News

Five Things We Learned: Saturday at the US Open

Published

1 year ago

Jun 18, 2023

For the fan in me, Moving Day always arrives with a sense of expectation, and departs with a sense of sadness. There is mild grief for not just the players who fall from contention. There is also the angst with knowing that just one day remains, in what began as three practice rounds, prior to four days of competition. It is inevitable that this come to pass, just as it is inevitable that a competitor will eventually raise Victoria in triumph.

On Saturday, the true diversity of the LaLaLand experience came to the fore. It was intimated by a reliable source, that a somewhat-sinister plot was hatched to reduce the number of golf fans in attendance. Next, a golf ball landed, from over three hundred yards away, in the golf ball holder of a television announcer’s cart. Finally, the shortest golf hole in US Open championship history was played and, at a mere 80 yards, did play under par.

Thanks to statistics provided by the host USGA, we know that it is likely that the winner will come from somewhere between five-under par and ten-under. In the last 49 years, no player has pulled a Johnny Miller, and come back from more than a five-shot, third-round deficit. The last player to do so, was Miller himself, fifty years ago at Oakmont.

The USGA has the course where it wants it. Inspired by decades of Hollywood thrillers, tees will sequence in a manner that tests the psyche, while holes will be situated in a manner that tests the steady hand. Falter but once, and much will be needed to recover. On that somber note, welcome to Sunday, and five things that we learned on Saturday, at the US Open.

Rickie Fowler lips out his par attempt on No. 18 to drop into a share of the lead through 54 holes. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/0IbQ8EzKIE

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 18, 2023

1. Front Nine-Back Nine starring in remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

On Saturday, Tom Kim took a wee 29 shots to complete the first nine holes of the North course at Los Angeles country club. Only five players have done this in the entirety of US Open history; none since 2015. Six birdies and three pars did the trick, and a seventh birdie at the 10th hole lit the hearts and souls of all fandom. The North course simply shrugged, and said Welcome to the back nine. It is there that more dreams are dashed than a Hollywood lot.

Next up for Kim was a series of holes whose distances defy conception. The second of two massive par-three holes, and a closing sequence of plus-size par four holes, wrapped around the aforementioned, tiny one-shotter. Kim had no more birdies in the bag, but three bogeys jumped up out of the rough and reduced his round from minus-seven to minus-four. Kim moved inside the top ten, but outside of that five-stroke margin that predicts winners.

2??9??

Tom Kim is making a big move at LACC. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/gS36nB0Y8h

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 17, 2023

2. Snakes are everywhere

Not the kind that take advantage of new arrivals in Tinseltown, nor the ones that lurk in the high rough that edges the fairways at LA North. The putting surfaces at the George Thomas masterpiece are conducive to the reading of long putts, and that bodes well for golfers in search of an on-course comeback. They are the ones most likely to take a run at long putts, and they are the ones most likely to be rewarded. There’s one exception: Rickie Fowler. Anyone who has watched the Cali Kid-turned OSU Cowboy since his amateur days, knows that Fowler putts all putts with confident abandon. He is trying to make all of them, and he believes that he can. Some hit the edge and spin away (see opening paragraph) while others tumble in from unbelievable distances. If the putter shows up and the nerves hold up, Sunday might be a great day for Fowler.

From 69 feet away??@RickieFowler rolls in a lengthy birdie at No. 13. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/75FCIgUNjf

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 18, 2023

3. Whirls and Twirls

Like a lot of generational things, the club twirl is lost on folks above a certain age. Even when Tiger started to do it, none of us born prior to 1975 cared all that much. For those born after, it was an era-defining expression of golf swagger. Look closely at Wyndham Clark below, and you can see the effort he puts into the club twirl. It’s as if his trainer had moved him from leg day, to arm day, to twirl day, in preparation for this event.

Clark earned the right to twirl his club with this approach. Few anticipated that Clark would be tied for the lead through 54 holes, and paired again with Fowler in the final group. The Colorado native played an unspectacular front nine of minus-two, which kept him near the top. Bogey at 11 and 12 were stage direction for his exit, but he then did an unexpected thing. He made birdie at 13, then followed a bogey stumble at 17 with the shot you see below. The bell might toll for Clark on Sunday, but he’ll have some odds to do yet another, unpredicted thing: win.

