Equipment
Sony Open Tour Truck Report: CH3 newest Ventus Black convert, free agent testing, and Srixon has two new staffers
With no tour trucks on site until the West Coast Swing begins next week, we had to scrape and claw for every morsel of information for this week’s report. And with the time difference in Hawaii, we may get more info this evening and will update accordingly.
That said, let’s dig into this week’s Tour Truck Report.
Titleist
Charles Howell III put a new Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X in his Titleist TSi3. He was also testing new 4-irons to find a recipe that gapped a bit better with his Ping G410 7-wood and Titleist T100 5-iron.
TaylorMade
Lots of players staff and non-staff players going into SIM2.
Staff
- Nick Taylor: SIM2 w/ Fujikura Atmos Blue 6 X
Non Staff:
- DJ Trahan: SIM2
- Danny Lee: SIM2
- XJ Zhang: SIM2
Non Staff Testing
- SIM2/SIM2 Max: Jim Herman, Luke List, Henrik Norlander, James Hahn, Sung Kang, Kyle Stanley, Hudson Swafford
Collin Morikawa has the new TP5 Prototype ball in play and Sergio Garcia is in the new TP5X Proto.
Callaway
Jim Furyk went to a long stick with a 47-inch (tipped 3/4) Callaway Epic Proto Driver (9 degrees) with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X.
Will Gordon is also in the new Callaway Epic Proto (9 degrees) with a Ventus Black 6 X and was seeing ball speeds reach 190 mph.
Callaway announced the signing of Tyler McCumber who will be in a full bag of Callaway gear in 2021. We will update on what landed in the bag ASAP.
Si Woo Kim switching to a prototype Odyssey OG Putter
Srixon
Keegan Bradley added the new Srixon ZX7 irons (4-PW) replacing his trust Z745’s. The new irons come equipped with Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts.
Srixon also added two new staff members for 2021 PGA Tour veteran KJ Choi and 27 year old Matt Neismith.
Matt Neismith WITB
ZX7 Driver 9.5: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X
ZX Utility 18: Fujikura Atmos Blue Hybrid 85 X
Z-FORGED (4-PW): Nippon Modus 125 X
Wedges RTX Zip Core (50, 54, 58): KBS 610 Wedge 115g
K.J Choi WITB
ZX7 Driver 9.5
ZX7 (5-PW)
Wedges RTX Zip Core (50, 54, 58) w/ True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Free Agents
Not in the field at Sony, but two notable free agents Ryan Moore and Jason Day are in the midst of building new bags. Nothing is secure by any stretch but see below for what we heard they have been testing thus far.
Jason Day
Ping G425 LST Driver, Mizuno JPX921 Tour irons
Ryan Moore
TaylorMade SIM2, Titleist TSi2 and 3 fairways, Mizuno irons (multiple), Vokey Wedges
Also…
Vijay Singh put in a brand new Callaway Epic Proto driver at 46.5 inches with a Fujikura Atmos Black 5 TX shaft.
In regards to players who have signed with new companies, here is the list
PXG
- Sung Kang
- Jim Herman
Srixon
- Matt Neismith
- KJ Choi
Titleist
- Joseph Bramlett
- Fabian Gomez
- Nelson Ledesma
- Troy Merritt
- Sam Saunders
Callaway
- Jon Rahm
- Tyler McCumber
TaylorMade
- Tommy Fleetwood
Ping
- None
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Whats in the Bag
Chesson Hadley WITB 2024 (March)
- Chesson Hadley what’s in the bag accurate as of the Texas Children’s Houston Open. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 70 TX
3-wood: Titleist TSR2+ (14.5 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX
Irons: Titleist T200 (3), Titleist 620 CB (4, 5), Titleist 620 MB (6-PW)
Shafts: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 105 X (3), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG 2-Ball
Grip: Odyssey
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Check out more in-hand photos Chesson Hadley’s clubs here.
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Whats in the Bag
Gary Woodland WITB 2024 (March)
Driver: Cobra Darkspeed X (8 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TZ5 70 M5
- The white circle that appears at the top of the face a removable sticker that’s used for launch monitor tracking, and Woodland removes it for competition!
