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Shane Lowry on the new Srixon ZX Mk II line (fairway wood, utility, ZX5/ZX7 irons)

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It appears that Cleveland-Srixon’s slow rollout of new equipment is continuing, and this time we have player insight from company staffer and 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry.

Before we get to Lowry’s feedback, let’s first recap the recent Cleveland-Srixon news: Last month at the 2022 Fortinet Championship in Napa, we spotted PGA Tour players testing new ZX7 Mk II and ZX5 Mk II LS drivers. Hideki Matsuyama – who doesn’t often switch driver heads – ended up switching to the new ZX5 Mk II LS in the first week. Then, earlier this month at the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, we spotted new Srixon ZX7 Mk II irons, and Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore Tour Rack wedges.

This week, at The 2022 CJ Cup in South Carolina, Shane Lowry showed up with a bag full of new Cleveland-Srixon equipment, including a Srixon ZX Mk II fairway wood, a Srixon ZX Mk II driving iron, Srixon ZX5 Mk II long irons (4 and 5 iron), Srixon ZX7 Mk II mid-and-short irons (6-PW), and a new Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore Tour Rack 50-degree gap wedge.

After taking photos of his 15-club WITB setup on Wednesday at The CJ Cup (he was testing two different 3-woods), I caught up with Lowry to get his thoughts on the new products he had in the bag.

Check out what Lowry had to say below, along with in-hand photos…

Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore Tour Rack 50-degree wedge

“The new gap wedge, for start – they’re not making a Full Face in the new [RTX 6 ZipCore wedges] this year, so I’m still using the Full Face [lob wedge] – but the new gap wedge, I took it out of the box straight away, and I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this looks nice.’ It feels a bit more solid, and the misses are a little bit better.”

Srixon ZX5 Mk II and ZX7 Mk II irons

“The irons themselves, they’ve not changed a whole lot [from the previous ZX5 and ZX7 release], but they do feel more solid. I only got them last week, and I practiced with them, and just straight away [they went right in the bag]…I obviously had a lot of success with the last irons, they were amazing, and these are definitely as good, if not better.”

Srixon ZX Mk II driving iron

“The driving iron is definitely better. I can hit that higher and softer, and I can hit a bullet and flight it, as well. It does everything I want it to do. It’s really good.”

Srixon ZX Mk II fairway wood

“I won’t be using it this week, but the 3-wood, I was pleasantly surprised when I hit it. It needs to be dialed in a bit more, but that was just for me to test this week. It’s very good. It’s definitely got a chance [to beat out my current TaylorMade SIM2 Titanium]…I played a [Srixon] 5-wood years ago, but yeah [I haven’t used a Srixon fairway wood much in my career]. They’re not really pushing it on me, but this one definitely has potential.”

Click here to see Shane Lowry’s 2022 WITB from The CJ Cup. 

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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.

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Pingback: 10 takeaways from a WILD week in equipment at The 2022 CJ Cup (Shane Lowry used 5 different putters!) – GolfWRX

  2. Shane loves Buffets

    Oct 22, 2022 at 7:08 pm

    Ya can’t eat em Shane.

  3. Shane

    Oct 22, 2022 at 11:32 am

    “The irons feel more solid”. Shane Lowry

    How is that a thing? Sounds like “I had to say something that illustrates that they are better. I’ll just say they feel more solid”

  4. AWW

    Oct 21, 2022 at 2:01 pm

    Are we going to see a Mk II Z Forged type muscle back?

  5. JubJub

    Oct 21, 2022 at 9:24 am

    Too much going on with the irons and wedges.

  6. Brentm08

    Oct 21, 2022 at 7:47 am

    Is this fairway wood coming to retail? it looks good.

  7. Anybody Can 2Putt

    Oct 20, 2022 at 12:41 pm

    Puuuurty!!

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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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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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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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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Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

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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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