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Interesting photos from the Waste Management Open Monday qualifier

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If you haven’t already had the chance to dive into the 10 galleries of pictures we have from the Monday qualifier for the Waste Management Phoenix Open being held at McCormick Ranch Golf Club, Pine Course, check them out here in the GolfWRX Tour & Pre-release Equipment forum.

The reason this is an important event to cover is because the WMPO Monday qualifier is one of the toughest on the PGA Tour based on the strength and size of the file, which includes multiple tour winners, and for the simple fact it only offers three spots compared to the traditional four.

But if you are looking to get the Cliff’s Notes version of what we saw at the event here are the top things we’ve spotted.

Lots of pushcarts

Not everyone has the luxury of using a caddie, and there were lots of pushcarts out there.

Sorry folks, mats only today

It doesn’t matter who you are, you have to follow the rules, even if you are Billy Mayfair and have over 23 million dollars in career earnings.

Cross-handed golfer

Raw Callaway MB and X-Forged

You don’t have to be on tour to get the cool stuff, and as far as irons go, raw Callaways are high up there.

Akshay Bhatia

The smooth swinging lefty—who is still a teenager by the way—is doing everything he can to get starts, and that means playing Monday qualifiers.

Rife still kicking

Rife as a company is long gone, but if you have a putter you love, why change?

Lots of tour players

Everyone from young guns, to tour veterans, were out, including Ricky Barnes, a player who has over 300 PGA Tour events under his belt, and Aaron Baddeley, another player with over $20 million in career earnings.

Also full credit on the Callaway major bag flex from Ollie Schniederjans from the 2018 U.S. Open.

Local Golf clubs

Lots of cool clubs can be found in the bags of Monday qualifiers including direct to consumer brand New Level.

Don’t bet against this guy

Don’t lie, if a golfer rolled up to you on the first tee with these old Ping irons in the bag, you wouldn’t think much about it, unless they belong to a five-time PGA Tour winner.

Oldies

When you have something that works, stick with it, and for Monday Qualifiers there much be a lot of old goodies that are working well including a Nike Method putter.

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Ryan Barath is a club-fitter & master club builder with more than 17 years of experience working with golfers of all skill levels, including PGA Tour players. He is the former Build Shop Manager & Social Media Coordinator for Modern Golf. He now works independently from his home shop and is a member of advisory panels to a select number of golf equipment manufacturers. You can find Ryan on Twitter and Instagram where he's always willing to chat golf, and share his passion for club building, course architecture and wedge grinding.

10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Beast

    Feb 2, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    That Taylormade M2 is the holy grail of Driver

  2. Austin

    Feb 2, 2021 at 8:36 pm

    Who’s the cross handed golfer? He does that on all his swings?

  3. Justin

    Feb 2, 2021 at 4:58 pm

    This is awesome! Thanks Ryan

  4. Paul Runyan

    Feb 2, 2021 at 4:37 pm

    Great work Ryan!

    MP 64’s and MP 33’s. Says something.

  5. CrashTestDummy

    Feb 2, 2021 at 3:27 pm

    This is a really great article. Shows the realities of the PGA tour and pro golf. It unbelievable how deep pro golf has become when you have such notable names having to qualify.

  6. Ray

    Feb 2, 2021 at 2:51 pm

    Great pictures. Monday Qualifiers are big part of tour and all the clubs these players play are pretty cool.

  7. Golfer

    Feb 2, 2021 at 12:18 pm

    Great stuff

  8. Dom

    Feb 2, 2021 at 12:14 pm

    What a great post. I would love to see more of this. In normal years, can you go watch Monday qualifiers?

    • Ryan Barath

      Feb 2, 2021 at 1:37 pm

      Yes – you can very easily go out and watch Monday Q’s.

      • Brandon

        Feb 2, 2021 at 7:38 pm

        Who was the 5 time winner with the Ping G irons? Mayfair?

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Whats in the Bag

Chesson Hadley WITB 2024 (March)

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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)

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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

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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!

 

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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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