Equipment
TOUR REPORT: 10 takeaways from a WILD week in golf equipment at Kapalua
Like most vacationers aboard an outbound plane to Maui, I had mid-flight visions of Mai Tais, white sandy beaches, and achieving inner peace in the tropics. Even in my pre-paradise dreams I couldn’t convince myself that I’d learn how to surf, but getting lei’d didn’t seem out of the question.
As I sit aboard the return flight to reality, however, my brain is spinning. Not from an overabundance of delicious, ice cold, pineapple-laden Mai Tais, unfortunately, but from the chaotic couple days of golf equipment news at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Truth be told, I knew I was heading directly into the eye of the gear storm at the Kapalua Plantation Course this week, but I didn’t realize just how hectic it would be.
Buckle in for my 10 gear takeaways below as I attempt to recap all that went on in the gear world ahead of the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua in Maui.
See all of the photos from this week in Hawaii here!
1) Rahm and Xander make a Paradym shift
Callaway officially launched its new family of Paradym golf clubs this week and revealed full tech and retail information to the public. Among the early adopters at Kapalua were two of the tournaments favorites: Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele.
Check out their new additions below:
Jon Rahm’s driver, 3-wood, and 5-wood
Jon Rahm’s mini WITB at Kapalua
Xander’s driver (and custom Odyssey Toulon putter)
Since they’re just Sharpie marker lines on the face, this is perfectly legal. Don’t worry, it’s not a Hideki situation here. Xander just prefers to see a bit more of the face.
2) Collin and Scottie go into Stealth 2 mode
Although TaylorMade hasn’t officially announced tech details, or the retail release of its new Stealth 2 products, that didn’t stop Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler from making a quick switch into the new products.
Check out their additions below:
Collin Morikawa’s new TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (and the Stealth 2 Plus fairway wood he was testing)
Scottie Scheffler’s new Stealth 2 Plus driver and Stealth 2 fairway wood
Read about Scottie’s switch here
3) Justin Thomas takes it all the way back to middle school
JT put us all through a spin cycle in 2022 when it came to his custom Scotty Cameron mallet prototype putters. It felt like he was debuting a new 1-of-1 every week there for a while.
Well, it seems 2023 is going to be another year of putter entertainment from Thomas, who switched back into a Scotty Cameron 303 SSS Circle T blade putter that he first starting using in middle school (as first reported by Dylan Dethier from golf.com).
Justin Thomas is making a fun putter change this week, going back to a Scotty Cameron blade he first gamed in middle school (!) and hasn’t used in competition since college.
“I like putting with it, so why fight it?”
more: https://t.co/ECncXV1XjT pic.twitter.com/kijYFo31MU
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) January 4, 2023
I repeat, JUSTIN THOMAS IS USING A PUTTER AT THE 2023 SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS THAT HE STARTED USING IN MIDDLE SCHOOL.
Such a cool throwback addition to the bag and yet another fascinating chapter in JT’s putter saga.
4) Cantlay goes blank
Rumors have been swirling about Patrick Cantlay leaving the PGA Tour to LIV his best life, but he assured the media this week that he’s staying put on the PGA Tour. I have no reason not to believe him, as he seemed very candid in his Tuesday press conference.
“Yeah, I think it’s because I haven’t been too vocal one way or the other,” Cantlay said. “So, I think that’s probably where it is. Guys, for the most part, seem like they’re pretty polarized on this issue, and I view it as it’s been a competition for top talent, like any other business. But I have no plans to do that as of now, which has been my stance for, you know, basically since the whole time.”
Amidst the rumors, Cantlay showed up to Kapalua with a blacked-out Vessel staff bag – rather than his usual Titleist staff bag – and a missing Hugo Boss logo from his hat.
Cantlay remains on a glove/ball/shoe deal with Titleist, but he’s no longer a full-time equipment staffer. He does, however, seem to have the same Titleist gear setup in the bag this week.
I’m just going eat some popcorn and continue to watch the Cantlay show unfold. Actually, when Patrick is in Hawaii, is it Cant-lei?
5) Mullinax (and Kisner) sign with Wilson
This week, Wilson finally confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in golf: Kevin Kisner, and Trey Mullinax, have signed equipment deals with Wilson for 2023. Kisner isn’t in the field this week, but Mullinax is in Hawaii giving his new Wilson setup a test run.
Click here for more info on the Wilson signings
6) Luke enLists new PXG irons
We don’t know exactly what’s different about Luke List’s set of PXG “0317 CB” irons, but we do know that List confirmed they are new in the bag for him this week. They are definitely milled, and they’re definitely cavity backs, but I’ll leave the rest up for reader speculation for now.
7) SuperStroke, Ping, and…McLovin!
Second place to only the Masters, Hawaiian colors and themes make for nearly perfect artistic inspiration to make awesome custom headcovers.
Who do you think won the headcover battle this week in Kapalua?
SuperStroke…
Ping…
Or…Odyssey?
8) Check out Tom Kim’s new look, and putter grip
Tom Kim broke out as a budding superstar last year thanks to his two quick PGA Tour wins and electric Presidents Cup performance. This year, it seems that he cashed in on his early success by signing a deal with Nike apparel.
It also appears that he re-upped his equipment deal with Titleist, despite rumors he may have been bolting elsewhere for a bigger check.
