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TOUR REPORT: Jim Furyk speaks on his wild prototype lob wedge

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Break out your tartan jackets: It’s RBC Heritage week at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.

Even though the event’s place in the PGA Tour schedule puts it the week after the Masters, the RBC Heritage boasts a strong field, with five of the top-10 players in the world in attendance.

GolfWRX was also in attendance during the practice round days to dive into players’ bags to figure out what equipment they’re using and why. This week’s Tour Report is stacked with interesting custom gear and insights from PGA Tour players.

Let’s dive right in!

TG2 talks to the Masters champion

Scottie Scheffler holds the championship trophy after winning the 86th Masters golf tournament on Sunday, April 10, 2022, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

In case you didn’t hear, 25-year-old Scottie Scheffler won the 2022 Masters. Just days after winning his first major championship, Scheffler was nice enough to speak with our Two Guys Talkin Golf (TG2) podcast to talk about the win, his TaylorMade gear, and what it’s like to be a Masters champion.

The entire interview is definitely worth a listen, but the most fascinating part of the interview came when Scheffler revealed his first big purchases following the victory. They might not be what you expected.

“Ya know, we have a little backyard here at our house,” Scheffler told TG2. “I went to Lowes yesterday and got some pool equipment to clean the pool. We’re redoing the grill area in the backyard, and I asked one of the guys that helps us around the house what I should do to clean the leaves up, and he was like, ‘You have to get this leaf vacuum.’ Now I’m kind of jacked up about the leaf vacuum. So I’m going to go to the store after this and get that. Just clean, get outside. The weather is so good here at home. I’m used to being outside practicing, but right now I’m just getting a bit of rest, maybe go clean the yard, go for a swim. Just do nothing.”

Hopefully someone snaps a photo of Scheffler cleaning up leaves while wearing his green jacket.

Make sure to check out the full podcast below, either on YouTube or SoundCloud.

Charl Schwartzel’s prototype Artisan irons

Charl Schwartzel, who finished T10 at the Masters after missing six straight cuts this year, debuted a brand new set of unreleased Artisan Golf prototype irons at Augusta last week. The irons were designed by Mike Taylor, a master craftsman who also built irons and wedges for Tiger Woods throughout his career.

We caught up with Schwartzel at the RBC Heritage to take in-hand photos of the irons and get his insight on the switch.

“Mike built me clubs for 10 years. Probably the 10 best years of my career,” Schwartzel told GolfWRX. “I’ve been on him for awhile to build me irons again. So, he finally did. I think this is the first set that he sent me, just before Augusta. Augusta was my first tournament with them, but they’re very familiar for me. Mike is just so good with the way he weights his clubs. He uses more head weight than anyone else. They’re very familiar for me and I think the results show. I hit the ball really good last week [at The Masters].”

Check out the full story and more photos here

Stewart Cink lofts down to gain distance

Defending champion Stewart Cink, now 48 years old, has gained big distance off the tee in the last few years. It wasn’t by accident either.

“I set out to achieve (increased distance) two years ago,” Cink told GolfWRX this week. “That’s something we’ve been focusing on, gaining a little distance. I felt like I was leaving something in the tank. I just wasn’t properly using everything I had at my disposal. Me and my coaches went out and tried to solve that, and two years later, (it worked)…It’s not like I found a hot driver and could hit it farther, it was definitely technique and form and biomechanics first, and then I got my equipment to be efficient to match that. Fitting is one thing, but especially if you have optimized mechanics and form.”

For Cink, the answer was to shift his attack angle from 2 degrees downward, to 2 degrees upward. To optimize distance with the swing change, he also changed the loft on his driver by 3 degrees, helping him gain about 4 mph of ball speed and 8-10 yards of total distance per drive.

Read our full story over on PGATOUR.com

Jim Furyk’s wild lob wedge story

Jim Furyk has never exactly played golf like his contemporaries. His swing has always been a little different, and the lob wedge he uses is quite different, too.

Now an equipment free agent, Furyk uses a prototype Cleveland lob wedge that he got back in 2010. And it has A LOT of offset.

Furyk told GolfWRX the story of how it ended up in his bag:

“This is back from my Srixon-Cleveland days. Srixon started making this for me and I was with them from 06-10… then they acquired Cleveland and they started stamping Cleveland on this wedge. It was an old Cleveland 485 that I had ground and taken the weight off of. Hogan made one for me, then Srixon made one for me.

“Good story behind this one is, I knew the last year that I was with them was 2010, and I had to think back to what year the grooves changed in the rules. That was 2010. I had 4 of this head. They all had a certain (JF-1) stamp.

“I had 4 of them. I sent them off the to the USGA to have them test them. They came back conforming, and they said that anything that had the markings was conforming. But this is the one I sent them, and then I have 3 other heads.”

Interestingly, Furyk also revealed that he’s a bit of craftsman, and tinkers with golf equipment at his house.

“I have a wheel at home. Loft and lie for both putters and irons. I have like an office/workshop type thing. I’m always kind of had something where I can mess around and tinker. Basically it’s just a mess, but I like to do it. I like to mess around with the wedges. I can actually bend the offset in now too, Dean (Teykll, Manager of Tour operations at Callaway) taught me to do that.”