A closing birdie to tie the #USOpen lead for @Wyndham_Clark. ? pic.twitter.com/kPgLzXzSUZ

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 18, 2023

4. Who needs putter?

Scottie Scheffler had quietly gone about his business at Wilshire Boulevard’s lovely layout. He stood one-over on the day through 16 holes, and four-under on the week. It looked to be another close-but-no-cigar for the 2022 Masters champion, and then the Texan made an unprecedented move. Scheffler drew a distant iron shot in toward the 17th green, and watched as the ball released along the green of the course’s toughest par-four hole. He did not have a proper vantage point from which to see it finish, but he knew from the roar that the only place it could lie, was four inches below the putting surface, nestled in the hole. The eagle brought him to six-under, and a closing birdie staked him to a penultimate pairing with Rory McIlroy.

In my mind, this is the pairing to watch. Scheffler is McIlroy of a decade ago. He wants more than one major title on his resume; he wants many, and he does not wish to miss out in 2023. McIlroy is the almost-aging, former-firework who shined bright early, but has cooled in the ensuing decade. He knows that one major win can ignite a celebrated, second act to his career. One more close call can add another layer of scar tissue that makes winning again, more difficult.

? SCOTTIE EAGLE ?

Scottie Scheffler holes out from the fairway on No. 17! #USOpen pic.twitter.com/MIgpxtWxMU

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 18, 2023

5. Oh, those Hollywood Nights

There’s the Bob Seger song, and there’s also the Newbomb Turk movie, that bookend the tragedy and hilarity of the West Coast. Sunday will give us a winner. If it doesn’t get done in regulation, it will happen in a two-hole playoff. In anticipation of a playoff and in assurance of a prime-time, East coast finish. Rickie and Wyndham will tee off a full seventy minutes earlier than they did on Saturday. We know the following:

*Someone will shoot 30 or better on the front nine;

*Someone unexpected will rise (and the opposite);

*Someone unexpected will falter (and the opposite);

*After a week away from the PGA Tour, we will talk about the merger again on Monday;

*Odds favor a first-time major champion, as six of the nine within five strokes, have no majors on their dossier;

One thing that we do know, is that no one will repeat the magnificence of Cameron Young, who decided to liven things up with a tee shot for the ages, on Saturday’s tenth hole. Despite never visiting the fairway, Young made par. How he did it, is the stuff of Hollywood minds and cameras.

"Nobody will believe this."

Cameron Young's tee shot ended up in a spot made for a ball. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/rGVYnSTGVj

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 17, 2023

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Equipment

Spotted: Putter roundup from the 2024 3M Open

Published

23 hours ago

Jul 25, 2024

Brian Knudson

Every week we spot some really cool and custom putters out on the putting green and in tour players’ bags. This week is no slouch with some really interesting and beautiful putters being tested. Let’s take a look at some of the standouts we found.

Tyler Duncan: Scotty Cameron Phantom T-11.5

The Phantom 11 is a pretty wild putter by Scotty’s standards with a multi-material design that boosts MOI for more forgiveness. Duncan’s T-11.5. takes the stock model and moves the shaft to the center of the putter head. We don’t mean a center shafted version, but the shaft is installed in the center, behind the face as well. We don’t have any official details on this T-11.5 but it looks like that setup should create a putter where the face points towards the hole or target, similar to a L.A.B. putter.

Zac Blair: Scotty Cameron 009.M Cameron & Co. “Longneck”

Blair might be in possession of the largest Scotty collection on tour! It seems like every week he has something new, and flat-out gorgeous, that he is trying out. I have seen a lot of 009.M putters over the years, but never one with a long plumbers neck on it. This 009 is a Masterful that utilizes additional CNC machine work to reduce the amount of hand polishing needed to complete the putter. The long, or tall, neck on the putter usually is used to reduce the amount of toe hang and make the putter more face balanced. The face contains a very shallow milling while the sole features a tour truck, tour only, diamonds, and the rare Circle L stamp. The Circle L was made for Scotty’s close friends who lost matches or games and was meant to poke a little fun at their misfortune.

Paul Barjon: PXG Prototype

There are a lot of putters out there that become so widely used and popular that other manufacturers will borrow some of the design cues. The Spider is one of those putters and it looks like PXG has made a prototype putter for Barjon that has some similar features. This proto has a tapered mallet shape with twin wings that come out from either side of the rear. Twin movable weights sit in each wing on the sole and the sole features a plate that is bolted in place at the corners. The top contains a single siteline and the face uses PXG’s advanced pyramid face structure.

