Equipment
WRX Insider: Jimmy Walker going back to steel at Colonial
It all started with an experiment during lockdown. It’s late March and 2016 PGA Champion Jimmy Walker is bored…so he breaks out his old 42-inch Titleist 970 3-wood with a Dynamic Gold X100 shaft (circa 2000) and starts ripping a few.
Odds are it’ll feel great but the numbers won’t actually hold up…right?
Now it needs to be said that I interact with Jimmy from time to time via text having met last year through Claude Harmon at the Canadian Open. He’s an awesome human being, one of the best out there. How can you not like a guy that’s kind, humble, loves BBQ, four fingers of whiskey, a good telescope, and talking gear. Hell, the guy is a unicorn in my book.
One of the most entertaining aspects to him is his pure love of gear and especially the classics. When I say classics, I mean late 90s/early 2000 classics. The guy knows his stuff. So for both of us to see the numbers above and realize what was possible was a total nerd parade. The question at that point was, if the 970 does this, what will TS3 do?
Zap ahead a month later and I get this picture…
Jimmy then proceeded to start testing this thing, and low and behold the numbers were solid. Even better, it felt like a hammer. That’s the feeling he was chasing.
Now, at this point, I’m inspired. I’m online trying to find 45-inch X100’s, which are hard to find FYI. JJ Van Wezenbeeck (Titleist tour rep) had to dig around and dust off some old stock to get this done for Walker.
So now what? He won’t take this any further will he? Is it possible to go steel in a TS3? Will it even function?
Then I get this picture…
Followed by these numbers…
To which I replied….
Will it pan out? Who knows but for a gear head like me, I’m rooting hard for a win. I’m grateful I was able to be a small fly on the wall for this experiment.
I love this guy.
Driver, 3-wood specs
Driver: Titleist TS3 (8.5 degrees @ 7.75, C1 setting)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X-100 (44 inches, tipped to length)
3 wood: Titleist TS3 (15 degrees @ 14.25, C1 setting)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X-100 (42 inches, tipped to length)
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- Kevin Streelman what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X
3-wood: Titleist TSR3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X
5-wood: Ping G (17.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 10 X
Irons: Wilson Staff Model CB (4-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5
Wedges: Wilson Staff Model (48-08, 54-08), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-L @59)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (48), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (54, 58)
Putter: Scotty Cameron TourType SSS TG6
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Streelman’s clubs here.
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The year was 2012. Gangnam Style ruled supreme, its infectious beats and ludicrous horse-riding dance moves hypnotizing us with their stupidity. Everyone was talking about the Mayan calendar, convinced that the end of days was near. Superheroes soared on the silver screen, with the Avengers assembling in epic fashion. Katniss Everdeen survived The Hunger Games. And the memes! The memes abounded. Grumpy Cat triumphed. We kept calm and carried on.
In much the same way that automotive enthusiasts love classic cars, we at GolfWRX love taking a backward glance at some of the iconic designs of years past. Heck, we love taking iconic designs to the tee box in the present!
In that spirit, GolfWRX has been running a series inspired by arguably the greatest fighting game franchise of all time: Mortal Kombat. It’s not “choose your fighter” but rather “choose your driver.”
Check out some of the standout combatants of 2012 below.
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Nike VRS
Often harshly critiqued during its years releasing golf equipment (right, Phil Mickelson?), Nike’s tenure in the club-and-ball business gets a gloss of nostalgic varnish, with many of its iron and putter designs continuing to attract admirers. Among the company’s driver offerings, the 2012 VRS — or VR_S, if you will — drew high marks for its shaping and toned-down appearance. The multi-thickness, NexCOR face was no joke either.
Check out our coverage from 2012 here.
Callaway RAZR Fit
Callaway’s first foray into moveable weight technology (married with its OptiFit hosel) did not disappoint. With a carbon fiber crown, aerodynamic attention to detail, and variable and hyperbolic face technologies, this club foreshadowed the tech-loaded, “story in every surface” Callaway drivers of the present, AI-informed design age.
