Equipment

WRX Insider: Inside the bag of Ryan Palmer

Published

4 years ago

Oct 31, 2020

Ryan Palmer has seen a bit of a career resurgence in the last 9-12 months. The four-time PGA Tour winner has always been known as one of the most consistent ball strikers out there, but even more, a player who stays ridiculously loyal to his clubs.

Case in point: The irons he played before his current set. Palmer cycled through multiple sets of Titleist AP2 710’s for almost nine years. In that time, Titleist introduced four iterations of the AP2.

“Why would he do this?” you ask. “Because they worked,” is the answer.

The same can be said for multiple drivers, 3-woods, and 5-woods that stayed in the bag for 3-4 years at a time.

It might not seem like a big deal but on tour it is. OEMs cycle in new gear almost every year, and these days the equipment improves from cycle to cycle, so having a player like Palmer stick to certain parts for so long is a bit of a rarity. The only other players I know who do it at this rate would be Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer.

RP and I have become friends over the past couple of years, and his approach to equipment is what every golfer should aspire to: it has to work. And if it does, don’t ditch it until it breaks or something comes around that is significantly better.

Over the past 9 months, Ryan has made more changes to his bag than any over the past decade. He replaced a driver, a four-year-old 3-wood (M2), and a five-year-old 5-wood (R15).

But as you will see when we look a bit closer, the changes have been for the better in every capacity.

Driver: TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees, Upright Setting, 18G Back weight)
Shaft: Project X HZURDUS Smoke RDX USA Limited Edition 60 6.5 (D4, Tipped 1″, 45.25 Inches)

“This combo was good from the start. Faster and longer than my M6 setup. I wanted to draw it a little easier than my M6. We dialed it in with Shawn Mullin and True Temper. It started more left than I wanted, so Adrian went to work to help correct my start line. I still wanted to hit my fade off the tee. He went and changed the sleeve to half-degree flatter and boom…was exactly what I was looking for. I’m excited about what this driver has. Faster, longer, and more stable. Even my mishits are longer and not as offline. With the help of Shawn and True Temper and the great mind of Adrian, we dialed it in. Getting longer at 44 will add to the excitement 2021 will hold.”

According to TaylorMade’s Senior Tour Manager Adrian Rietveld

“The main fix was I found a sleeve that sat max 1/2 flatter for the driver, and I bent loft onto his 3-wood without telling him before I ran it out to him on the course. I knew the 3-wood was near perfect, and when he asked for a backup driver exactly the same, I knew that was money too. He is as good off the tee as anyone—in my top 10 for sure.”

3-wood: TaylorMade Sim Max ([email protected] degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZURDUS Smoke Green “Hulk” 70 6.5 (D4, Tipped 1.5″, 43 Inches)

According to Ryan, his old 3-wood was just fine, but it took a lot of work to turn it over, so on a hole like 13 at Augusta, he couldn’t hit the shot he wanted, with the SIM Max, not only can he turn it over at will, he has every other shot. Rietveld simply added .5 degrees of loft to get spin up a bit. RP says off the tee he can get 280-290 out of this no problem and is champing at the bit to get to Augusta with it.

5-wood: TaylorMade SIM Max (19 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZURDUS Smoke RDX 80 6.5 (D4, Tipped 2″, 42 Inches)

How did this 5-wood finally bump the trusty R15 out of the bag? “It does everything way better. I loved my old 5-wood because I trusted it with multiple shots. When Adrian dialed me into this one, I added even more versatility to it and some distance, which I’ll never run away from.”

Irons: Srixon ZU85 (23), Srixon Z 785 (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Elevate VSS Pro X (4), KBS Tour 130 X (5-PW)

After his final set of 710 AP2 irons basically keeled over and died, RP tested a few sets and fell in love with the turf interaction of the Z785.

“I already get into the ground fine, so I like irons with a bit of bounce to add some speed through the turf. Once I had a chance to get around with these at home, it was pretty clear that they were an ideal replacement to the 710. Now I just hope I can stockpile 20 sets.”

His U85 came after some testing with the Z585 4-iron he played for a few months. He liked but didn’t love that iron for a few reasons but it was a shaft test with the U85/Elevate combo that won him over.

