Equipment
Why Viktor Hovland loves his Ping i210 irons (and other equipment morsels)
Our Andrew Tursky spoke with Ping PGA Tour rep Kenton Oates for a story we filed for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report earlier this week. The subject of the discussion? Not surprisingly, back-to-back playoff winner and FedEx Cup Champion Viktor Hovland and his weapons of choice.
Hovland, who was eighth on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained this season, has made a much-publicized effort to improve his balky short game this season with coach Joe Mayo. Impressively, for a player who says he “sucks at chipping” the Norwegian improved from 193 to 93 in strokes gained: around-the-green. While technical adjustments and good-old-fashioned sweat equity paid the greatest dividends in Hovland’s improved short game, he also made a change to his Ping Glide 2.0 60-degree wedge, as Oates explains.
“Viktor plays with the same wedge model he used to play with, but it was a 58-degree bent to 60 degrees before. Every time you bend a club weak, it’s a 1:1 ratio (weakening the club 1 degree adds 1 degree of bounce).
“So we were just trying to give him some protection (with the extra 2 degrees of bounce). The credit I’ll give Viktor is that even when he wasn’t chipping well, he never was a kid who was going to run from the shot. If the shot required you to open the face dead up, and hit a flop shot, he was always like, “I’m going to try and hit it.
“To his credit, that takes a lot of guts to do that. A lot of guys would say to themselves, “Well, I’m one of the best ball-strikers in the world. When I get in that situation two times out of 72 holes, I’m just going to play with more of a square face, and hit it to 15-20 feet, make my bogey, and go birdie the next three holes.
“He’s always wanted to be an elite chipper, and I think the attitude of just wanting to become an average chipper was never in his head, so he did need a club with less bounce. With his technique, in the past, we needed to give him more protection by adding that bounce.
“As he’s progressed, in this year, around THE PLAYERS Championship, or maybe around Augusta, we went to the same wedge he’d been playing, but now it’s the 60-degree model. So it has 2 degrees less of bounce, allowing the club to sit that much flatter to the ground when he opens it.”
Another morsel: While Hovland played Ping’s new Blueprint S irons briefly earlier this year, the irons didn’t last long in his bag. While Oates thinks he’ll test the new Blueprint irons again this offseason, Tursky wanted to know why the i210 irons work so well for Hovland.
“Oates: I think it really is that low center of gravity, and that higher spin rate the iron produces. He is such a shallow player. At times, he can under-spin it, and not get enough peak height. The 210s do spin quite a bit, because of the nature of the design, and they’re also a very straight-flying club. Some guys see curve and some guys don’t. I would say Viktor is a guy who doesn’t. He sees little curves, and he takes off distance by curving it more, but he’s a pretty straight ball hitter, and those irons allow him to be a straight ball hitter.”
For the full conversation, including a discussion of Hovland’s increased driving distance and beloved putter, check out the piece on PGATour.com.
Check out Hovland’s full WITB here.
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Whats in the Bag
Webb Simpson WITB 2024 (May)
- Webb Simpson what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X
3-wood: Titleist TS2 (15 degrees, B2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Blue 70 TX
5-wood: Titleist 913 Fd (18 degrees)
Shaft: UST Mamiya VTS Proforce 8 TX
Hybrids: Titleist TSR2 (24 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD D1 Hybrid 105 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (5, 6), Titleist 680 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46-10F, 54-14F, 60-04L)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Check out more in-hand photos of Webb Simpson’s clubs here.
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Whats in the Bag
Keegan Bradley WITB 2024 (May)
- Keegan Bradley’s WITB accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. >14 clubs pictured. Obviously, Bradley will reduce that number to 14 for competition. Check out more photos from the tournament here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue White 130 MSI 70 TX
Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 TX
Irons: Srixon ZX5 Mk II (3-5) Srixon ZX7 Mk II (6-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (52-10 Mid, 58-6 Low)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy WristLock
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4
Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Check out more in-hand photos of Bradley’s clubs here.
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Equipment
Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (5/7/24): Mizuno 245 irons
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a set of Mizuno 245 irons.
From the seller: (@JB_007): “1. Mizuno Pro 245 – $1000 –> 950/obo
- Purchased brand new – they have 36 holes on them, with probably 10 premium range balls. Great set of irons, I just am looking to go another way right now.
- 5-PW –> stock L/L/L
- Project X LS 6.5
- Stock MCC Mizuno Grips.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Mizuno 245 irons
This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules
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Fred Garvin
Oct 10, 2023 at 8:29 am
“Low center of gravity?” LOL
Karsten's Ghost
Sep 3, 2023 at 4:50 pm
He will end up in the 230s next year.