Odyssey Ai-One Cruiser Broomstick #7

More and more long, counterbalanced, and alternative putters seem to be showing up recently. The long, or broomstick, putter is making a comeback and more than a few players have joined Adam Scott in using that style. Odyssey has thrown its hat in the broomstick arena with a new Ai-One Cruiser model. The head shape is the very familiar #7 model, but with the shaft going into the center of the club head. An Ai-One face is there to help keep ball speed consistent on off-center hits and three white lines are on top for framing ball and aligning the putter.

TaylorMade Spider Tour S Broomstick

Another option in the long putter is TaylorMade’s Spider Tour S broomstick that we saw around the putting green. The head looks to be a little larger than the standard Tour S and that makes sense with the broomstick-style putters demanding heads near or over 400g. A TPU Pure Roll insert is installed in the face and the shaft is a more traditional double-bend design, just much longer! There isn’t the True Path alignment on top, just a full darker grey finish with a single siteline. Two moveable weights are out in the wings of the putter to dial in the specific weight a player might want.

Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 3M Open

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Equipment

GolfWRX member testing: Reviewing Cleveland CBX 4 ZipCore wedges

Published

2 days ago

Jul 24, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Our forum faithful are well acquainted with the incredible giveaways and review opportunities in the realm of threads and comments, but we want to ensure front-page readers are involved as well.

Check out what GolfWRXers are saying about Cleveland’s new CBX 4 ZipCore wedges after putting them through their paces.

We have five GolfWRX members testing Cleveland’s CBX 4 ZipCore wedges.

Cleveland on CBX 4 ZipCore wedges

“New CBX 4 ZipCore wedges bring premium versatility and elite forgiveness together in a highly refined, sharp-looking design that blends perfectly in the bag with modern cavity back or hollow iron sets. And now, these CBX series wedges get all of Cleveland Golf’s latest tour caliber technologies to create our finest cavity back wedge yet.”

How we choose our testers

GolfWRX staff evaluates each entry against the criteria laid out in the testing thread to determine the best fit for each specific product — For example, if a game-improvement iron is being tested, game-improvement iron-playing golfers will be considered.

Member testers

@mikes919
@ALTSean
@awtryau89
@vsabre
@rbilramz

Review themes

Forgiveness
Ease of use out of bunkers
Easy to play from a square position
Surprisingly compact given the amount of cavity technology
Impressive spin

Member review highlights

@mikes919

“Initial impression is that these wedges are very clean and high quality in appearance. They have a durable-looking satin finish, and the cavity back insert blends nicely with the steel; you barely notice that it’s an insert. Shafts and ferrules are pristine. The stock Lamkin Crossline grips are more rubbery than the tour velvets I’m used to, but the tread pattern gives a nice locked-in feel. The face milling is very pronounced, and the grooves feel ridiculously sharp. They are quite chunky from the back. The soles are big and wide, with a lot of leading and trailing edge relief. If you’re a digger with wedges, you are going to love these things. Comparing the soles and overall profile to my Vokeys, the difference is most obvious on the 54*. The CBX4 sole is much wider than anything I’ve played in this loft range before. While they’re both S-grinds, the CBX4 grind is much more pronounced on both the leading and trailing edge.”

“Flip the wedges over to the normal address position and it’s a totally different story. You would never know there’s so much sole and tech behind this club! While the topline is slightly thicker on the CBX4, I was pleasantly surprised that the appearance is much more “player” oriented than I would have thought. They don’t feel nearly as big here. The only thing I notice at address is that the CBX4 leading edge sits a little higher, because of that leading edge relief…”

“The other thing you’ll notice at address is the milling and groove pattern of the wedges. The HydraZip face technology is really cool to see and feel. Just rubbing your fingers across the face of the wedge, you know these are going to shred some ball covers! Zooming in on the grooves themselves is even more impressive, with a slightly different pattern between the low and high lofts:

…”My practice areas are sandy and the balls are hard as a rock, but I haven’t noticed any wear whatsoever on the wedge faces yet. Still spinning great, they really grab the ball.

…”These wedges like to be played square. Just line it up, focus on making reasonably clean contact, and you’ll be rewarded with a consistent flight and great spin.”

…”Today I put the Cleveland’s back in the bag for a rainy round. It started off drizzling and was just absolutely pouring by about the 5th hole. I was extremely impressed with the amount of spin I was able to generate with the CBX4’s. I found myself needing to adjust and fire at the pin much more than with my Vokeys; I was getting one hop stops, even in a heavy downpour.”

