Equipment
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Tour Truck Report: What’s David Duval playing? Min Woo Lee debut, Rickie’s new ball
Pretty quiet week on the equipment front, but we were able to snag a few nuggets. With the Tour heading to Riv next week, there’s sure to be a ton more action on the Tour Truck Report front.
Titleist
Patrick Cantlay added a Fujikura Ventus Black 10 TX HY to his Titleist 816 H2 Hybrid (21 @21.75 degrees, B1 Setting).
Jimmy Walker put a T100 3-iron in play swapping out his TSi2 5-wood for this week. The 3-iron is shafted with a True Temper AMT Tour White X100.
TaylorMade
Overall, a pretty mellow week on the TaylorMade front with the biggest news being Rickie Fowler finally dialed into the new ’21 TP5 Pix golf ball.
Beau Hossler got his SIM2 Max dialed in (12 degrees @10) with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6 X (Black).
Kevin Chappell (non-staff) was testing an Aldila Tour Concept 60 TX shaft in his SIM2 Max.
Seung-Yul Noh (Non-Staff) tested the Aldila Ascent 60 TX in a SIM2.
Ping
Andrew Landry is testing a Ping PLD Anser 4 with a sight line on top rail.
Matthew NeSmith (non-staffer) was testing Ping G425 LST driver with Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X, Atmos Black 7 X, and MCA Tensei AV Raw White 75 TX.
Callaway
Big news this week is Australian Min Woo Lee will be making his PGA Tour debut this week at Pebble. The long-hitting phenom who won the 2020 Vic Open on the European Tour will also be making a start at the WGC at the end of the month.
Min Woo Lee WITB
Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS (9.0 degrees, N-S setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana TB 70TX
3-wood: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero ‘Tour Only” Adjustable (15@14)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana TB 80TX
Hybrid: Callaway Apex Pro 20
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Blue HY 90TX
Irons: (4-PW) Callaway X-Forged CB ’21 (Raw)
Shafts: Project X LS 7.0 130G
Wedges: Callaway MD5 Jaws “Raw” (52-10S, 56-10S) Callaway MD4 “Raw” (60S Custom Grind)
Shafts: Nippon Pro Modus3 120X
Putter: Odyssey O-Works #1W
Ball: Callaway CSX
Doug Ghim put a fresh set of Callaway Apex TCB irons in the bag (4-PW) with Project X 6.5 shafts.
Francesco Molinari put an Epic Speed 3-wood (15 degrees) in the bag with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X.
Jim Furyk put a Fujikura Motore F3 7 X in his Epic Speed fairway wood (15 degrees), as well as a Ventus Blue 9 X HY in his X Forged ’19 3-iron.
Scott Garrison/KBS
Charl Schwartzel had a SIK “Flo” putter built with some weight taken out of the back and an LAGP graphite shaft.
Free Agents/Misc:
DD is in the HOUSE!
David Duval WITB
Driver: Titleist TSi3 (9.0 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei Orange CK Pro 60TX
3-wood: Titleist TSi2 (15)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei Blue CK Pro 70TX
Irons: Titleist U500 (3) Titleist T100 (4-PW)
Shafts: (3) KBS Proto Hybrid 105X (4-PW) True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue 120 X100
Wedges: Cobra Custom Raw (50, 54, 59)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Golf Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron
Ball: Titleist Pro V1X
Brandt Snedeker put a Fujikura Motore F1 6 X in his TaylorMade SIM2/Max drivers (testing both heads) and is testing Motore F1 7x in his SIM2 fairway woods.
Kyle Stanley is testing a Fujikura EVO 7 661 TX is his PXG Proto (9 degrees) driver.
Ryan Moore was seen testing an Axis Tour S Putter
Chris Kirk, who was will be a guest on The Gear Dive this week, showed up to Pebble with this setup…
Driver: Callaway GBB (9.0 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Kuro Kage XTS 60TX
3-wood: Srixon ZX (15)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80TX
7-Wood: Titleist TSi2 (21@20)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90TX
Irons: Titleist TMB (4) Titleist 718CB (5) Titleist 718MB (6-9)
Shafts: Project X LZ 6.5 125
Wedges: Vokey SM8 (48-10F, 52-8F, 56-8M, 60-04L)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S200
Putter: Odyssey Proto
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x ’21
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Whats in the Bag
Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)
- Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
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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Equipment
Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?
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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Equipment
Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird
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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William Davis
Feb 12, 2021 at 10:46 am
Loved Ricky’s baby-blue babygrow outfit yesterday.
Ricardo Fowler
Feb 11, 2021 at 10:03 pm
@jgpl001…”If he was a Golfwrx member this would be ok and expected, but he is a tour pro.” THEE best line of the month! So freakin’ funny! And TRUE! Did I mention I have a cool set of imaginary blades? Love my Zunos MP20 HMBeeeeees!!
Benny
Feb 11, 2021 at 7:31 pm
Love the comments. Wasn’t DD with PXG a year ago, then Cobra last and now Titliest? Maybe he is just collecting bags and gear to sell on Golfwrx?
Chris Kirk- love this guy. Recovering like myself. Not affraid to play what works and if anyone wants his GBB TC 9.0 head I have one with an ATX Green Tour stiff ready to rock.
Bladehunter
Feb 11, 2021 at 10:15 am
Truth is *
Bladehunter.
Feb 11, 2021 at 10:14 am
Trusty is Rickies irons are likely some of the easiest on tour to hit. Folks are scared of what they don’t know.
Miles
Feb 11, 2021 at 9:23 am
Kuch sucks
The domestic donkey
Feb 11, 2021 at 9:23 am
Kuch is a d-bag
Tom
Feb 10, 2021 at 9:36 pm
Chris Kirks 5 iron is clearly a CB
John Wunder
Feb 11, 2021 at 10:01 am
Good catch there. Thanks. Im not immune to a mistake lol. Thankfully I have you Gearheads to keep it a float.
Dan Ball
Feb 10, 2021 at 7:31 pm
Rickie should go back to the ProV1….he’s done nothing since switching to the Taylor Made soccer ball.
Brandon
Feb 10, 2021 at 8:21 pm
He should also go back to playing irons a human can hit.
jgpl001
Feb 11, 2021 at 4:40 am
He really is suffering from I wanna look cool playing brutal blades and it ain’t working.
If he was a Golfwrx member this would be ok and expected, but he is a tour pro
JDthehog
Feb 11, 2021 at 11:53 pm
report back after you check the stats on his iron play and go hit his irons
CMY
Feb 10, 2021 at 9:20 pm
He needs to be a Titleist Staffer. Same set up as Justin Thomas minus the putter.