Equipment
Ryan Palmer speaks on his 1-of-1 Jordan shoes, lead tape, gear free agency, and first tee nerves
There are few things that stop me in my tracks on a PGA Tour range more than custom shoes. As a sneakerhead myself, I love the new wave of tour players embracing the shoe game, and all of the custom designs that come along with it. Not all of the custom shoes that players wear are hits – there are plenty of fashion missteps, in my humble opinion – but I love that players are having fun with it.
On Tuesday at the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Ryan Palmer’s custom Jordan 11 shoes with an elephant print upper nearly made my heart stop. The Jordan 11 is one of my favorite silhouettes in general, and I think they translate really well into a golf shoe, too. Then you add in the classic Jordan elephant print?! I needed to get the backstory on these.
I’d never seen that exact design before, so I asked Palmer himself about them.
During our conversation about kicks, we also talked about the lead tape on his Srixon irons, equipment free agency in general, the new TaylorMade Stealth driver, and his tips for overcoming first tee nerves. I figured you’d enjoy the talk as much as I did, so below is the full convo.
Tursky: I noticed you were wearing some wild Jordan’s yesterday. I mean the (all-white) versions today are really cool, but yesterday they had elephant print on them. Where did you get those?
Palmer: I followed Nomad Customs on Instagram. He had a pair he made for somebody, a blue pair. I thought those were really cool, so I sent him a note. I DM’d him and got his number, said I liked ’em. I sent him two white pairs and had him do black and navy.
I buy the white ones, the 11s, and then I send them to him, and then he does all the elephant paint work for me. It turned out pretty good.
Does he charge you for that?
Yeah, it’s a nice price, but it’s good. The work he does is unbelievable, and it makes for a good conversation piece because I get a lot of good comments on themem.
Are you like a sneakerhead?
Not really. No. I’m really not. I went through plantar fasciitis for 2 years and went through every shoe company. Harold Varner III brought me a pair of the 11s to the Shark Shootout. I tried them one day, and I thought they were unbelievable. The cushion and the comfort, and I haven’t worn anything since.
So HV3, he was the original plug for you, and now you’re a Jordan guy?
For the 11’s yes. Now I can’t find the them anywhere else. I’ve tried them all, it’s just the 11’s are good for my feet. I have small bone spurs. Now I need more. I’ll just have to go seek them out and buy ’em.
Do you rock Jordan’s off the course?
Yeah, I have a couple pair of 1’s that I wear that are comfortable. My son’s getting into a little bit more. I got him a few pair, and my wife, as well.
So he thinks you’re the coolest dad ever right now?
He gets a few pairs, yeah (laughs). They’re always a good thing to have.
I just had a quick question about the irons, too. I mean, lead tape is nothing new on irons – pros use it all the time – but I noticed the lead tape on yours are particularly low on the club.
I think it’s where they put [the lead tape] because of the way the head’s designed, but typically when you move the lead tape around, if you put the weight lower, it puts the center of gravity lower in the head, which helps the ball get up a little higher. And it just happens to be where they put it on these heads.
But I’ve always had it toward the bottom of the club. I can’t see it (from address), for one, and it’s supposed to help the ball perform as far as getting launch a little higher.
So that’s something they do for you, you don’t apply it yourself?
It depends. If I get a new set of irons that are lighter, I’ll do it myself. But most times, the guys in the trucks do it if it needs to [be applied]. Heads are so different weight wise, so if I get to a new set of irons and they need to weigh a little more, they’re quick to do it and they do a nice clean job with it.
Are you a free agent right now, equipment wise?
Yeah, I have been, for quite a few years now. I play the Titleist ball and glove, but other than that, I play whatever I want equipment wise. It keeps me able to try new things, and I’ve got a lot of great corporate sponsorships, which makes it even nicer. So yeah, I enjoy the freedom of playing what I want.
I was curious about that, because as of like 6 years ago, everyone had brand deals. It was like, what were you doing if you didn’t? Now everyone’s kind of going more the free agent route.
Yeah, it’s changed a lot over the years since more companies have brought in the ball. TaylorMade, you have to play the ball. Srixon, you have to play the ball. Callaway, the ball. And you have to sign more club deals. I used to play Titleist irons forever, and now I play Srixon irons, Vokey wedges, I’ve played TaylorMade woods since 2005 or 2006. I was on the TaylorMade staff for a little while, and I still play the TaylorMade woods, but, I just keep myself open to trying new things if I need to and I play what works for me.
You like the new red face?
It’s awesome.
You have the new Stealth in the bag?
Oh yeah. It’s real.
Would you consider yourself a gearhead?
I like to test things. I wouldn’t call myself a gearhead, but I love grabbing new things and testing them. I don’t hoard clubs like a lot of people do. If I don’t like a club, I give it right back to them. Sometimes it’s not as good, and I don’t want to take a bunch of clubs home. But I guess you could call me a tinkerer at home a lot. Just testing new things, but I’m always back to the gamers that keep me going.
Last question: First tee tip. With all of the celebrities at Pebble Beach, there’s a special buzz around the first tee this week. Do you have any tips for someone who gets really nervous on the first tee?
I always call it the hardest shot of the day, the first one. Just try not to put too much into it. Be relaxed. The first shot is always the hardest. Probably the best thing for an amateur to do is get the driver and hit it as hard as you can, and get it out of the way.
For all of our photos from the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, check out the link here.
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- 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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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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Feb 6, 2022 at 12:39 am
If Hideki is with Srixon and can hit the Srixon driver well, I don’t see why Palmer couldn’t. It’s not the tech. It’s purely the head shape and he’s used to it.