9) Sungjae Im focuses his Zenergy
Im, and the aforementioned Tom Kim, both switched putter grips into SuperStroke’s new Zynergy models, which offer slightly more grip on the lower hand, and a less-pronounced seam on the undercarriage. Im switched into a Zenergy 1.0 PT and Kim switched into a Zenergy Tour 2.0.
Also, a quick reminder that Lee’s Scotty Cameron Tourtype F-5 mallet is a heater.
10) Odyssey’s new White Hot wave
As I was perusing the Odyssey putter staff bag on the putting green at Kapalua, I started realizing something: ALL of the putters resting up against the golf bag are brand new. This week, Odyssey unveiled new White Hot Versa and Tri-Hot 5K putter models, with a slew of different hosels and sightlines.
While we don’t know just yet exactly what makes the designs different than previous models, we have confirmed one thing for certain: former Odyssey putter rep Joe Toulon has been promoted to Callaway’s PGA Tour Manager. Now that’s some White Hot industry gear news for you.
And with that, we say Aloha to Maui this week for the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions. We’ll see you next week at the Sony Open on Oahu for more gear news.
See all of the photos from this week in Hawaii here!
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from an article our Andrew Tursky filed for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over to PGATour.com to read the full piece.
It’s been well-documented that Bryan uses two 4-irons in his golf bag – including a Takomo 101U Driving Iron, and a Titleist T200 – but that’s not the only notable oddity throughout his bag.
As Bryan revealed on Wednesday, he actually played in last week’s Barracuda Championship with two drivers: a Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max, which has been his gamer throughout 2024, and a new Titleist GT2 driver. According to Bryan, the dual-driver setup allowed him to work the ball both ways off the tee more easily.
“One was a little more friendly to draw, and one was a little more friendly to fade,” Bryan said.
This week at the 3M Open, however, Bryan says he’s sticking with just one driver: the Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max, which he enjoys for its forgiveness, especially on shots that he misses on the toe of the face.
“The reason I like this driver so much is… a lot of guys hit the ball in the middle of the club face; and, yes, that’s probably the way you’re supposed to hit driver. I try to utilize a lot of the face,” Bryan said jokingly. “You see…my tee marks go anywhere from (the center of the face) all the way to over here (on the toe of the face). So I like to utilize about an inch and a half of the club face here. The forgiveness on the toe of this driver is second to none, and again, I hit it pretty poor, as you guys know, off the tee most of the time, although it’s getting a lot better. This driver offers a lot of forgiveness.”
In addition to the driver movement at the top end of his setup, Bryan has also introduced a new Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max 3-wood into his lineup to match up with his driver.
“I had a (TaylorMade) Stealth 3-wood in there for a while, but I enjoyed the Ai Smoke driver so much that I got Johnny Thompson (a Callaway Tour rep) out here to build up a 3-wood as similar as possible,” Bryan explained. “This club was used just yesterday in a round to take some money off of Tom Whitney and Zach Johnson on the final hole. I drove it in the hazard, which is obviously not uncommon. Dropped it on a side hill in the rough from 265 yards, hit it to 10 feet… and made birdie the hard way. So this club, I’ve really been enjoying it; it’s been in the bag for about three weeks now.”
Bryan also uses a TaylorMade Stealth 2 hybrid, which interestingly ended up in his bag by accident last year.
“[My hybrid] was built just as a backup while I was waiting for my clubs to arrive [at the John Deere Classic last year], and I needed stuff I could go play the pro-am with, so this was just kind of an ‘oopsie’ hybrid… it turns out I love it. It’s been in the bag ever since.”
View this post on Instagram
Head over to PGATour.com to read the full piece.
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One of our Instagram followers requested that we take a look at the Graphite Design Tour AD VF golf shaft. Just a few weeks later, it has made its way onto the Three Swing Challenge to see where it stacks up.
Why three swings?
Many years ago, the legendary Barney Adams, founder of Adams Golf told us this:
“My formula as a fitter was three shots only. I discounted No. 1 just because it was the first one, counted 100 percent of No. 2 and discounted No. 3 because the player was starting to adjust.”
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Week 14 is upon us and it looks like we are going with some more forgiving irons and a new hybrid with a new shaft! The course will be soft after some heavy rain this week, so let’s go with lots of bounce and an extra hybrid. The wedges are high bounce and the same as last week.
Driver: Cobra Darkspeed X (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: VA Composites Raijin 2.0 65x
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7x (2018)
3-hybrid: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour Rescue (19.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Limited Blue HY 75s
4-hybrid: PXG Black Ops (22 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Limited Blue HY 75s
Irons: Ping i230 (5-PW)
Shaft: Fujikura Axiom 105s
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM10 (50.12F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 Stiff
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM10 (56.14F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 Stiff
Wedge: Titleist Vokey Wedgeworks (60 A+)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold S200
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Milled 8 T S
Shaft: UST All-In
Ball: Titleist ProV1x
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Eric Trump
Jan 9, 2023 at 8:10 pm
I as well played a $5k putter in middle school
Erik Ugland
Jan 9, 2023 at 1:22 pm
New Paradigm driver looks fantastic from address. But fairway woods are weirdly round. Like actually circular. SMH.
All the Stealth stuff also looks great from address, but I could do without the red face and the weird metal mechanicals on the back of the Plus fairways.
Jack
Jan 9, 2023 at 6:19 am
Saw you in the Bahamas taking pictures for the Hero. Good frequent flier miles you’re racking up here.