News
Sergio Garcia Surprises Golfers at Bethpage Black
On a recent spring morning at the Black Course at Bethpage State Park, local golfers were following their normal routine. Range balls were being struck and tee times confirmed. Then something out of the ordinary happened. Fresh off the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, TaylorMade Staffer Sergio Garcia strolled up to the driving range. The mood couldn’t have been more different than in 2002, when Sergio’s frustration with U.S. Open spectators came to a head at Bethpage Black. Instead, he was greeted by both surprised and ecstatic golfers.
Beyond the “meet and greet,” Garcia then announced that all golfers would be fit for TaylorMade’s SLDR S driver. This was part of TaylorMade’s “Distance for All” campaign for the SLDR S family, which the company says is designed to fit a wide variety of golfers and swing speeds. Check out the day’s highlights in the video below.
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News
Charles Schwab Challenge Tour Report: MacIntyre, Åberg and Spaun all switch putters, TaylorMade launches new Spider
There must be something in the water. Or potentially on the greens. A whole host of big-time players decided that the Charles Schwab Challenge was the perfect place to test out new putters.
With the 2026 U.S. Open just around the corner, defending champion J.J. Spaun made a surprising switch away from his center-shafted Df3 and into L.A.B. Golf’s OZ.1i HS – the heel-shafted mallet putter.
“Just something I kind of wanted to change the way the putter was looking, just a completely different look than the DF3 that I’ve been using for the last year and a half,” Spaun told GolfWRX about the swap. “So it’s just easier to line up for me with less onset looking design, and it’s just something I felt like switching it up and seeing how it goes.”

You can find more about the putter and the reasoning behind Spaun’s change here.
Robert MacIntyre also decided to change the flatstick at Colonial Country Club. He’s using a custom Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5R. The Scotty team created a specially-milled face featuring horizontal grooves and shortened the plumber’s neck to increase toe hang.
Another custom feature of the build is the welded wings added to the rear of the putter, similar to those found on the Phantom 11 head.

It’s potentially part of a major overhaul to his bag. The Scot has recently switched from the Titleist Pro V1 to the Pro V1x golf ball, added the new GTS2 driver, and is currently testing a GTS 3-wood that could replace his ancient TaylorMade AeroBurner 3-wood.
Ludvig Åberg joined the trio of superstars making alterations on the greens. He’s added a Scotty Cameron Phantom 3.2.
It’s not Åberg’s first putter switch of the season. He had been using different versions of his usual Odyssey Versa #1 head to try to get better speed control on the greens.
? Ludvig Åberg is using a new putter! He’s playing a @ScottyCameron Phantom 3 head. First major putter switch, although he has been changing loft and heads in the Odyssey #1 style this season.
Here’s a Phantom 3 built for him earlier in the season https://t.co/oGrNk6p0hz pic.twitter.com/edRbpk22m4— Alistair Cameron (@ACameronWRX) May 28, 2026
Currently, a Tour-only offering, the Phantom 3 head is a half-moon mallet shape. Like the previous version that GolfWRX captured at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which Åberg never put in play, the current version appears to feature the Studio Carbon Steel face insert and chain-link face milling. Instead of the all-black version one, Åberg’s current flatstick is in the metal finish.
Rico Hoey’s make-shift Jailbird
Some of the best builds on Tour have a certain Frankenstein theme to them.
Odyssey decided to do this when breeding a turtle and a bird together. The result, Rico Hoey’s latest broomstick.
The custom Jailbird S2S Tri-Hot head includes an aluminium-milled insert from the unreleased TRTL head, which the team machined down to fit the face of the Jailbird after removing the usual Ai-Dual insert.

The team also filled the wings of the putter with epoxy to redistribute mass away from the face, with the metal insert weighing more than the original.
Hoey was also spotted with a custom Damascus Milled Jailbird Mini broomstick. Check out the full gallery here.
Brant Snedeker’s full WITB
Arguably, the PGA Tour’s feel-good story of the year so far was 45-year-old Brandt Snedeker returning to the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly 8 years.
His victory didn’t come without some equipment updates, either. The Presidents Cup Captain added the 2016 M2 driver equipped with a Fujikura Speeder Evolution 661. It’s a shaft that’s even older than the driver.
The historic driver setup might have been added because Snedeker was missing some antique vibes. He recently switched out his 2-decade-old Odyssey Rossie White Hot XG for a TaylorMade Spider Tour X.