Check out our coverage from 2012 here.
Cleveland Classic 310
Truly a design that came out of left field. Cleveland said, “Give me a persimmon driver, but make it titanium…in 460cc.” Our 2012 reviewer, JokerUsn wrote, “I don’t need to elaborate on all the aesthetics of this club. You’ve seen tons of pics. You’ve all probably seen a bunch in the store and held them up close and gotten drool on them. From a playing perspective, the color is not distracting. It’s dark enough to stay unobtrusive in bright sunlight…Even my playing partners, who aren’t into clubs at all…commented on it saying it looks cool.” Long live!
Check out our coverage from 2012 here.
Titleist 910
While there’s no disputing Titleist’s “Titleist Speed” era of drivers perform better than its 2010s offerings, sentimentality abounds, and there was something classically Titleist about these clubs, right down to the alignment aid, and the look is somewhere between 983 times and the present TS age. Representing a resurgence after a disappointing stretch of offerings (907, 909), The 910D2 was a fairly broadly appealing driver with its classic look at address and classic Titleist face shape.
Check out our coverage from 2012 here.
TaylorMade RocketBallz
The white crown. The name. You either loved ‘em or you hated ‘em. TaylorMade’s 2012 offering from its RocketBallz Period boasted speed-enhancing aerodynamics and an Inverted Cone Technology in the club’s titanium face. Technology aside, it’s impossible to overstate what a departure from the norm a white-headed driver was in the world of golf equipment.
Check out our coverage from 2012 here.
Ping i20
Long a quietly assertive player in the driver space, Ping’s i20 was more broadly appealing than the G20, despite being a lower-launch, lower-spin club. Ping drivers didn’t always have looks that golfer’s considered traditional or classic, but the i20 driver bucked that trend. Combining the classic look with Ping’s engineering created a driver that better players really gravitated toward. The i20 offered players lower launch and lower spin for more penetrating ball flight while the rear 20g tungsten weights kept the head stable. Sound and feel were great also, being one of the more muted driver sounds Ping had created up to that time.
Check out our coverage from 2012 here.
GolfWRXers, let us know in the comments who “your fighter” is and why!
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Equipment
Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/29/24): Krank Formula Fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft
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 Krank Formula fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft.
From the seller: (@well01): “Krank formula fire 10.5 degree with AUtoflex SF505. $560 shipped.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Krank Formula Fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft
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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Imafitter
Jun 9, 2020 at 10:21 pm
Will be fun to watch him play with these clubs this week. Met him when I was a volunteer driving players at the PGA two years ago…very nice guy!
Tom
Jun 9, 2020 at 10:17 pm
Not a club building expert, so please be gentle… if I wanted to try to build a 3 wood like this could I use a X100 1 iron shaft (42 in) or would that not turn out right
DeepRed
Jun 9, 2020 at 2:14 pm
Great, I just converted my fairway wood to graphite, mostly because my favorite club in my Maltby 23* hybrid, now I need to dig out the steel Rocket shafted three wood and consider yet another driver, either another of my Rocket shafts, a Rifle 6.5 or a Microtaper S.
Neil Cameron
Jun 9, 2020 at 1:29 am
Jimmys shafts were tipped to lenghth,same as Tiger did
I think Matt was using non tipped shafts(i think) which would be too soft for Matt.I remember the x100 shaft for woods was not very stiff.
ps I am a huge fan of TXG
brian
Jun 9, 2020 at 8:16 am
His dispersion was fine, but he lost something like 6mph of clubhead speed, his efficiency numbers took a dive and, of course, the ball speed some some 11mph lower with the steel shaft.
Rob
Jun 8, 2020 at 11:29 pm
I would agree with the 3 wood as I also have a steel shaft in my old Adams 3 wood…the heaver shaft just seems to work great in the 3 wood….I tried the steel shaft in an old Callaway driver but was not happy at all with that one.
Benny
Jun 8, 2020 at 6:56 pm
Awesome article and even better comments. Thanks boys!
