Equipment
Rickie Fowler on his new 3D printed prototype putter (and iron shaft switch)
Rickie Fowler, who once led the PGA Tour in strokes gained: putting (2016-17), currently ranks 184th in the same category. It’s no secret: Fowler hasn’t been putting up to his standards. In his first 12 events of the 2021-22 season, Fowler has finished inside the top 40 in just one event – a T3 at the 2021 CJ Cup – and missed the cut six times.
He’s not just sitting idly by and trying to get different results from the same approach, however. Fowler has been making frequent equipment changes to better suit his game and preferences.
In his latest changes ahead of the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship, Fowler went back to his familiar KBS Tour C-Taper 125 S+ shafts in his irons, and he’s put a brand new Cobra King Stingray 20 prototype putter in the bag.
On Wednesday before the Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Fowler to get his takes on the new changes. Here’s what he had to say…
On going back to KBS Tour C-Taper iron shafts
Back in January 2021, Fowler switched into Mitsubishi’s MMT graphite iron shafts to help reduce spin and gain stability. Now, in May 2022, Fowler is switching back into KBS Tour C-Taper shafts that he played for years prior to switching into the MMT shafts.
On Wednesday, he explained why.
“Obviously [the shafts are something] that I’ve had plenty of success with in the past,” Fowler told GolfWRX. “I went to the (Mitsubishi) MMTs because I saw it was helping get spin down. Now, (with my swing) being back in a better delivery spot, I was almost too low on the spin spectrum.
“The C-Tapers help get me back to where I want spin to be at. And yeah, I can manipulate loft and stuff like that to get spin where I want and all that, but like I said, something I’ve had success with, know it works, so yeah, I’m just in a good spot right now equipment wise. Not that we were in the wrong spot by any means. The MMTs did what I wanted originally. As things continued to get better, I was looking to add a little bit of spin.”
On his new Cobra King Stingray 20 proto putter
Fowler, a longtime Scotty Cameron user, has been experimenting with a number of different putter styles and brands in the last few months and years. In 2021, Fowler used a Cobra putter for the first time in his PGA Tour career, and most recently, he’s been using a TaylorMade Spider GT putter.
This week at the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship, though, he showed up with a custom Cobra 3D-printed Stingray 20 that’s a bit different than the retail model. Can you spot the difference?
Here’s what Fowler had to say about the new flatstick:
“I was messing with the Spider for a bit, which has rolled great. One, I liked the stability part. Two, it was easy to line up. Everything was matching up well. I feel like I was in a spot where I was just struggling to trust where I was lined up, and trusting that it was going to start there. So just making better strokes.
“Then with the Stingray, the one that’s in line has some wings on it. So we made one without those just to condense it a little bit and make it a little more…I don’t like having too much weight in the rear. A lot of mallets, you get weight in the back, where I feel like I’m kind of dragging a lot of times if it’s not a face balanced putter, the face will swing open and I feel like it kind of stays there. So that was the reasoning taking those off. There is a touch of toe hang on it, just to where there is a little bit of swing. The guys at Cobra were able to make that up, and I spent the last two weeks with it at home…
“A little touch up. They’re 3D printed, so that’s what’s nice with a lot of that, and the technology where we’re able to make little tweaks. Instead of having to make a completely new head, they can put that data in and print it up.”
Check out more photos and reactions from GolfWRX members in our forums.
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Whats in the Bag
Taylor Montgomery WITB 2024 (March)
- Taylor Montgomery what’s in the bag accurate as of the Cognizant Classic. Check out more photos from the event here.
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (15 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 8 TX
Hybrid: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (19.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT HY 100 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P7TW (4-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (52-09SB, 56-12SB), Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Ghost S
Grip: Elite
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
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Whats in the Bag
WITB Time Machine: Paul Casey’s winning WITB, 2019 Valspar Championship
At the 2019 Valspar Championship, Englishman Paul Casey took the trophy at the Copperhead Course for the second year in a row. On a difficult Sunday, Casey’s 1-over 72 was good enough for a one-stroke victory over Louis Oosthuizen and Jason Kokrak as Dustin Johnson faltered.
Check out Casey’s clubs from five years ago below.
Driver: TaylorMade M4 (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX (tipped 1 inch)
3-wood: TaylorMade M1 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX Limited (tipped 1.75 inches)
Irons: Mizuno MP-25 (3), Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metal Pro (4), Mizuno MP-5 (5-PW)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120 TX
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (52-08F, 56-10S), Vokey Proto (60)
Shaft: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120 X
Putter: Scotty Cameron Circle T 350-SSS
Grip: Scotty Cameron Matador
Grips: Golf Pride ZGrip Cord Midsize
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Mizuno’s Senior Club Engineer, Chris Voshall told us Casey’s somewhat surprising setup in his long irons is simply the product of Casey hitting the windows he wants to with the particular clubs in question.
“It’s all based on the height of the ball flight,” Voshall said. The MP-25 3-iron was more penetrating and better for him off the tee, so he kept it in there.”
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Equipment
Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (3/22/24): Nike Vapor Pro Combo 4-A iron heads
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 set of Nike Vapor Pro Combo 4-A iron heads.
From the seller: (@DrCoFo): “Nike Vapor Pro Combo 4-A heads in really nice shape. Just bought these recently- thought I would be the cool kid on the block with the Nikes. Was going to do a custom look, but I was way too ambitious and would rather just have a new set of irons. So here we are. Heads are already pulled from the shafts. Ready for your project needs. $550 shipped.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Nike Vapor Pro Combo 4-A iron heads
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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