He first put the Spider in play at the Cognizant Classic. Still, at the Valspar Championship, he tested TaylorMade’s True Path Alignment versus without, and preferred the added aim benefits he was getting. In previous testing, the biggest thing Snedeker noticed was the launch and how quickly the ball got to true roll from the Spider and its Pure Roll insert compared to anything else he had tried.
Everything’s bigger in Texas
TaylorMade Golf chose the second stop of a Texas two-step in Dallas as the spot to launch the tour’s latest Spider putter.
On-site Monday at Colonial Country Club, GolfWRX’s Tour Photographer Greg Moore captured the new Spider ZT Max putter ahead of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
The Max version of TaylorMade’s zero-torque putter style has a larger footprint than the original ZT, which will likely lead to a higher MOI thanks to wider perimeter weighting.

The original ZT is made of high-density 303 stainless steel at the front, and then a lower-density 6061 aerospace aluminum on the back to create a high-MOI foundation, with a center shaft featuring slight forward shaft lean and 25mm onset behind the leading edge.
The Spider ZT Max also appears to use the ZT cambered sole, which is also seen on the recently Tour-launched Spider Tour, Tour X, F and V models, which were first spotted at the RBC Heritage.
Brian Harman gamed the original Spider ZT for his victory last year at the 2025 Valero Texas Open, and the putter also saw victory on the DP World Tour in the hands of Michael Kim for his FedEx Open de France win.
Check out the full gallery here.
Odds and Ends
Project X officially Tour launched the Titan Yellow shaft, just a few days after Wyndham Clark played it for the first time and won The CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The shaft features a smoother feel in the handle compared to past Project X wood shafts, along with a firm midsection and firm tip. The Synex Technology allows a player to feel more load in transition without losing the feel of the clubhead. Titleist launched the GTS300 back at Quail Hollow, and just a few weeks later, it’s in the bag of Justin Thomas. Could this be a test run for Shinnecock?
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the ShopRite LPGA
GolfWRX Tour Photographer Greg Moore was on site in Galloway, New Jersey, ahead of the ShopRite LPGA powered by Wakefern to snap some WITB photos and more.
Check out links to all the photos below!
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Mimi Rhodes – WITB – 2026 ShopRite
- Aline Krauter – WITB – 2026 ShopRite(LPGA)
- Olivia Cowan – WITB – 2026 ShopRite
- Leah John – WITB – 2026 ShopRite(LPGA)
- Melanie Green – WITB – 2026 ShopRite
- Nastasia Nadaud – WITB – 2026 ShopRite(LPGA)
- Maria Torres – WITB – 2026 ShopRite(LPGA)
- Ana Belac – WITB – 2026 ShopRite(LPGA)
- Carolina Melgrati – WITB – 2026 ShopRite(LPGA)
- Sofia Garcia – WITB – 2026 ShopRite(LPGA)
Pullout Albums
News
Club Junkie WITB, week 18: Driver still needs a grip!
Back again for week 18 with another new bag for this week’s league night! Last week I played well but lost so hoping to get back on the winning side of things. I am pretty excited to get this driver out on the course as I think it is a legit sleeper in the category. It is also time to break out some newly built irons from JP Golf that look awesome and hopefully play just as good! Here is what is in the bag this week.
Driver: PXG Lighting Tour-Mid (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Red 6s
4-wood: Wilson Dynapwr Carbon (16.5 degrees @ 16)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7s
Hybrid: Callaway Apex Ti Super Hybrid (21 degrees @ 20)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Red 9x
Utility: Mizuno JPX One (22 degrees @ 23)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 85s
Irons: JP Prime (5-PW)
Shafts: UST Mamiya Dart V 105 F5
Wedge: Cleveland RTZ (50-10 MID)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 s
Wedge: Cleveland RTZ (56-10 MID)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 s
Wedge: Cleveland RTZ (50-8 ADAPT)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 s
Putter: Mizuno M.Craft City Osaka
Shaft: TPT Pulse 50
Ball: PXG Xtreme Tour
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Whats in the Bag3 weeks agoKristoffer Reitan’s winning WITB: 2026 Truist Championship
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Whats in the Bag2 weeks agoAaron Rai’s winning WITB: 2026 PGA Championship
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Tour Photo Galleries2 weeks agoPhotos from the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
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Tour Photo Galleries3 weeks agoPhotos from the 2026 PGA Championship
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Equipment1 week agoCJ Cup Byron Nelson Tour Report: Koepka and Kim’s newest putters finally get hot
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Equipment4 days agoDetails on J.J. Spaun’s surprise putter switch
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Equipment3 weeks agoGolfWRX Launch Report: 2026 Titleist GTS drivers
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Equipment2 weeks agoPGA Championship Tour Report: Fitzpatrick, Koepka among big-name putter switches for Aronimink