@ALTSean

“I got the wedges out for another round this morning. It’s been raining and warm here in NOVA so the conditions are on the softer side at the moment and the forgiveness of the soles shines in these kind of conditions. We don’t ever really get super firm or fast conditions so the extra bounce and size of the soles probably will work well here year round.”

@awtryau89

“As you can see, these wedges have some serious grinds. The pre-worn leading edge is on the 54 & 60. Even though these are larger than my Vokeys, they can be manipulated to hit any shot you like.”

“Looks are subjective but these look great. No real offset and not too rounded. They are on the larger side but unless you put them next to a smaller wedge, you’d never know they are a bit on the large side.”

“Feel is really good for cast and cavity back. They have a sharp click and aren’t muted but feel solid. The shafts are KBS Hi Rev 2.0. I play KBS C Taper Lite 110s in my irons so these mesh very well. Overall the pairing of the shafts and heads work very well. You won’t mistake them for soft forgings but overall they are softer feeling than my SM 9 KBS Tour 130 wedges.”

“Spin is exceptional. My Vokeys aren’t old but these definitely have much more bite than the SM9s. The hydro treatment is real. We played very soggy fairways and the spin I saw was crazy. One hop and stop pitches from short distances were the norm. It will be interesting to see what they offer when our course drys out.”

“Forgiveness is what these wedges are all about. I didn’t have any bad misses today that the wedges saved me strokes but I did notice some shots that weren’t perfect ended up being a good bit closer to pin high than expected.”

“Played again today and basically learned these wedges are a cheat code out of bunkers. So easy to hit any shot. I hit it close 2-3 times green side but my best shot may have been from a fairway bunker 127 out, up against a lip, with the 50 degree. Hit it to about 12 feet and promptly 3 putted. Oh well.”

“These wedges have stayed in my bag. Having played Vokeys for so long, I had to convince myself to commit for a while and put the ego aside. One big thing that has stood out to me is full shots and the better results I have seen there. These wedges offer so much more forgiveness that I have to be careful. I’ve had to adjust my yardages since they just play longer. I even took them to have the lofts checked because I thought they were strong and they were spot on so its just helping the ball go farther on those slight misses around the face.”

“I’ve stated they are just so easy out of the sand. I have hit some great shots and even holed out a few times from bunkers. I have to be careful on wet sand with the larger surface area on the soles but overall they just make the game easier.”

“Chipping is also so easy. I go against the grain so many times playing on Bermuda and the pre-worn leading edge just helps the wedge from sticking. I work very hard on shaft lean and keeping the hands ahead while chipping. The leading edge helps me play square face shots this way but you can also open them up.”

“I’ve had playing partners comment on my short game a few times the last few weeks and then ask to look at my wedges. Every one of them are surprised. I play to a 7 but one of my buddies who is a 1 has had some chipping issues lately and he started playing out of my bag one round. He plays ZipCores and probably won’t let his ego buy some but he had to admit he hit some of his best chips and shots with them. Great wedges for the common man.”

@vsabre

“Wedges arrived well packaged and perfect to the requested spec…super clean look and very appealing over the ball.”

“Performance – Range 3/4 Swings…Our practice range turf is slightly sandy from continuous repair with tight lies that are not forgiving for either chunky or blade swings. A really good wedge test and the CBX4s did not disappoint. For not having touched a club for two weeks the CBX4s were incredibly easy to hit. Like cheat code easy to hit as someone else mentioned.”

“Over to the practice green and hit a variety of shots with each wedge and honestly it’s nearly impossible to chunk one (which I can do from time to time). Soft feel coming off the club and I had forgotten what great wedges Cleveland makes, and of course, having a consistent fit spec through the entire iron set makes a huge difference. I will say we’ll see how they fare on tighter, firmer lies around the greens as we approach summer.”

“They will be staying in the bag and I’m sure I’ll be adding a 60 in the next few weeks with the same specs.”

@rbilramz

“My first impression upon receiving the CBX4 was how much cleaner they looked than the previous version. The lack of black plastic badging really makes them look more like players’ irons. I don’t have the CBX3 to compare them with, but I think the footprint is smaller than the previous generation.”

