Equipment
The WILD story behind Tom Hoge’s 1-of-1 putter he used to win at Pebble Beach
Tom Hoge – at 32 years old – rolled in a 20-footer on the 71st hole of the 2022 AT&T Pebble Pro-Am to all but seal his first PGA Tour victory ever. At the moment, the putt gave him a two-stroke lead over Jordan Spieth and allowed Hoge to cruise home to victory with a par on the 72nd hole.
When that 20-foot putt dropped, you could feel the relief from Hoge. Something he worked for his whole life was finally coming true. It’s one of those moments in sports that gives you chills just thinking about it.
The backstory to how Hoge ended up with the putter he used to make the putt, though, is arguably even more intriguing.
Here’s how the story goes.
Ahead of the 2022 American Express in Palm Desert, Hoge was searching for a putter that would help him with his alignment. He was tending to aim left, and he needed something to help square him up.
His caddie, Henry Diana Jr., approached Odyssey Tour rep Joe Toulon on the side to request a custom 2-ball for Hoge to try.
“Henry thought a 2-ball with a long line on it might be something easier for him to line up,” Toulon told GolfWRX. “He didn’t tell Tom about that conversation… I said, ‘You know what, I’ll have one made up and ready to go in case that time comes.’”
This was no stock order, though. Hoge is very particular with his putter preferences. According to Toulon, Hoge has always used a plumber’s neck hosel with slight toe hang. The problem is, the Odyssey White Hot OG 2-ball doesn’t come stock with that hosel offering.
Therefore, the custom 2-ball putter that Toulon ordered for Hoge had to be specially made with a plumber’s neck.
The custom job took about a week, and the putter was delivered to Pebble Beach on a practice day prior to the event. Due to the heavier hosel construction, Toulon had to remove the back weight from the sole as you can see below.
With all of the proper weight adjustments made, Toulon then caught up with Diana Jr. at Pebble Beach to show him the putter, to which Diana Jr. responded, “Yeah, I think he’s going to like it…let me show it to him.”
So, ahead of the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Hoge was presented with a 1-of-1 custom Odyssey White Hot OG 2-ball putter with a custom plumber’s neck built to his liking.
According to Toulon, Hoge liked the putter immediately, but he was still deciding between a few different putter options as of Wednesday night before the event started. Ultimately, though, he decided to give the new custom 2-ball a try for the tournament.
“He switched last week, but he probably didn’t make a final decision until probably Wednesday I don’t think,” Toulon explained. “He had a couple putters in the bag until then. It was kind of a game-time decision.
“We took weight out of it, just because with that neck that we put on it adds some weight compared to the usual spud that’s on it. So we had to take shave some weight and ended up going with that. It was still heavier than what he using, but he said, “I kinda like it, so let’s leave it.” So we left it… it’s a 1-of-1 with that hosel for sure.”
So, just to summarize: Hoge was looking for a putter, his caddie had Toulon build up a custom 2-ball with Hoge’s preferred hosel on it, and then Hoge went on win with it the same week he saw the putter for the first time.
Pretty incredible, right?
Just wait. The story gets even better.
Didn’t it seem odd that Diana Jr. would recommend a 2-ball putter specifically, especially when it needed such a custom build?
Well, not really, as it turns out.
Diana Jr. was a professional golfer back in the day, and his father, Diana Sr., was a tool-and-die maker who also built golf clubs on the side.
In his playing days, Diana Jr. had the same problem with his putting that Hoge was having; Diana Jr. tended to aim his putter too far to the left.
A look at Dave Pelz’ 3-ball putter from the 80’s (Photo Credit: thegolfauction.com)
He was using a 1986 Dave Pelz Three-Ball putter at the time, which was years before the Odyssey 2-ball was invented or available on the market.
Since Diana Jr. was struggling with his aim using the Pelz 3-ball putter, his father, who was a tinkerer and club maker, suggested that he build up Hoge a 2-ball putter for him to try.
“My dad used to be a tool and die maker but he made putters,” Diana Jr. told GolfWRX. “When I was playing professionally I was having a hard time with alignment, so in the mid-90s he made a 2-ball putter. I was using the Pelz putter, but I was aiming too far left. I didn’t like the Pelz putter. He’s like, ‘Well, hell, I’ll make you a putter. I think three is too many, I’ll make you a putter with two…that was 5 years before the Odyssey 2-ball came out.”
As Diana Jr. explains, the custom 2-ball his father made worked wonders for his aiming and squared him up.
Seeing Hoge struggle with the same problem, Diana Jr. figured a 2-ball could help Hoge the same way it helped him nearly 30 years prior.
