Equipment
Collin Morikawa’s new Logan Olson putter, and 10 interesting equipment photos from Bay Hill
Arnold Palmer was undoubtedly golf’s biggest gear head and club tinkerer ever, and he must have been smiling down upon Bay Hill this week, as some of golf’s biggest names were testing and switching into new equipment at the Elevated Event.
Names such as Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, and Justin Rose all made gear changes at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
We also spotted some new equipment on-site at Bay Hill, including Bettinardi irons, new Scotty Cameron and PXG putters, and new Golf Pride putter grips.
Just to add a little more gear intrigue in honor of Arnie, we also got a look into NFL quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s golf bag, including his unbelievable custom “No. 16” putter, as well as NBA legend Vince Carter’s current setup during the Wednesday Pro-Am.
Yeah, I know; too much talk, not enough photos. I hear you, so let’s get into this week’s equipment highlights from the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge.
Click here to see all of our photos from Bay Hill this week
1) Scottie Scheffler switches into a TaylorMade Spider Tour X prototype putter
It’s been a long road of putter testing for Scheffler as he continues to search for the one putter that will stick longterm. Maybe his new Spider Tour X prototype is the answer.
His 2-under-par 70 in round 1 is certainly a nice start.
While his former Tour X SS proto putter that we spotted in 2023 came equipped with a custom milled face, his new Arnold Palmer Invitational version uses TaylorMade’s stock Pure Roll face insert. The new putter also has a visibly short plumbers neck construction.
TaylorMade weighed in with some insight on the new design after the first round:
“Scottie Scheffler put Spider Tour X putter in play this week after doing some extensive work with the putter at home. The putter is half-inch longer than Scottie’s previous gamer with the L-neck hosel and True Path with a full-line sightline on top. Scottie switched to Spider Tour X for increased MOI and stability compared to a blade.
“Spec wise, Scottie’s Spider Tour X has 3 degrees of loft with a lie angle of 72 degrees, and an 80/20 Pure Roll insert. He is also using Golf Pride’s Pistol grip.”
See more photos of Scheffler’s new putter here, or click here to see his full WITB from this week.
2) Collin Morikawa switches into a Logan Olson putter
Right as Scheffler gets off the Logan Olson train, Morikawa hops aboard.
New in the bag this week, Morikawa is now playing a custom Logan Olson blade putter, equipped with his familiar Mitsubishi Diamana putter shaft, and a SuperStroke Zynergy Tour 2.0XL putter grip.
See more photos of Collin’s new Logan Olson putter here
3) Fowler switches into a Cobra Darkspeed X driver, with a new Project X Denali shaft
If you’re particularly interested in Fowler’s new driver, or new driver shaft, or in the reasons why he switched, I recommend reading our full write-up over on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, where Fowler went super in-depth on the change and new driver setup. Fowler is quite in-tune with his equipment, so he’s always interesting to speak with about his testing process.
Here’s a snippet of what Fowler had to say about it:
“Obviously, I’m a big fan of the Whiteboard; always have been. (Cobra Tour rep Ben Schomin) sent this Denali over. It felt pretty similar, maybe a little more stable. And so I went with that … it just matched up as a good combo, good feel, felt stable, had the forgiveness. The spin window is good. Heel shots weren’t spinning off the charts. Toe balls that were drawing weren’t getting too low. You know, it felt like I was able to hit shots, as far as lower flight, get it up in the air if I wanted to.
“But, ultimately, the dispersion window on mishits and left and right seem to be a bit tighter, which that can give you either more confidence or feeling more comfortable, and ultimately making better swings.”
4) Justin Rose switches to Srixon Z Forged II irons
According to Rose’s caddie, Rose played his first 9 holes with the new Srixon X Forged II set on Tuesday, and as confirmed during the first round of competition on Thursday, he officially made the switch.
I guess he liked what he saw. Or felt.
As GolfWRX Forum user Drewhill44 pointed out in the forum thread, Rose has won on the PGA Tour twice on the week of an iron switch, so special things could be in store for Rose with the new Srixon irons this week.
We’ll catch with Rose next week at The Players to see why he made the change.
5) Arnold Palmer’s 2-iron, and “memorial” WITB
As mentioned earlier, Arnold Palmer was a true club tinkerer. Seriously, his club collection totals over 10,000.
That’s a lot of golf clubs.
On Wednesday, an umbrella-shaded Arnold Palmer staff bag was on display, and filled with clubs from his collection.
The 2-iron particularly caught my eye, as did the custom Odyssey Toulon Latrobe blade putter, crafted in his honor.
All of the clubs in The King’s memorial bag are worth checking out.
6) Trevor and Vince
Trevor Lawrence and Vince Carter played alongside Baron Corbin and Collin Morikawa during the Wednesday Pro-Am, and they each had some cool stuff in the bag.
