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2 veteran blade-iron users shockingly switch to cavity-back irons at the Wyndham Championship

Published

9 months ago

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Remember when the majority of PGA Tour players used a full set of blade irons?

Those were the days.

Unfortunately for fans of blade irons, those are days are quickly fading. Many of the top golfers in the world – even veterans who have played blade irons throughout their career – are switching into more forgiving options either through the set…or, at least, they’re using combo sets featuring blade short irons and cavityback long irons (such as Rory McIlroy).

More now than ever, golf equipment manufacturers are designing smaller, more compact cavityback iron heads that combine blade-style looks with cavity-back forgiveness.

Rickie Fowler, for example, used blade irons in college, and for more than a decade as a PGA Tour player. He even collaborated with Cobra on an ultra-custom set of shockingly small-and-thin Rev33 blade irons.

Now, in 2023, Fowler uses a full set of CB’s by way of the Cobra King Tour irons. And he’s arguably playing the best golf he has in the last five years.

This week at the 2023 Wyndham Championship, two longtime blade users have also switched into full sets of cavityback irons: Webb Simpson and Adam Scott.

Just recently, back in November 2022, Simpson switched into an ultra-custom set of Titleist 682.WS blade irons. And for years he relied on Titleist’s classic 680 models. This week, however, Simpson changed into Titleist’s new 2023 T100 irons, which are made with a dual-cavity construction.

Simpson spoke with GolfWRX.com briefly about the switch on Wednesday at the Wyndham Championship:

“I’ve been practicing with [the new T100’s] at home and I feel like, out of the rough, they’re a little better. Mishits are a little better. Just a little bit. I’m still getting used to them.”

We spotted Simpson on Wednesday with a full set of T100’s in the bag, but since he’s “still getting used to them,” the situation may remain fluid during the transition process. On Thursday during competition, though, Simpson was photographed using at least one T100 long iron.

Like Simpson, Scott used the Titleist 680 blade irons for years. He’s also recently used custom Titleist 681.MB irons, and, most recently, Miura’s custom AS-1 blades.

Ahead of the 2023 Wyndham Championship, however, Scott conducted extensive iron testing that included various head models from different brands. On Thursday, it was confirmed that Scott used a set of Titleist 620 CB irons to grab the first round lead.

Even Adam Scott – who is known to use the bladiest of blade irons – switched into cavitybacks.

That leaves me with just one question for amateur golfers who still use a full set of blade irons: Why?

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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.

14 Comments

14 Comments

  1. Eimert

    Aug 24, 2023 at 4:09 pm

    Because i play golf for fun. I grew up playing blades. Playing anything else feels like cheating.

    Reply Report comment

    • Mike

      Aug 25, 2023 at 10:17 am

      Still playing persimmon woods? How about those (old) balata balls? If you’re gonna “not cheat”, you might as well go all the way.

      Reply Report comment

  2. Jc

    Aug 6, 2023 at 8:12 pm

    Because I can, and you can’t… and that’s cool.

    Reply Report comment

    • BladesfortheEgo

      Aug 21, 2023 at 3:57 pm

      Doubtful, more like your ego writing checks your swing can’t cash.

      Reply Report comment

  3. Steve

    Aug 6, 2023 at 10:41 am

    New irons are a trivial purchase

    Reply Report comment

  4. R

    Aug 5, 2023 at 9:37 pm

    Getting paid to play, so they’re walking adverts

    Reply Report comment

    • D

      Aug 6, 2023 at 9:43 am

      Adam Scotty is not on staff with any company right now.

      Reply Report comment

  5. Rich

    Aug 5, 2023 at 3:01 pm

    Webb and Adam both major disappointments this year. Just entirely unable to put 4 good rounds together.

    Reply Report comment

  6. Devlin

    Aug 5, 2023 at 12:46 pm

    Because I can still hit the sweet spot and new fancy clubs make my swing worse.

    Reply Report comment

  7. C

    Aug 5, 2023 at 11:46 am

    Must be nice to be walking advertisement billboard with a nice cheque

    Reply Report comment

  8. Ya

    Aug 5, 2023 at 11:45 am

    Getting paid to play. Must be nice to be a walking advertisement billboard lol

    Reply Report comment

  9. Paulo

    Aug 5, 2023 at 1:20 am

    It’s not my fault those hackers on the pga tour need cavities

    Reply Report comment

  10. Rascal

    Aug 4, 2023 at 9:08 pm

    Cause

    Reply Report comment

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Whats in the Bag

Matthieu Pavon WITB 2024 (May)

Published

6 mins ago

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May 9, 2024

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Driver: Ping G430 Max (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X

3-wood: Ping G430 LST (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 7 X

Hybrid: Ping G430 (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 10 X

Irons: Ping i230 (3-PW)
Shafts: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 X

Wedges: Ping Si59 (52-12S, 58-8B)
Shafts: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 X

Putter: Ping Cadence TR Tomcat C
Grip: SuperStroke Claw 1.0P

Grips: Golf Pride MCC Align

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Check out more in-hand photos of Pavon’s gear here.

 

 

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Equipment

Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

Published

1 hour ago

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May 9, 2024

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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

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Equipment

Club Junkie WITB, league night week 4: Some old, some new

Published

2 hours ago

on

May 9, 2024

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We enter week 4 of Thursday night men’s league feeling a little more confident in the game. BK is hoping to go a little lower and reduce the mistakes out there with these clubs in the bag. Watch the video for the full breakdown of why these clubs are getting the starting nod this week!

Driver: Titleist TSR2 (10 degrees, neutral setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana WB 63 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: UST Mamiya Lin-Q M40X TSPX Blue 7F5

7-wood: Ping G430 Max (-1 degree, flat Ssetting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 S

Iron: Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi 4
Shaft: Aerotech Steelfiber hls880 S

Irons: PXG 0317 Tour (5-PW)
Shaft: LA Golf A-Series 105 Low (4)

Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM10 (50-08F)
Shaft: UST Mamiya Dart V 105 F4 Wedge

Wedge: Ping S159 (56-10H)
Shaft: Ping Z-Z115

Wedge: Ping S159 (60-08B)
Shaft: Ping Z-Z115

Putter: PXG Battle Ready II Brandon
Shaft: BGT Stability Tour Spec One

Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour X

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