“The comparison to my RTX6 is interesting as well. The CBX4 clearly has a much larger and more rounded sole and bounce. However, from the address, the size difference is pretty minimal. They both frame the ball nicely without looking oversized. I can also manipulate CBX4 in my hand really easily; the sole doesn’t cause any issues with the turf.”

“I am lucky to have a simulator in my basement (Foresight GCQuad) and a putting/chipping green in my backyard. This is where my first round of testing occurred. I started at the putting green, rotating between each club. I do 90% of my chipping with my 54, but I hit a few with all of them. There was an immediate improvement with the CBX4, as poor turf interaction was not punished as much. My putting green isn’t very large (not enough space for any pitches), so I quickly made my way to the basement.”

“After getting warmed up, I compared each club against my current gamer with 12 full-swing shots. I would throw away the worst 2 and then average the remaining. The results here kind of surprised me. Despite identical specs, the CBX4 was consistently 2-3 yards (or more) further than the RTX6. I was expecting more forgiveness and consistency but not additional distance. I should add that I am not looking for any additional distance either, I like my current gapping. I am guessing the distance is due to increased forgiveness as I rarely hit the ball in the exact center of the face.”

“Spin numbers were basically identical. There wasn’t enough difference between the two for any conclusion to be made. The lowest ones were around 8,000rpm with the 48 degree and consistently around 10,000rpm with the 54 and 60 degrees. The UtilZip grooves and face milling really work great. I wouldn’t have any problem stopping and even backing shots up with these wedges.”

“The dispersion of the CBX4s was a little tighter, but not drastically. On good strikes, they were probably identical. The only noticeable difference came on really bad strikes, where the additional stability of the CBX4 became obvious. It won’t save you from a bad strike, but the CBX4 stayed a little straighter and went farther when I put a bad swing on them. I was slightly surprised by this, as I expected the difference to be larger. I guess the shorter distances of wedges make the forgiveness less obvious.”

“Distance/spin/dispersion aside, it would be impossible to ignore the difference in feel between the RTX6 and CBX4. On good strikes, the RTX6 simply feels amazing. It’s very solid while equally soft. I think that’s the feeling that people love about traditional wedges. I don’t have a problem with the feeling of the CBX4, but it’s just not as pure. It is clearly a cavity-back feeling. Feel isn’t overly important to me, so I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I just want to point it out.”

“My next test was taking them to the course and getting real-world impressions. Before playing, I put the wedges through a pretty decent warm-up that included full swing, pitches, chips, and a bunch of sand shots. This is where the CBX4 shined for me. Off of imperfect lies and out of the sand, the more forgiving sole was impossible to ignore. I headed to the Par 3 course at Green Valley Ranch to put them both into action. I didn’t keep score because I wanted to hit basically every shot with both clubs, and putting shouldn’t matter. The par 3 course at GVR is short, but it is NOT easy. By starting every hole with two balls, and then hitting every subsequent shot with each wedge, I was able to get a pretty good comparison between the two. In the end, the CBX4 simply performed better for me. And by the last few holes, I was noticeably more confident over the ball with the CBX4. That may be the largest benefit for me. I simply approached tough angles or bad lies with less apprehension. I was less afraid of hitting it fat or blading a chip.”

“Long story short, I may be the ideal player for the CBX4 wedges. The 54 and 60 degree clubs are securely in my bag. I am going to stick with the ZX5 A wedge over the CBX4 48, but that’s mostly due to my preference to have my gap wedge match my irons. I almost always use it for full-swing shots, so I like them to match. The cavity back design adds some forgiveness (and distance?) on full-swing shots, but the real difference for me comes around the green. The sole design is simply easier to work with. No question about it. I truly recommend the CBX4 to anyone who struggles with their short game. At least for me, my biggest inclination to use them historically has been based on pride. The improved looks make that easier to get past, but the improved playability makes it impossible to ignore. I am deeply on team CBX for now.”

Bonus comment

“We played this afternoon after getting about 4 inches of rain yesterday and late night. It was soggy. These wedges are forgiving and the tagline “chunk a little less” is real. Today was a good day to have more forgiving wedges.” – @awtryau89

More about GolfWRX member testing

Member testing gives our forum members the opportunity to put the latest golf equipment through the paces. In exchange for getting a product to test (and keep), forum members are expected to provide in-depth product feedback in the forums, along with photos, and engage with the questions of other forum members.

For brands, the GolfWRX member feedback and direct engagement is a vital window into the perceptions of avid golfers.

You can find additional testing opportunities in the GolfWRX forums.

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