Equipment

Here’s why Vijay Singh has red numbers written all over his irons

Published

6 months ago

Nov 9, 2023

As one of the hardest-working and most precise golfers in the game, Vijay Singh can see and sense tiny changes in his golf clubs, so it’s important that he’s fully comfortable with the look and feel of his clubs.

On Tuesday at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club, I noticed that Singh had big red numbers written all over his Srixon irons.

Interesting.

After a closer look, it became clear that the numbers were each one digit higher than the “actual number” that’s stamped into the sole of the irons by the manufacturer.

So…what’s the deal? Why the mismatching red numbers?

As confirmed by Brian Rhattigan, who builds Singh’s clubs on the traveling Champions/PGA Tour equipment truck, Singh doesn’t like the look of offset on his irons. In case you don’t know, “offset” refers to the distance between the leading edge of the iron face, and the hosel of the iron. If there’s a large gap between the hosel and the leading edge, then the club is said to have a lot of offset.

Again, Singh does not like offset. He prefers the leading edge and the hosel to match, or even have “onset,” which is when the leading edge is actually in front of the hosel.

This makes sense since Singh prefers to play a cut shot, and more offset typically leads to a draw shot trajectory, which would be counter to Singh’s desired ball flight.

Therefore, Singh has each iron bent four degrees weak, which helps to more closely align the leading edge with the hosel and visually reduce the offset of the iron. That’s why Singh writes “8” on his 7-iron, (and so on), because his 7-iron is bent four degrees weak, which effectively makes it his 8-iron.

According to Rhattigan, Singh has been using this tactic for decades, so it’s not the technique that’s any different, it’s just the red numbers. The red writing simply helps reduce any confusion.

See more photos from the 2023 Charles Schwab Cup Championship here.

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Related Topics:featured irons Srixon vijay singh

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Andrew Tursky

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

Ryan

Nov 28, 2023 at 11:54 am

Srixon can’t send him a custom set with correct numbers?

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Chuck

Nov 23, 2023 at 8:50 pm

Okay.

I like Vijay, and I like stories about his equipment and work habits.

But my burning question; What sort of red pen writes permanently on nickel chrome?

And with all of the exotic wedge stamping going on, why not just a new-number stamp (and paintfill) on the toe, with removal of all the paintfill from the OEM numbers?

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vajayjay sing

Nov 17, 2023 at 11:51 pm

What a moron, would be easier to just know your iron lofts and that the little number doesn’t matter, just how you relate it to your distances.

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Brian

Nov 17, 2023 at 10:33 am

This is a terrible solution. Just get clubs that work. Now he has a ton of bounce on every iron that either needs to be ground down or what?

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C

Nov 16, 2023 at 7:35 am

Guess he can deal with the extra 4* of bounce because those soles don’t look ground down at all, interesting.

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Leo

Nov 13, 2023 at 3:41 am

Please dear Srixon/Cleveland weld the old number and stamp a new updated number and degree for Mr. Singh!

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Antler Spray Aficionado

Nov 10, 2023 at 10:52 am

These virtually meaningless arbitrary numbers written on my clubs are all wrong! I’m going to take a red sharpie and give these clubs new arbitrary numbers. Did I hit a 7? No way, see I wrote a red 8 on the club so I hit an 8!

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Pro Jock

Nov 10, 2023 at 10:44 am

So not only does Singh work his caddie to death with his notorious love of practice, but also tries to confuse him with these mismatched irons? Respect!

Seriously though… why wouldn’t Srixon just custom build a properly numbered set? Dude has 3 majors and been a HOF’er since 2006.

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Kevin

Nov 9, 2023 at 2:38 pm

You’d think one giant red number would be enough.

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jamho3

Nov 9, 2023 at 1:28 pm

It’s be cool if we could see his clubs at address.

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NMBob

Nov 9, 2023 at 1:25 pm

4 degrees, thats some 4 degree of bounce added on those when you change loft

Payne Stewart was similar in he wanted offset, but did not want to see it., and apparently had a set built , by Tom Wishon I think, with the hosel piece hole off center or sanded down on one side so it would look less offset.

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Mike

Nov 9, 2023 at 9:52 am

This article comes across that he go in the truck and has them bent weaker and puts the appropriate shaft length.

With all the custom ability that players have, why not just have a set built the way he likes it; as many players do? To each his own, I guess.

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Wally

Nov 9, 2023 at 9:43 am

Boy thats going to add some bounce to them clubs

Wk

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Equipment

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

Published

50 mins ago

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Brian Knudson

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.

Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

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Equipment

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

Published

1 hour ago

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Whats in the Bag

WITB Time Machine: Rory McIlroy’s winning WITB, 2015 Wells Fargo Championship

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2 hours ago

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GolfWRX Staff

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WITB Time Machine is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.

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