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TOUR REPORT: Henrik Stenson goes DEEP on his Callaway Legacy Black irons from 2013

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If you love Florida golf, I have sad news to report: This week is the finale of the four-week long Florida Swing on the PGA Tour. What started in Palm Beach Gardens for the Honda Classic in February ends with the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor this week.

Now for the good news: We have an awesome Tour Report from the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort this week.

What makes it so great? Well, for one, I finally tracked down Henrik Stenson for a deep dive into his Callaway Legacy Black irons that he’s been playing since 2013. I had so many questions for him about the irons that needed answers, and I finally got them.

Also, world long driver Maurice Allen stunned us with some truly incredible irons and wedges, Zach Johnson revealed new unreleased irons, and Tommy “2 Gloves” Gainey thrills us with his unique putter.

Let’s get into this week’s Tour Report where we send off the Florida Swing in style.

Cam Smith speaks on his Players Championship winning gear

Before we get into the gear from this week, we have a bit of news about the winning gear from last week. Cam Smith, the 2022 Players Champion, joined our “Two Guys Talkin Golf” podcast to talk about his equipment, including his blacked-out T100 irons.

While I do suggest listening to the entire podcast, Smith’s appearance comes in the last 12 minutes of the episode (around the 45-minute mark). Check it out on SoundCloud below.

Zach Johnson reveals all new PXG irons

PXG staffer and two-time major champion Zach Johnson came to the 2022 Valspar Championship with brand new, unreleased PXG “Black Label Elite 0311T Gen5” irons. From the looks of things, it appears that the back cavity features a multi-material construction, presumably to raise forgiveness on off-center strikes based on the different-colored material on the toe and heel sections.

If I had to guess, I’d say the silver sections are made of heavier Tungsten to shift weight toward the perimeter, but since PXG hasn’t yet spoken publicly about the irons, that’s all just speculation.

To see what GolfWRX forum members are saying about the new irons, check out the comment thread here.

Tommy “2 Gloves” Gainey is using a rarely seen putter

Mr. Two Gloves doesn’t do things the way most pro golfers do. He doesn’t have a cookie cutter swing that hits perfect planes, he wears two gloves, and he also uses a putter that, if memory serves, no other PGA Tour player uses.

Since at least 2015, Gainey has employed an Odyssey Backstyrke Blade putter that was released to the public back in 2010. Being that the shaft enters the club head in a uniquely rearward position, the design helps put golfers’ hands into a forward press position that encourages hitting up on the golf ball. It also provides an unimpeded look at the club face for easier alignment.

Obviously, the Backstryke is far from traditional looking so most golfers haven’t given it a chance. 2 Gloves is not a traditional golfer, though, and the Backstryke has remained in his bag all these years.

Check out Tommy Gainey’s full 2022 WITB here.

Henrik Stenson speaks on his Callaway Legacy Black irons

Since 2013, Stenson has used Callaway Legacy Black irons that were a limited release in 2013 and were never available in North American markets. Stenson’s longtime affair with the irons, and their ultra-limited availability, has made the Legacy Black irons certified classics.

It’s fascinating to me that Stenson has used the same model irons for 9 years now, so I was excited to finally have the chance to speak with him in-depth about them.

Our full Q&A with Stenson is over on PGATOUR.com, but here’s a few interesting snippets from the talk:

“I came off the U.S. Open in 2013, and I hit too many fliers at Merion. My caddie Gareth [Lord] at the time walks into Callaway and asks them to give us some options that don’t fly too much out of the rough, and the boys in Europe built up the Legacy Black. When the irons showed up, they felt great and looked good, and I didn’t hit too many fliers with them. They’ve been in the bag ever since…

“Callaway comes out with some good looking irons every year. It’s just been, I guess I’m a little old school. I know what works for me and I like the look of that. We don’t really have much of an off-season. It’s not like we have two or three months at home to test new stuff. That’s probably the one thing in the bag that it’s like, OK that definitely stays. When they come out with new wedges, we put them in and test them, and new fairway woods even.”

Tommy Fleetwood’s bag tag

Honestly, not much needs to be said about Fleetwood’s TaylorMade bag tag. It’s simply glorious, and I wanted everyone to see it.

Although, he did recently shave his beard after being in a bad mood, so the bag tag may need an update unless he plans on growing it back out.

Sam lets the traditional gap wedge Burn

Valspar’s defending champion made a very interesting wedge switch in the off-season that could be part of a new wave of equipment choices on Tour.

Recently, we saw Dylan Frittelli start using a 1-of-1 Callaway Apex TCB iron for his sand wedge instead of using a traditional wedge shape like most golfers do.

Burns has prescribed to a similar tactic by replacing his Callaway Jaws MD5 50-degree wedge with an “Attack Wedge” that’s part of the Apex TCB set. After noticing his wedge game from 100-150 yards needed some improvement, Burns realized he needed a more forgiving option than his traditional blade wedge to clean up his distance control.

That leaves us normal golfers to answer the question, “Why do we use less-forgiving traditional wedges instead of wedges that are part of the iron set?”

I think it’s time for all of us to do some wedge testing to figure out that answer for ourselves.

For the full story on Burns’ wedge switch, check it out here on PGATOUR.com.

Are these the coolest irons and wedges you’ve ever seen?

World long driver Maurice Allen showed up to the Valspar Pro-Am with a set of absolute stunners for his irons and wedges.

