the 1988 Open Championship. Condition is brand new, never gamed, everything is in the original packaging as it came. Putter features the iconic sound slot.

Specs/ Additional Details

-100% Milled, Aluminum/Bronze Alloy (310g)

-Original Anser Design

-PING PP58 Grip

-Putter is built to standard specs.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules

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Inside Collin Morikawa’s recent golf ball, driver, 3-wood, and “Proto” iron changes

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As you probably know by now, Collin Morikawa switched putters after the first round of The Masters, and he ultimately went on to finish T3.

The putter was far from the only change he made last week, however, and his bag is continuing to change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage.

On the range of The Masters, Morikawa worked closely with Adrian Reitveld, TaylorMade’s Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, to find the perfect driver and 3-wood setups.

Morikawa started off 2024 by switching into TaylorMade’s Qi10 Max driver, but since went back to his faithful TaylorMade SIM – yes, the original SIM from 2020. Somehow, some way, it seems Morikawa always ends up back in that driver, which he used to win the 2020 PGA Championship, and the 2021 Open Championship.

At The Masters, however, Rietveld said the duo found the driver head that allowed “zero compromise” on Morikawa’s preferred fade flight and spin. To match his preferences, they landed on a TaylorMade Qi10 LS 9-degree head, and the lie angle is a touch flatter than his former SIM.

“It’s faster than his gamer, and I think what we found is it fits his desired shot shape, with zero compromise” Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the RBC Heritage.

Then, to replace his former SIM rocket 3-wood, Morikawa decided to switch into the TaylorMade Qi10 core model 13.5-degree rocket head, with an adjustable hosel.

“He likes the spin characteristics of that head,” Rietveld said. “Now he’s interesting because with Collin, you can turn up at a tournament, and you look at his 3-wood, and he’s changed the setting. One day there’s more loft on it, one day there’s less loft on it. He’s that type of guy. He’s not scared to use the adjustability of the club.

“And I think he felt our titanium head didn’t spin as low as his original SIM. So we did some work with the other head, just because he liked the feel of it. It was a little high launching, so we fit him into something with less loft. It’s a naughty little piece of equipment.” 

In addition to the driver and fairway wood changes, Morikawa also debuted his new “MySymbol” jersey No. 5 TP5x golf ball at The Masters. Morikawa’s choice of symbols is likely tied to his love of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.

Not enough changes for you? There’s one more.

On Wednesday at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Morikawa was spotted with a new TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron in the bag. If you recall, it’s the same model that Rory McIlroy debuted at the 2024 Valero Texas Open.

According to Morikawa, the new Proto 4-iron will replace his old P-770 hollow-bodied 4-iron.

“I used to hit my P-770 on a string, but sometimes the distance would be a little unpredictable,” Morikawa told GolfWRX.com. “This one launches a touch higher, and I feel I can predict the distance better. I know Rory replaced his P-760 with it. I’m liking it so far.” 

See Morikawa’s full WITB from the 2024 RBC Heritage here. 

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Why Rory McIlroy will likely use the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper at the RBC Heritage

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Although we spotted Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper last week during practice rounds at the Masters, he ultimately didn’t decide to use the club in competition.

It seems that will change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage, played at the short-and-tight Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.

When asked on Wednesday following his morning Pro-Am if he’d be using the new, nostalgic BRNR Copper this week, McIlroy said, “I think so.”

“I like it,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday regarding the BRNR. “This would be a good week for it.”

 

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According to Adrian Rietveld, the Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, the BRNR Mini Driver can help McIlroy position himself properly off the tee at the tight layout.

Here’s what Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday:

“For someone like Rory, who’s that long at the top end of the bag, and then you put him on a course like Harbour Town, it’s tough off the tee. It’s tight into the greens, and you have to put yourself in position off the tee to have a shot into the green. It kind of reminds me of Valderrama in Spain, where you can be in the fairway and have no shot into the green.

“I’m caddying for Tommy [Fleetwood] this week, so I was walking the course last night and looking at a few things. There’s just such a small margin for error. You can be standing in the fairway at 300 yards and have a shot, but at 320 you don’t. So if you don’t hit a perfect shot, you could be stuck behind a tree. And then if you’re back at 280, it might be a really tough shot into the small greens.

“So for Rory [with the BRNR], it’s a nice course-specific golf club for him. He’s got both shots with it; he can move it right-to-left or left-to-right. And the main thing about this club has been the accuracy and the dispersion with it. I mean, it’s been amazing for Tommy.

“This was the first event Tommy used a BRNR last year, and I remember talking to him about it, and he said he couldn’t wait to play it at Augusta next year. And he just never took it out of the bag because he’s so comfortable with it, and hitting it off the deck.

“So you look at Rory, and you want to have the tools working to your advantage out here, and the driver could hand-cuff him a bit with all of the shots you’d have to manufacture.”

So, although McIlroy might not be making a permanent switch into the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper, he’s likely to switch into it this week.

His version is lofted at 13.5 degrees, and equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft.

See more photos of Rory testing the BRNR Mini here

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