Lawrence, who wears jersey number 16 while playing quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, was using a Royal Payne/Rex Golf collab putter, and Carter, who’s a certified NBA legend, was using a Ping G430 7-wood.
Superstars always know how to wow the crowd.
Click for the full story on Lawrence’s putter, or see more photos of his full bag.
7) Guess what company makes this putter…
What’s your guess? Here’s the answer.
8) Bettinardi’s first irons ever
This was quite a surprise drop from Bettinardi this week. Luckily, GolfWRX Gear Expert Brian Knudson already wrote an in-depth story about the irons here.
9) New Scotty Cameron putters and LD/Long Design grips
The Scotty Cameron putter launch train keeps rolling, and adds a new LD/Long Design grip to the passenger car, too.
See what GolfWRX members are saying about the putters and grips here
10) Golf Pride throws it in Reverse (Taper)
Speaking of new putter grips, Golf Pride launched three new Reverse Taper putter grip models that completely flip the thought process of tapered putting grips, in hopes of stabilizing the hands throughout the stroke.
You can read more about the new technology here.
I tried telling you, it was a wild week in golf equipment at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Cheers to a great weekend of golf watching, and we’ll see you next week at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
Pour up an Arnold Palmer to celebrate.
Click here to see all of our photos from Bay Hill this week
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Equipment
Why Rory McIlroy will likely use the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper at the RBC Heritage
Although we spotted Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper last week during practice rounds at the Masters, he ultimately didn’t decide to use the club in competition.
It seems that will change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage, played at the short-and-tight Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.
When asked on Wednesday following his morning Pro-Am if he’d be using the new, nostalgic BRNR Copper this week, McIlroy said, “I think so.”
“I like it,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday regarding the BRNR. “This would be a good week for it.”
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According to Adrian Rietveld, the Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, the BRNR Mini Driver can help McIlroy position himself properly off the tee at the tight layout.
Here’s what Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday:
“For someone like Rory, who’s that long at the top end of the bag, and then you put him on a course like Harbour Town, it’s tough off the tee. It’s tight into the greens, and you have to put yourself in position off the tee to have a shot into the green. It kind of reminds me of Valderrama in Spain, where you can be in the fairway and have no shot into the green.
“I’m caddying for Tommy [Fleetwood] this week, so I was walking the course last night and looking at a few things. There’s just such a small margin for error. You can be standing in the fairway at 300 yards and have a shot, but at 320 you don’t. So if you don’t hit a perfect shot, you could be stuck behind a tree. And then if you’re back at 280, it might be a really tough shot into the small greens.
“So for Rory [with the BRNR], it’s a nice course-specific golf club for him. He’s got both shots with it; he can move it right-to-left or left-to-right. And the main thing about this club has been the accuracy and the dispersion with it. I mean, it’s been amazing for Tommy.
“This was the first event Tommy used a BRNR last year, and I remember talking to him about it, and he said he couldn’t wait to play it at Augusta next year. And he just never took it out of the bag because he’s so comfortable with it, and hitting it off the deck.
“So you look at Rory, and you want to have the tools working to your advantage out here, and the driver could hand-cuff him a bit with all of the shots you’d have to manufacture.”
So, although McIlroy might not be making a permanent switch into the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper, he’s likely to switch into it this week.
His version is lofted at 13.5 degrees, and equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft.
See more photos of Rory testing the BRNR Mini here
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Equipment
Spotted: TaylorMade P-UDI driving iron
It seems like the RBC Heritage is full of new gear to be spotted, and you can add TaylorMade’s P-UDI utility irons to that list.
We spotted a 17-degree P-UDI 2-iron in Nick Dunlap’s bag yesterday, and now have some photos of both the 3- and 4-irons. Nick has his P-UDI 2-iron setup with a Project X HZRDUS Black 4th Gen 105g TX shaft.
From what we can tell, this new P-UDI utility iron looks to have some of the usual TaylorMade technology as we can see the Speed Slot on the sole of the club for additional face flexibility. A toe screw is usually used to close off the hollow body design that will probably be filled with a version of TaylorMade’s Speed Foam that is present in the current iron lineup. This hollow body, foam-filled design should offer additional ball speed, soft feel, and sound, as well as an optimized CG for ball flight.
“Forged” is etched into the hosel, so we can assume that either the face, body, or both are forged for a soft and responsive feel. The club looks good from behind and at address, where we can see just a little offset and a topline that I would consider medium thickness. We don’t have the full details on what is under the hood or how many loft options will be available yet.
TaylorMade P-UDI 3-iron – 20°
TaylorMade P-UDI 4-iron – 22°
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
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Whats in the Bag
Collin Morikawa WITB 2024 (April)
- Collin Morikawa what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage. More photos from the event here.
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX (45 inches)
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (4), P7MC (5-6), P730 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Mid 115 X100 (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (7-PW)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (50-SB09, 56-LB08), TaylorMade MG4 TW (60-TW11)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: TaylorMade TP Soto
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0
Grips: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
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