Rule 15.3a
Jun 8, 2020 at 4:56 pm
Is he still backstopping for his buddies?
Delbert
Jun 8, 2020 at 11:33 am
I hit X100s straight and decent length. That’s all that matters is getting it in play on most days. It will be interesting to see how others react if he wins or places. Finding the right graphite shaft is like trying to find the right pair of jeans. With steel, you just hit it hard.
Topher
Jun 8, 2020 at 11:32 am
Any idea of the swingweight of these woods?
Dave
Jun 8, 2020 at 4:24 pm
D-Heavy. Or, Heavy D. Either way I’m super curious what it feels like.
Kevin Ricciardelli
Jun 8, 2020 at 4:25 pm
D5
joro
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:57 am
A lot of people think that heavier is still better than the light stuff being used today. I was a Master Wood Maker for Cobra and in my own game hit the steel shafted Driver around 260 pretty consistently and that was with a Wood hear with a COF of 7.5 which is nothing compared to todays Ti Meta, Graphite, bounce, faces that go to a COF of 8.3 and more. So I can see where with the extra weight and a fast swing good distance and especially more accuracy can be achieved. I think a guy like Phil would be better off with the accuracy of steel and maybe give up a few years to keep it on the Planet. But of course his ego will be affected if he is not the longest out there. Accurate he is not, long he is but where it goes nobody knows.
stanley
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:31 am
interesting. i hate to be a doubter but i think it’s safe to say that he will go back to his graphite shaft sooner than later.
gwelfgulfer
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:11 am
Golfworks here in Canada blew the remaining stock of DG woods shafts a couple of years ago, so I picked up a few to try out. Currently have an X100 in a 10.5* 9015D @ 44″. Feels great, lower flight that rolls out nicely. I also picked up some OG Rifle 7.0 and 6.0’s years ago and have them in some fairway woods, interesting to say the least with the 7.0’s in a wood (currently in a Wishon 949MC 16.5*).
Tommy
Jun 8, 2020 at 9:16 am
I’d want to know how the TS3 numbers with a graphite shaft compare to the TS3 steel shaft numbers, including ball speed, spin rate and dispersion. Hard to say whether it is worthwhile going back to steel without that comparison…
gwelfgulfer
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:06 am
These guys go more by ‘eye’ than numbers when you’re at the top. They have different needs/wants than just being ‘optimized’ for distance. Take the experiment that Woodland did a couple years ago dropping down to a 4wd and steel shaft and still flying it over 300. With graphite, his gapping was bad at the top of the bag.
Brandon
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:35 pm
In another article on Walker’s shafts it said he lost a little distance in the steel but it was good because his gapping was better. His next club is 3 iron with he can hit 240 so now he can add a 64 degree instead of the 5 wood or whatever he dropped.
brian
Jun 8, 2020 at 9:10 am
The TXG guys did a video on this and their results did not match Jimmy Walker’s.
chip75
Jun 8, 2020 at 9:50 am
Matty was losing a lot of club speed with the steel shaft, if Jimmy is losing an equal amount he’d be giving up a club or two. Would be interesting to see comparison numbers. 121.5 mph is pretty fast for the X-100. Being a “Steel Guy” I’ve always wanted to see the test, but after TXG’s results, I’m not sure if further study is required, perhaps another few brave souls are needed …
Jack Nash
Jun 8, 2020 at 8:55 am
Would love to see Jimmy in the winners circle again. Plus winning with a steel shaft? The graph boys would be spinning.
EastpointeCC
Jun 8, 2020 at 8:49 am
This is priceless. I would love to see a large sample size. My guess is that the dispersion will be much larger than modern graphite but who knows. This also highlights just how insanely good these guys are.
William
Jun 8, 2020 at 8:15 am
I had to email True Temper about X100 driver shafts. They don’t make them anymore but still have a few “in stock” that can be custom ordered.
Picked up a 970 15* and a 7.5* underline 975D to build out a Tiger Slam bag. Who knew the X100 shafts would be harder to acquire than T blades or a 970 fairway wood now.