3-wood: Cobra Darkspeed X (14 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TZ5 GW100 Prototype
7-wood: Cobra LTDx LS prototype (20 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TZ5 GW100 Prototype
Irons: Wilson Staff (18 degrees), Cobra King MB (4-PW)
Shafts: KBS Tour C-Taper Limited X
Wedges: Cobra SB (48), Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52-08F, 56-14F), Cobra King (60)
Shafts: KBS Tour C-Taper Limited X (48 degrees), KBS Tour V-Ten 125
Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 3.0P
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
See more in-hand photos of Gary Woodland’s WITB in the forums.
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Equipment
Q&A: Martin Trainer on his Bobby Grace “Greg Chalmers” putter, 6.5-degree driver, and “butter knife” 2-iron
As unbiasedly as I can put it, Martin Trainer has one of the coolest club setups in professional golf. (At some point soon, I’ll put together a top-10 list of “coolest club setups on Tour,” but I know that Trainer will be in the top-10)
What a lineup. He plays a 6.5-degree Wilson prototype driver, a 13-degree Wilson prototype 3-wood, a true blade Wilson Staff Model 2-iron, and a Bobby Grace “Greg Chalmers Commemorative” putter!
View this post on Instagram
I mean, look at this 2-iron from address…
To quote the great author R.L. Stine: “Goosebumps.”
On Wednesday at the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open, I caught up with Trainer to learn more about his bag setup.
Here’s what he had to say:
You have the Internet going crazy over your bag setup, and your putter. Where’d you pick the Bobby Grace-Greg Chalmers putter up? How long have you had it?
MT: This was from when Bobby Grace came to my course in California: Cal Club. And for whatever reason, they just started having them in the shop. So then I took my buddy’s, started using it, and made, like, a million putts in a row, which is how every putter story begins, I guess.
And then, I bought a couple of my own, used it for years, got to the Tour with it, won on Tour with it (the 2019 Puerto Rico Open). Then, about a year later, started using another putter, did that for a couple years, but now it’s back in the bag.
When did it come back in the bag?
MT: December of this past year. So a few months ago.
What year would you say was the first time you threw that in the bag, or, like, when you bought it?
MT: God…Probably, 2016, maybe? 2018?
Do you remember how much you paid for it?
MT: I don’t know, actually. Maybe $100-150 bucks or something. I think that’s the only golf club I’ve bought between high school and now. Well, two, since I bought two of them.
The driver is interesting, too. What went into the prototyping process?
MT: That was a version of the current driver, but it was the prototype that they first came out with for Tour guys to try. And for whatever reason, I just never switched out to the new one.
It’s just 6.5 degrees, right?
MT: Yeah. Very low loft, yeah.
What kind of ball speed do you have with that these days?
MT: Like high 170’s.
Yeah, that’ll work. And then a 2-iron blade? We’re seeing fewer and fewer of those out here.
MT: Yeah. The butter knife.
Very cool thing to have in the bag. Have you done any testing with driving irons?
MT: Yeah, I used to have a thicker one, but it was a little offset, and I never hit it that well. And then finally, I started messing around with the butter knife. And I remember the first time I looked down at it, I was terrified. And then I ended up getting used to it, putting it in play, and it’s been in place since. It’s a pretty good club for me.
How far do you carry that?
MT: Like 235.
A good little wind club, I’m sure.
MTL Yeah, exactly. I can hit it very low. It’s great.
I love it. You have people shook looking at that. Thanks for the time, man.
MT: Absolutely.
To see more photos and discussion of Trainer’s bag, click here.
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A. Commoner
Jan 14, 2021 at 10:54 am
How do I benefit from knowing Tommy Downthestreet is now playing Acme brand golf clubs?
brian
Jan 14, 2021 at 8:45 am
More free agents looking at putting Mizuno irons in the bag…
Ben
Jan 13, 2021 at 10:33 pm
Jason Day following my footsteps. Lol. I literally put in an order fora Ping G425 lst driver and 921 tour irons.
jgpl001
Jan 14, 2021 at 6:24 am
Me too, the same G425 and 921 tour irons combo, plus some Vokey SM8 raw wedges
It must be the “to have combo for 2021″……….
Benny
Jan 14, 2021 at 8:43 am
Well if I sold all my pile of old gear I would also be in your boat fellas. Unfortunately I can only fream. One of the best set of irons I owned were JPX 900 Tours that were raw.