Derek
Jul 13, 2014 at 8:41 am
While I’m a HUGE fan of major companies like TMAG giving back to the pouplace and having stars like Sergio and Bubba et all surprising golfers with visits and givewaways…
Why are TMAG and the pros focusing on premier golf courses..? (yes I realize that Bethpage and it’s 5? courses are public… But it costs $200 with a cart for any non-NYState resident and like $120 even for a resident…)
We keep going on about how we want to grow the game and increase continued participation… I golf at least bi-weekly and have for 5 years and counting… but when I see the major companies and pros supporting the more prestigious courses and the wealthier-already-committed golfers and giving them free gear… What does that say to less wealthy, less fortunate and less-inclined-to-golf golfers?
I for one already do not support TMAG as a company. And now further I have lost almost complete respect for them as a golf icon because I now know that never will I be able to enjoy the pleasure of meeting a professional golfer; the pleasure of a free driver fitting by the “#1 driver in golf”; the pleassure of a free “#1 driver in golf”.
I feel as though this was the wrong tactic. I can GUARANTEE most of the people playing Bethpage Black that day had updated or decent drivers. I can GUARANTEE that your average lower quality course where half the guys still use their dad’s, brother’s, uncle’s sets and the other half have 2-3 year old sets cause they can barely afford to play; let alone gear up every year, would have appreciated the sentiment much more.
Just my 2 cents.
Dan
Jul 7, 2014 at 1:18 pm
Funny that they have a “Distance Driver” event at BSP Driving range, where we are not allowed to hit drivers b/c they go onto Round Swamp Road
Lee
Jul 2, 2014 at 3:06 am
What a blast for those lucky enough to have been involved.
Tom
Jul 1, 2014 at 11:09 am
Nice job Taylormade. Good for all the folks at BP, Taylormade, and Sergio. Worth every penny they paid for all those drivers, the help getting it done and Sergio to be there. Nice to have us “commoners” surprised once and a while
Tin Whistle
Jul 1, 2014 at 11:06 am
Way to go, Sergio. Now go win the Open Championship.
Brodie Hock
Jul 1, 2014 at 10:33 am
Sergio still has Sergio moments…but he has come along way since the US Open at Bethpage back in ’02
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Martin
Jun 30, 2014 at 8:59 pm
Very cool.
Will
Jun 30, 2014 at 8:45 pm
I was at this event, it was pretty awesome. Got fitted for a 10* SLDRs. Very cool promotional event by TaylorMade.
Dave C
Jul 1, 2014 at 11:11 pm
Were you given the driver or did you pay for it?
I
Jul 2, 2014 at 3:41 am
Free, like it says, they were giving them away. Free.
steve
Jul 2, 2014 at 4:01 pm
Yeah Sergio was there selling them out of his trunk
Billy baroo
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:23 pm
Yup getting rid of the ” junk in his trunk ” good one BILL!