Morgan Hoffmann returns with new sticks

Back from a nearly 3-year hiatus from the PGA Tour, Morgan Hoffmann, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, is in the field this week. Since we haven’t seen Hoffmann in years, we were especially curious to see what equipment he’d have in the bag. Would it all be 3-year-old gear, or has he upgraded his set?

As it turns out, Hoffmann has upgraded just about every club in the bag after working with Scott Kraul (manager of player development at Acushnet) down in Jupiter, Florida, recently.

Hoffmann is particularly pleased with Titleist’s new T100 irons.

“It’s like I’m a kid in a candy shop with the new equipment,” Hoffmann told GolfWRX on Tuesday. “The new T100s are so amazing with what they’ve done with the topline. They look nice and thin, like a blade, but the forgiveness is amazing. It’s exactly what I need right now.”

Read the full story on PGATOUR.com here!

Shane Lowry answers 7 quick questions

In a non gear-related interview with Shane Lowry, I hit him with 7 quick interesting questions. Check out his answers below. Let me know in the comments who you’d like me to interview next and what questions you’d want me to ask them!

What’s your favorite restaurant to go during a PGA Tour season where it’s like you can’t wait to play in that tournament so you can go to that restaurant?

That’s a great question. There’s a little sushi place besides Sawgrass that I’d say we eat there four nights every week when we’re there at The Players. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s beside Starbucks right down the street from Sawgrass.

What’s your go-to sushi order?

We just order a lot. We load up.

What’s your go-to snack on the course?

I eat Clif bars and Quest bars. And a banana.

What’s your favorite sport aside from golf, and what are your favorite teams and players?

Gaelic football is my sport that I love. Not too many people know too much about it in America. Rugby, as well. Obviously I like Ireland, and we love a team called Offaly (GAA) at home.

What’s on your music playlist right now?

Lot of kids stuff, because I have two small kids. One is a Sing To playlist. I like Irish artists. I just put a playlist on Spotify that just has Irish artists and I put it on shuffle and it just goes.

What’s been the most important lesson you’ve learned along the way about golf, life or travel in general.

In golf, you’ve got to enjoy the good days. The bad days are tough. I think in life in general, it’s pretty similar to be honest.

Last one. What’s your best advice for amateur golfers who are trying to improve their games.

The only way you’re going to improve is from 100 yards and in. Everyone goes to the driving range and hits drivers, but get around the chipping green and the putting green.

Bettinardi’s collab with PEZ

Bettinardi, a putter and wedge manufacturer, teamed up with PEZ, an Austrian candy maker, to make putter covers that we spotted at the RBC Heritage this week. There were multiple colorways of the Bettinardi x PEX collaboration, including blue, white, and the orange one that’s pictured above.

Pretty sweet, right?

Yes, that was a candy pun. I’m sorry.

New Titleist golf balls on the way?

White box alert!

It seems as though Titleist has started tour seeding for two new golf balls at the RBC Heritage this week. Unfortunately, we don’t have any information on them yet, but we’ll keep you informed when we learn more.

And with that, we wrap up this week’s Tour Report from Hilton Head. We’ll see you in New Orleans next week for the Zurich Classic team event.

Click here to see the rest of our photos from the 2022 RBC Heritage

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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. Mitch

    Apr 19, 2022 at 5:25 pm

    You had me googling Tursky when I saw that PEZ was Australian. Turns out we didn’t invent it, the Austrians did.

  2. Chuck

    Apr 17, 2022 at 10:59 am

    What’s interesting about a prototype wedge from 2010 is that the groove rule was just coming into effect. The rule was of course well known prospectively. And I would have a very hard time believing that now, Furyk and/or his agent and/or Cleveland would allow a non-compliant (with the Condition if Competition) Club into professional competition.
    But still it’s interesting that Cleveland may have been building prototype wedges in 2009 that were compliant. And that the new rule wasn’t even relevant for those clubs.

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Equipment

Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

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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 Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.

Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.

Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.

According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.

He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.

Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

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Whats in the Bag

Akshay Bhatia WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Max LS (9 degrees @7.2, 2 grams lead tape heel, 4 grams toe)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X (44 7/8 inches, tipped 1 inch)

Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D (9 degrees @7)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X

3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max (15 degrees @13.9)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X (43 inches, tipped 1.5)

Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW Prototype (19 degrees @17.8)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 10 X

Irons: Callaway X Forged UT (21 degrees) Buy here, Callaway Apex TCB Raw (5-PW)
Shafts: KBS $-Taper 125 S+

Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (50-10S @49, 54-10S, 60-08C @61)
Shafts: KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 135 X

Putter: Odyssey Versa Jailbird 380
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Split

Grips: Iomic

Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour

More photos of Akshay Bhatia’s WITB in the forums.

 

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Whats in the Bag

Emiliano Grillo WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (9 degrees @10)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX

3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 70 TX

5-wood: Cobra LTDx Prototype (18.5 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 70 TX

Irons: Callaway Apex TCB (4-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5

Wedges: Callaway MD3 Milled (46-08S), Callaway Jaws Raw (50-10S, 54-10S, 60-08T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Flatso 1.0

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

Check out more in-hand photos of Emiliano Grillo’s clubs here.

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