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Bettinardi releases military-inspired BB8-Wide Armageddon putter in honor of those who have served

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Bettinardi Golf has unveiled its limited-run military-inspired BB8-Wide Armageddon putter in honor of those who have served, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Veteran Golfers Association.

Limited to 250 pieces worldwide, the new release from Bettinardi features a unique full tactical F.I.T. Face over Honeycomb face milling which is designed for extra soft feel at impact. The neck, bumpers, and sole of the flat-stick features engravings inspired by military insignias used in the army.

Handpainted in a military-themed “sniper” navy, gray and white color scheme, the putter is milled to 355 grams from Soft Carbon steel and comes with a matching Made in USA headcover and a red Lamkin Deep Etched Cord grip.

 

The BB8-Wide Armageddon putter costs $550 and will be available to buy at Bettinardi specialty dealers around the globe on May 23, and online in the Hive on Bettinardi.com.

 

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Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected].

12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. Kevin

    May 21, 2019 at 2:41 am

    I would agree with previous posts about this not honoring Veterans. I served in the Marines and can tell you this is not how you honor veterans. I like the previous poster’s idea of donating all or most of profits to Wounded Warrior Project. At least offer a large price discount for Veterans. Now I like Bettinardi putters a lot, and understand that a company can’t just give a bunch of product out for free, but seriously Bettinardi you guys can do better than this.

  2. JP

    May 18, 2019 at 1:48 pm

    Bettinardi has only honored profits here. If you want to honor those that have served, how about making a true limited edition of 100 and donate ALL proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project? I’d get behind that one!
    .
    How about honoring Fire House 54 that responded to the Workd Trade Center? Make a limited run of 54 putters and have those monies donated to the charity of choice of Fire House 54?
    .
    Do something more than line your own pockets with these putters that “honor” people.

  3. Jordan

    May 17, 2019 at 12:10 pm

    You mean you don’t like it when an overweight middle-aged non-veteran shows up at the golf course with that Ping camo stand bag and headcovers? Weird, who would have thought.

  4. Adam

    May 17, 2019 at 11:52 am

    Bettinardi is over-saturating and devaluing their brand by releasing all these “limited edition” putters

    • Will

      May 18, 2019 at 10:29 am

      How do you figure? They release a limited putter once a quarter and 20-24 Hive putters a month that are one of one.

      I think the theme is cool, on a headstyle that is not offered at retail. Nice work Bob and Co!

  5. Joe Taylor

    May 17, 2019 at 11:09 am

    Completely agree with Garrick. Shameless marketing.

  6. Garrick

    May 17, 2019 at 10:59 am

    Another gimmick to cash in on American “patriotism”. As an army vet I dont feel honored and I’m sick of the exploitation.

    • D

      May 17, 2019 at 12:19 pm

      Commercialism for the sake of “just sell” in the capitalist world of America is what’s devaluing the country and Betti can stuff it along with Parsons

    • gunmetal

      May 17, 2019 at 2:52 pm

      Thank you for your service. I could totally see your (and others who have chimed in) point – but where they are donating a portion of the proceeds to the Veterans Golfer Association, I think there’s still a win there, no?

      I did not serve. But I have two brothers who are active duty. Is it wrong for me to have a Ping camo bag or play this putter? Serious question as I always thought the only thing I was doing was in a very small way showing support by doing this. The last thing I would want to do would be to offend or annoy anyone in our military.

      • W

        May 17, 2019 at 9:52 pm

        Instead of spending the money to make these things and then selling them to make money on them, of which only a portion of given to charity and the rest pocketed for profit, why not just give the money in whole in the first place? They can still wave the flag and take photos being patriotic or whatever.
        No need to waste time and resources making objects that are overpriced and sit around more than actually used. They cash money will be used constantly.

        • Steve

          May 19, 2019 at 12:18 am

          They’re a putter company, not a charity.

      • Steve

        May 19, 2019 at 12:21 am

        No, it is not wrong and it’s not disrespectful of you in any way, shape, or form. If you like the bag, use it. If you like the putter, play it. Stop worrying so much about what others think.

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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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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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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

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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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