“I was at a tournament and finally brought this combo out to try and VERY quickly knew it was a gamer. I can hit it up/down/left/right and it flies to my number with a nice descent angle. It’s the first time I’ve had that much versatility with a club between my 5-wood and 5-iron. The shaft was the key—it’s simply awesome.”

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50-08F, 56-10S @55, 60-04L)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X (50), KBS Tour 120 S (56, 60)

SPECS Length/Lie/SW

50: 35.5/63/D3
56@55: 35.25/63/D3
60: 35/63/D3

According to Vokey’s Aaron Dill, Palmer is fairly low maintenance when it comes to his wedges.

“RP is a pure feel player with impeccable tempo. It may look like he’s gliding thru the ball but with his lag and great hands, he not only creates great speed at the bottom when he needs to but can also take a lot off with little thought. The only real tweak we have made lately is going to a softer shaft (KBS 120 S) in his 55/60. This helps with feel obviously but also added a bit more spin out of those shorter shots.”

Putter: Odyssey Rossie II

“I tried some different putters over the past year or so, but this one just has so much history for me. I’ve used it since college, and no matter what, I can always go back to it and feel at home.”

– Ryan Palmer

Grip: Flat Cat

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

58R/+3 wraps/Logo Down

ONLY WADE LILES on TM truck does his grips, no one else.

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x ‘21

“I’m killing this thing. It’s really fast off the driver.”

Carry Distance (Stock)

Driver: 295

Swing speed: 117 (Stock) 120 (Hard)
Ball speed: 175 (Stock) Low 180 (Hard)
Spin: 2100-2200 (Stock) 1800-1900 (Hard)
Launch: Try to stay at 12-13 degrees

3-wood: 265 carry off ground. 275 carry off tee

5-wood: 245 off ground. Stinger 5-wood flies 230-240 and runs out to 270-280

U: 225

5: 200-205

6: 190

7: 175-180

8: 165

9: 152-155

PW: 142-145

50 degree: 130

56 degree: 115

60 degree: 92-95

Your Reaction?

LIKE133
LEGIT17
WOW6
LOL1
IDHT0
FLOP1
OB1
SHANK7

Whats in the Bag

Richy Werenski WITB 2024 (May)

Published

18 hours ago

May 2, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Richy Werenski what’s in the bag accurate as of the CJ Cup Houston Open.

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana PD 60 TX

3-wood: Titleist TSR2 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 8 X

Check out more in-hand photos of Richy Werenski’s clubs in the forums.

Hybrid: Titleist TSR3 (19 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White Hybrid 90 TX

Irons: Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 105 S

Check out more in-hand photos of Richy Werenski’s clubs in the forums.

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46-10F, 50-12F), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (54-M, 58-L @60)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Onyx (46-50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Onyx (54-60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron prototype

Check out more in-hand photos of Richy Werenski’s clubs in the forums.

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash

Grips: Golf Pride ZGrip Cord

Check out more in-hand photos of Richy Werenski’s clubs in the forums.

Your Reaction?

LIKE1
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

Equipment

Adam Scott testing green “Masters Use Only” putter + 6 interesting equipment photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson

Published

18 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Andrew Tursky

Welcome to the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson event at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, which, for your geographical reference, is about 25 minutes from Dallas.

In early-week equipment news, we saw some interesting putter testing from Adam Scott, a Maxfli golf ball signing on the PGA Tour, a 16-year-old’s WITB, a PGA Tour player using another PGA Tour player’s backup putter, and Jordan Spieth weighed in on why he recently switched out just his 7-iron (and then made a hole-in-one with it).

With so much to report and so little time to waste on the intro, let’s get right into this week’s equipment rundown from the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

See all of our photo galleries from the week here

Adam Scott’s new L.A.B. putters

Before we get into a couple of the new prototypes Scott has been testing, above is a photo of the L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Max prototype putter that he’s been using, and will likely continue to use this week in Texas.

That being said, following the Masters, Scott was looking to try a couple putters with a slightly lighter weight to help with his feel on fast greens.

