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An inside look at Callaway Apex UW on tour

Published

2 years ago

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Highlighted by Phil Mickelson’s early adoption, the Callaway Apex UW is having a bit of a moment in professional golf.

The fusion of elements of both hybrid and fairway wood and the absence of traditional drawbacks make it an intriguing option at the professional level and a club that better players are gravitating toward (including our Brian Knudson, who reviewed it on his Club Junkie podcast).

We spoke with Callaway’s PGA Tour manager Jacob Davidson about the rise of Apex UW on tour.

GolfWRX: We know the tech story of the UW. But from your perspective, where does the club succeed? How is both “utility” and “wood”?

Jacob Davidson: The great thing about Apex UW’s success is that Callaway has been leading the industry in this space, and it’s almost as if we’re creating a new category. With the increase in speed for a lot of these players, we want to make sure that fitting for a 5-wood or hybrid type of club is a focus for our players, when maybe they wouldn’t think about it as much in the past.

Using analytics, we really understood how important having a club that could work well as an option for high-speed guys and for players who maybe wanted something that provided a balance between a hybrid and a 5-wood, something that is versatile and that they can work both ways. It’s really filled a need in a lot of players’ bags and the reason that it’s been successful is that once we’ve explained it to them, and they’ve had the ability to test it, they quickly realized that maybe there was a hole that they didn’t even realize.

GolfWRX: What is it that appeals to tour pros, though? Why is this club working for them?

JD: It obviously allows for a fairway wood shaft which gives you a lot more options for tour guys, where they’re getting a shaft that they’re familiar with in their driver or 3-woods or even 5-woods. The ability to have a 2-hybrid, a 3-hybrid, or filling the gap of a 5-wood with a spin robustness that’s easier to a control, a flight that’s much better, and a sole design with forgiveness with the long heel-to-toe really allows guys to avoid that left miss that might peel off on them, especially off the tee.

GolfWRX: Who on Tour has put the UW in play?

JD: It’s been a popular choice already with our staff pros for guys like Marc Leishman, Phil Mickelson was the first to put it in play, Kevin Kisner, Wesley Bryan, and Adam Hadwin, among others. We’ve seen some strong conversions as well on the LPGA, Champions, and European Tours.

What’s especially stood out over the past few weeks is that more and more players who aren’t on Callaway’s staff are coming onto our tour truck and asking us to build UWs — more than we’ve seen for a club like this in a long time. There’s a lot of buzz, and we know we have a great product when guys who aren’t on our staff are asking for a club like this as much as they are.

GolfWRX: Can you share any stories about players testing and putting the UW in play?

JD: One thing we’ve really noticed initially is how happy players are after they try it — since it is a new category, and they didn’t know what to expect with how it would perform. Once they hit it, they usually love it. A few guys have delayed testing it because they were comfortable with their setup until they see other players hit it on the golf course, then they’re coming and asking for it.

Specifically, Tyler McCumber and Sam Burns weren’t early adopters for Apex UW, but they were coming to us because they saw other pros play with it in competition and they said, “Wow, that’s really good.”

GolfWRX: Sam Burns recently put a UW in play. A younger, higher-speed guy…what worked for him?

JD: He’s been playing an older Apex Hybrid, he’s liked it, he’s been playing well all year, and he’s probably the hottest golfer in the world so he’s very hesitant to make a change in his bag. However, we sent some to his house, where he did some initial testing. Then last week in Houston we really had a chance to work with him.

What he really liked about it is how aggressive the flight is without the ball spinning high up into the air. It launches quite a bit higher than his hybrid and spins less at a higher apex. For a guy like Sam who likes to work the ball slightly left or right, he couldn’t believe how neutral it was whether he was trying to take a little off a cut into a par 5, or flight it lower off the tee with a little bit of a draw. It gives him more versatility than his old hybrid.

GolfWRX: Why should better amateurs, who haven’t taken to hybrids in the past, give the UW a shot?

JD: Overall, this is the next thing for what a players hybrid can be. It gives you the benefits of hitting a reliable club into longer par 3s or second shots into par 5s where they can hold the green, particularly on firmer, faster conditions. This club gives them the height to do that without overspinning it when they get into conditions where they are slightly into the wind or they slightly mishit it. That ball is not going to spin into the upper 5,000 RPMS and come up 15-20 yards short. This club is a lot more forgiving in that aspect.

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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Ty Webb

    Jun 2, 2022 at 12:03 am

    That thing was a snap hook machine for me! More than any hybrid I’ve ever hit.

    Reply Report comment

  2. Peter

    Nov 24, 2021 at 10:54 am

    Sounds like it’s not a club for high single digit handicap players,??

    Reply Report comment

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

Published

9 hours ago

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May 10, 2024

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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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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

Published

10 hours ago

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May 10, 2024

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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

Published

13 hours ago

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May 10, 2024

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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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