Equipment
Spotted: Ben Hogan’s personal and prototype clubs at the Charles Schwab Challenge
Ben Hogan’s personal and professional history is golf lore. Born in 1912, Hogan overcame a challenging start in life to become one of the game’s all-time greats. The “Wee Ice Mon’s” dedication and unwavering work ethic were unparalleled. Hogan amassed a total of nine major championships throughout his career, including four U.S. Open victories, two Masters wins, two PGA Championships, and one Open Championship. Notably, in 1953, he accomplished the incredible feat of winning all three majors he entered — the Masters, U.S. Open, and Open Championship.
Another well-read section in the annals of golf history concerns Ben Hogan’s founding of the golf equipment company that bears his name in 1953. On the subject of names, the company’s iron models can be rattled off easily by any equipment junkie — Precision, Apex, Power Thrust, Edge…
In recent years, however, we junkies have been given the gift of a new lens through which to view these iconic irons — and woods, for that matter — in the form of prototype clubs from the Hawk’s private reserve presented at the Charles Schwab Challenge by the Ben Hogan Foundation and it’s generous (and equipment loving) CEO Robert Stennett.
Last year, our Andrew Tursky spoke with Stennett and got a look at prototype woods, irons, and putters.
The proto-hybrid from the 1960s, pictured below, was particularly interesting.
At this year’s contesting of the tournament at Colonial, we were fortunate to get a look at some more Hogan prototypes and personal clubs. Check out a few below.
For more photos and to see what GolfWRXers are saying, head to the GolfWRX forums.
And check out all our photos from Colonial here.
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The first wedge has made its way to the Three Swing Challenge! This week we have the WedgeWorks A+ grind that was recently released by Vokey. BK is looking for a new 60-degree wedge, and this could be a contender.
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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- Daniel Brown WITB accurate as of The Open Championship.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X
3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 X
(Image courtesy of SMS on Tour)
Irons: Ping i230 (3), Ping Blueprint S (4-9)
Wedges: Ping s159 (50-12S, 54-12S, 58-06T)
Putter: Ping PLD
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Info an images via SMS on Tour.
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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.
Three years later, Morikawa has once again changed his irons to deal with the unique Scottish turf.
Morikawa has been using TaylorMade P730 blade short irons (7-PW), P7MC mid irons (5-6) and a TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron with a cavity-back construction this year.
However, he switched into a new set of TaylorMade P7CB irons (5-PW) before finishing T4 at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, to go along with his familiar “Proto” 4-iron. TaylorMade’s P7CB irons are the finalized versions of the “Proto” 4-iron that Morikawa has been using, except they remain unreleased to retail.
According to TaylorMade, Morikawa switched into a full set of the new P7CB irons to aid with turf interaction, just like he did prior to his 2021 Open victory.
Morikawa is honing in on his winning formula overseas.
Morikawa also has switched from his usual TaylorMade Qi10 5-wood to a lower-launching TaylorMade P790 3-iron equipped with a Project X HZRDUS 105 Hybrid shaft. The loft of the club has been bent down to 19 degrees.
TaylorMade says that Morikawa switched into the new driving iron In order to “have an option to hit something lower that will roll out in the fairways.”
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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