One of the new prototypes we spotted on Tuesday was a L.A.B. Golf DF3 “Proto 2.1”, custom-built with Scott’s preferred blue colorway, and an Australia-inspired Kangaroo laser engraving…

We also spotted him with a green-colored “For Masters Use Only” Mezz.1 Max prototype…

While it’s unlikely Scott will make a switch this week, it’s certainly something to keep an eye on going forward, especially on courses with faster greens.

We also got a peek into Scott’s full WITB this week, which consists of a super-mixed set of Srixon irons, including a ZX Utility 3-iron, a ZX-5 MkII 4-iron, ZX-7 MkII mid-irons (5-7) and Z Forged II short irons (8-9).

See Scott’s full WITB from the CJ Cup here

An update on Daniel Berger’s Odyssey Jailbird

Last week in New Orleans, we highlighted Daniel Berger’s Ai-One Jailbird Mini putter because of its unique sightlines.

Well, we have an update.

According to Callaway Tour Manager Joe Toulon, who spoke with GolfWRX.com this week, Berger’s Jailbird Mini is actually from fellow Tour player Tom Kim’s stash. Kim is a prolific putter tester, and the exact putter Berger is currently using was actually originally made for and tested by Kim. The putter didn’t make it into Kim’s starting lineup, however, so he gave the putter back to Odyssey, and it eventually made it’s way onto Berger’s gamer roster.

Jordan Spieth’s new 7-iron

As the story goes, Jordan Spieth changed out his Titleist T100 7-iron on Wednesday before the 2024 Valero Texas Open, and then on Thursday, he used the 7-iron to make a hole-in-one from 199 yards on the 16th hole.

Good timing on that switch, Jordan.

On Tuesday at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson, GoflWRX.com caught up with Spieth to get the full story on why he switched just the 7-iron.

Our full story is over on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, but here’s a snippet of what Spieth had to say:

“I hit my 7-iron a lot, especially on my own. The spin rates, relative to my 6-iron and my 8-iron, were lower, so it was going too far. I was trying to figure out why, if it was something in the makeup of the iron. I got the lies and the lofts checked, and everything was fine. So finally I was like, ‘Can I just get a new one and see if it fixes it?’

“Maybe there was one other time throughout my career where I changed just one iron, so it’s very unusual. I think it’s just because the grooves were worn down from hitting it too much.”

Ben Griffin signs with Maxfli to play the golf ball

At the beginning of the year, LPGA Tour star Lexi Thompson signed a deal with Maxfli to play the company’s golf ball, and now, Griffin has officially joined team Maxfli, as well, thus expanding the company’s Tour presence.

GolfWRX.com caught up with Griffin on Wednesday in Texas for a video interview about his new golf ball of choice, and how he marks it…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

A 16-year-old is playing on the PGA Tour this week, using a 2-iron!

Amateur golfer Kris Kim, at just 16 years of age, is making his PGA Tour debut this week after receiving a sponsors exemption into the event. In 2023, Kim won both the R&A Boys’ Amateur Championship and the European Boys’ International Championship.

On Tuesday in Texas, we got a look into Kim’s bag, which revealed that he’s currently playing a TaylorMade P-770 2-iron, and a bag full of TaylorMade clubs.

Check out Kim’s full WITB here

A smart golf ball stamping

I’m not going to sit here and pretend to be a big math guy, because I’m not. However, I do recognize David Nyfjall’s purple ball marking as a square root symbol.

While I don’t know the particular significance of the square root symbol for Nyfjall, I do know you have to be fairly intelligent to even consider using a marking like that. Pretty cool stuff from the Northwestern alum, and 2023 Byron Nelson Award winner.

And, with that, we say goodbye to Texas and TPC Craig Ranch. We’ll see you next week at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte for more insider equipment news and storylines.

For now, don’t forget to check out all of our photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson

Your Reaction?

LIKE4
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

Whats in the Bag

Wesley Bryan WITB 2024 (May)

Published

21 hours ago

May 2, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Wesley Bryan what’s in the bag accurate as of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max (9 degrees @10)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana GT 50 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana GT 60 X

Check out more in-hand photos of Wesley Bryan’s clubs here.

Hybrid: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus Rescue (19.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Blue 8 X

Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Takomo 101U (4), Takomo 101T (5), Takomo 301 CB (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Check out more in-hand photos of Wesley Bryan’s clubs here.

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 52-08F, 56-14F), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (58-A)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400