“My dad was a tinkerer and he was always forward thinking in a lot of ways and he had great ideas,” Diana Jr. said. “Pelz was obviously the pioneer of it, and then [my father] tweaked it, then Odyssey obviously came out with it. But it really worked.”
Obviously, it worked on Sunday for Hoge, too.
“It’s just unbelievable how full circle it went,” Diana Jr. said. “I told my dad [when they came out with the 2-ball years after he developed it]: ‘You missed the boat again. You tweaked the 3-ball down to a 2-ball, then they made a zillion of them.’ But we certainly got paid back last week with what happened. I chuckled to see [Hoge] putt the way he did. It was a magical week. It really was.”
The funniest part? Hoge has no idea about this whole backstory. When I asked Diana Jr. if he told Hoge the full story about how the putter came about it, he answered, “Eh, not really.”
The 20-footer that Hoge made on the 17th green on Sunday at Pebble Beach was an absolutely huge putt for Hoge and his career, but that putt — and all Hoge’s putts last week — had special significance for his caddie, and it all goes back to his father’s handiwork some 30 years prior.
- LIKE298
- LEGIT17
- WOW39
- LOL2
- IDHT3
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK5
- 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.
- LIKE4
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
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.
- LIKE3
- LEGIT1
- WOW0
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK2
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.
View this post on Instagram
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
- LIKE43
- LEGIT5
- WOW3
- LOL2
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK5
Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
Things got heated at the Houston Open between Tony Finau and Alejandro Tosti. Here’s why
Justin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
Tiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
Report: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
Two star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
Report: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
Neal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
What we know about Bryson DeChambeau’s 3D-printed Avoda irons
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:...
Matthieu Pavon WITB 2024 (May)
Pavon’s WITB accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Ping G430 Max (9...
WITB Time Machine: Rory McIlroy’s winning WITB, 2015 Wells Fargo Championship
Then-No. 1 player in the world Rory McIlroy began the week at the Wells Fargo Championship at 3-1 odds, if...
Akshay Bhatia WITB 2024 (May)
Akshay Bhatia what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. Bhatia is deciding between drivers. More photos...
-
19th Hole3 weeks agoJustin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole2 weeks agoLET pro gives detailed financial breakdown of first week on tour…and the net result may shock you
-
19th Hole5 days agoReport: LIV star turns down PGA Championship invite due to ‘personal commitments’
-
19th Hole2 weeks agoGary Player claims this is what ‘completely ruined’ Tiger Woods’ career
-
Equipment4 days agoDetails on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship
-
Whats in the Bag2 weeks agoTeam McIlowry (Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry) winning WITBs: 2024 Zurich Classic
-
Whats in the Bag5 days agoKeegan Bradley WITB 2024 (May)
Thomas A
Sep 6, 2022 at 10:28 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Pelz sell Odyssey the 2-ball design for $250,000?
gunmetal
Mar 15, 2022 at 11:02 am
Wicked cool story! If Hoge-No bogey keeps winning, I’m pretty sure there will be a plumbers neck variant offered in the near future!
Pingback: PGA Tour, GolfWRX announce agreement – GolfWRX
Pingback: Photos from the 2022 WM Phoenix Open – GolfWRX
bevan
Feb 9, 2022 at 8:34 pm
Really great article, thank you
Bladehunter
Feb 9, 2022 at 6:51 am
How that man a raise. When you have a guy on the bag who’s that active behind the scenes. He’s worth a lot.
L
Feb 9, 2022 at 1:52 am
Hilarious how all these companies are pushing for MOI with weights at the back of everything and yet here we are LOL
L is bad a flog...
Feb 9, 2022 at 9:50 am
Is your stroke as pure as that of the guys on Tour… I thought not… Enjoy the MOI moron…
GaGolfer
Feb 9, 2022 at 10:49 am
A little harsh, aren’t you, son? No more caf for you for a while.
True L
Feb 9, 2022 at 12:07 pm
L is correct, they didn’t have any problems putting with little blades back in the day.
L Train
Feb 9, 2022 at 12:29 pm
“…is correct” … “back in the day”….. hey little bud, I think you meant to say “was correct”
Ben
Feb 8, 2022 at 11:51 pm
If I could go ahead and get one made up in lefty that would be great.
birdiedancer
Feb 8, 2022 at 8:15 pm
That’s how Karma is supposed to work. Hoge is a grinders’, grinder..
I hope he keeps running the tables with his magic stick.
Benny
Feb 9, 2022 at 6:24 pm
Well said. Great read as always Golfwrx. We know golf doesn’t bring forth amazing stories everyday. Yet time and time again viewers on here get all mad about the articles.
Thanks again Golfwrx.