The angular surface and copper rainbow finish gives these Itobori clubs a staggering level of bag appeal. For those who may not know, Itobori custom golf clubs are designed by Mayuki Takai, based in Nagoya, Japan.

Allen is bagging the company’s Cavity Irons, but there’s a slew of different models as per the Itobori website.

We haven’t spoken just yet, but my promise to you is that we will get Maurice Allen on the TG2 podcast to speak on how he got a hold of these gorgeous irons, how they feel, and how they perform. The world needs to know.

And with that, we close out the final Tour Report from the Florida Swing in 2022. We’ll be back next week in Austin, Texas for the 2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Get your match play brackets ready for golf’s version of March Madness.

Check out all of our photos from the 2022 Valspar Championship here.

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He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Pingback: TOUR REPORT: Adam Scott’s latest club switch, and a 5-wood from 12 years ago – GolfWRX

  2. HR Fernández

    Mar 20, 2022 at 11:26 am

    Reading Stenson’s irons story, among others of the same, only tells me that OEM’s and fitters are full of it. All they want is for you to buy new equipment every year, and in reality, it won’t be much different than your current setup.

    Unless you are a tour player and you wear out your grooves chances are your clubs are going to outlive you.

    Save your money, and if you buy a new set of clubs is because you want to, not because some jebroni is trying to get you to spend money on equipment which will do nothing for you.

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Equipment

Spotted: Putter roundup from the 2024 3M Open

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Every week we spot some really cool and custom putters out on the putting green and in tour players’ bags. This week is no slouch with some really interesting and beautiful putters being tested. Let’s take a look at some of the standouts we found.

Tyler Duncan: Scotty Cameron Phantom T-11.5 

The Phantom 11 is a pretty wild putter by Scotty’s standards with a multi-material design that boosts MOI for more forgiveness. Duncan’s T-11.5. takes the stock model and moves the shaft to the center of the putter head. We don’t mean a center shafted version, but the shaft is installed in the center, behind the face as well. We don’t have any official details on this T-11.5 but it looks like that setup should create a putter where the face points towards the hole or target, similar to a L.A.B. putter.

Zac Blair: Scotty Cameron 009.M Cameron & Co. “Longneck”

Blair might be in possession of the largest Scotty collection on tour! It seems like every week he has something new, and flat-out gorgeous, that he is trying out. I have seen a lot of 009.M putters over the years, but never one with a long plumbers neck on it. This 009 is a Masterful that utilizes additional CNC machine work to reduce the amount of hand polishing needed to complete the putter. The long, or tall, neck on the putter usually is used to reduce the amount of toe hang and make the putter more face balanced. The face contains a very shallow milling while the sole features a tour truck, tour only, diamonds, and the rare Circle L stamp. The Circle L was made for Scotty’s close friends who lost matches or games and was meant to poke a little fun at their misfortune.

Paul Barjon: PXG Prototype

There are a lot of putters out there that become so widely used and popular that other manufacturers will borrow some of the design cues. The Spider is one of those putters and it looks like PXG has made a prototype putter for Barjon that has some similar features. This proto has a tapered mallet shape with twin wings that come out from either side of the rear. Twin movable weights sit in each wing on the sole and the sole features a plate that is bolted in place at the corners. The top contains a single siteline and the face uses PXG’s advanced pyramid face structure.

Odyssey Ai-One Cruiser Broomstick #7

More and more long, counterbalanced, and alternative putters seem to be showing up recently. The long, or broomstick, putter is making a comeback and more than a few players have joined Adam Scott in using that style. Odyssey has thrown its hat in the broomstick arena with a new Ai-One Cruiser model. The head shape is the very familiar #7 model, but with the shaft going into the center of the club head. An Ai-One face is there to help keep ball speed consistent on off-center hits and three white lines are on top for framing ball and aligning the putter.

TaylorMade Spider Tour S Broomstick

Another option in the long putter is TaylorMade’s Spider Tour S broomstick that we saw around the putting green. The head looks to be a little larger than the standard Tour S and that makes sense with the broomstick-style putters demanding heads near or over 400g. A TPU Pure Roll insert is installed in the face and the shaft is a more traditional double-bend design, just much longer! There isn’t the True Path alignment on top, just a full darker grey finish with a single siteline. Two moveable weights are out in the wings of the putter to dial in the specific weight a player might want.

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Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (7/25/24): Mint Scottie Cameron GOLO putter

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At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a Mint Scottie Cameron GOLO putter

From the seller: (@PatrickCantLayUp): “Mint Scottie Cameron GOLO Putter (Black) 36 Inch with Headcover – $500 + Shipping

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Mint Scottie Cameron GOLO putter

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules

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Whats in the Bag

Sahith Theegala WITB 2024 (July)

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  • Sahith Theegala what’s in the bag accurate as of the 3M Open.

Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees @9)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Black 60 TX

3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees @13.5)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX

5-wood: Ping G430 Max (18 degrees @17.5)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX

Irons: Ping i210 (3), Ping Blueprint S (4-W)
Shafts: Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid 85 X (3), Project X 6.5 (4-W)

Wedges: Ping s159 (50-12S, 54-12S), Ping Glide 2.0 (58-06TS)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (54, 58)

Putter: Ping TR 1966 Anser 2 prototype
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Flatso 2.0

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

See more photos of Sahith Theegala’s WITB in the forums.

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