Equipment

Bulking and ball testing: How Bridgestone works with Bryson to dial in his game with the Tour BX

Published

4 years ago

Jul 14, 2020

In the world of golf right now, everything “Bryson DeChambeau” has become a big topic of conversation—pun fully intended. From his remarkable body transformation to his new diet, to his personality, and now his driving distance—which has helped turn him into the hottest golfer on the planet—he is single-handedly changing the game.

Bryson has established himself as one of the most thorough tinkerers golf has ever seen, and with these newfound changes to his game, we wanted to reach out to Bridgestone Golf to find out about the Golf Scientist’s ball testing process and what type of changes they have seen with his game over the last nine months.

I had the chance to speak with Elliot Mellow, Bridgestone Golf’s Marketing Manager, about Bryson’s process and how the Tour BX ball has been able to help him along the way.

RB: How has working with Bryson changed since when he originally joined team Bridgestone, and specifically over the last 9 months as his game has changed so quickly?

EM: Ever since we started working with Bryson, he has always wanted to be at the forefront of optimization throughout his golf bag, and that has meant making sure the golf ball he is using offers him the most control from his driver to his wedges. When he first came to us his swing speed with a driver hovered around 124 mph and the ball he used was the B330S which offered a bit more spin through the bag and the control that he wanted.

Beyond the physical change, he has changed a lot about his golf clubs over the last year too, but the one thing that has remained constant is his use of the Tour BX since we first introduced it, and now the new Tour BX with Reactiv Cover that he started using around Thanksgiving 2019 before the Presidents Cup. The reason for the change is thanks in part to his new 134mph driver swing speed he has no problem creating spin, and with his driver dynamics, he wanted to gain extra spin reduction to help him hit it straighter. The firmers Tour BX gives him extra control with his driver while still providing maximum short game control.

RB: How does Bryson’s testing process compared to other players you work with?

EM: Bryson is very unique in that he is willing to test almost anywhere. A lot of players like to test strictly at home during breaks while not in “competition mode,” but we have worked with Bryson on tour, at his home course, and at our testing facility in Covington, Georgia.

Bryson understands that playing conditions are going to vary week to week, and he likes to know that regardless of where he is playing he can have confidence his ball will do what he wants when he wants it. Still, our most in-depth testing sessions always occur at our test facility since we have access to all of our equipment and prototypes to dial him in. He also loves to provide feedback on other products in the line that are going through various prototype stages, even if they aren’t geared towards his game just to see how they work and react—Bryson is not afraid to experiment.

RB: Who drives the testing process? Bryson asking for tweaks during a ball’s prototyping stages or engineers presenting a number of options along the way?

EM: The fun part about testing is that it’s a two-way street. Our engineers are always working on new prototypes, and thanks to robot testing and modeling we can fine-tune the expected performance variables before putting them into a player’s hand. The other side of that is we still need and rely on player feedback because its humans that play golf, not robots.

Having golfers like Bryson, Tiger, and Lexi Thompson on our team help us get valuable feedback on how different balls feel and react to there games and now with Bryson, he is able to hit a golf ball at speeds none of our other players generate on a consistent basis. What’s been interesting for us to continue to watch is how he is controlling his irons and wedges into greens and just how high he is hitting it – speed creates higher launch and spin and being able to gain extra control with his Tour BX is certainly part of that equation.

RB: Ok, let’s switch gears here. How does someone who swings their driver at 134 mph translate to the average golfer that might only swing their driver between 95-100 mph? I mean we’d all love to drive the ball 300 yards but in reality, that’s not going to happen for most recreational golfers.

EM: That’s a great question, and its something we think about with every ball we develop.

It’s similar to the concept car model – we experiment and develop for the extreme and then thanks to advancements on the higher level, even down to something chemical like Reactiv Urethane, that technology ends up in all of our products targeted to different golfers of varying skill and swing speed. Thanks to the properties of that cover material we have seen golfers of all swing speeds gain ball speed without sacrificing short game spin and control.

The one thing that we continue to be at the forefront of is core design and our gradational core helps create higher initial balls speeds and lower spin. It gets softer towards the middle and becomes higher compression as you get closer to the cover allowing it to react very differently depending on how it’s struck – the ball will naturally compress more for clubs with lower lofts and at higher speeds compared to slower speed shots hit with a more of a glancing blow. We change these core dynamics throughout our product line up to once again suit the target player.

RB: So just like with clubs, the same driver can work for different golfers once you dial in specs, except for with a ball it’s about finding the right model to offer performance from the top to the bottom of your set since you have to use it for every shot?

EM: Exactly!

RB: As always Elliot, I really appreciate your time.

EM: Thanks, Ryan.

Your Reaction?

LIKE36
LEGIT6
WOW2
LOL2
IDHT0
FLOP2
OB2
SHANK8

Whats in the Bag

Cam Smith WITB 2024 (May)

Published

2 hours ago

May 17, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Cam Smith what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here.

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D4 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X

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

7-wood: Titleist TS2 (21 degrees, D4 SureFit setting)
Shaft: UST Mamiya Elements Proto 8F5

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

Irons: Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi (2, 3), Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X Custom Series

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46-10F, 52-08F, 56-08M, 60-04T)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130X (46, 52, 56, 60)

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

Putter: Scotty Cameron 009M

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Tack

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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

Your Reaction?

LIKE2
LEGIT1
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT1
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

Whats in the Bag

Patrick Reed WITB 2024 (May)

Published

23 hours ago

May 16, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Patrick Reed what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here.

Driver: Ping G400 (8.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125 MSI 70 Tour X

3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125MSI 80 Tour X

Check out more in-hand photos of Patrick Reed’s clubs in the forums.

Hybrid: Callaway Apex Pro (18 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila RIP Phenom Hybrid 100 TX

Irons: Titleist 716 TMB (2), Grindworks PR-202 (4), Grindworks PR-101A (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Check out more in-hand photos of Patrick Reed’s clubs in the forums.

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (50-10 Mid), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56-08M @55), SM10 (60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Odyssey White Hot RX Pt Customs No. 2

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

More photos of Patrick Reed’s WITB in the forums.

Your Reaction?

LIKE3
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL2
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK2

Equipment

John Daly’s $750 custom irons and 10 must-see gear photos from the 2024 PGA Championship

Published

23 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Andrew Tursky

Welcome to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

In the last two PGA Championships held at Valhalla, Tiger Woods won in 2000 – when he famously pointed his golf ball into the hole during the historic duel with Bob May – and Rory McIlroy won the 2014 event, basically in the dark on the final hole.

The point is, history shows that Valhalla tends to produce top-tier champions and plenty of drama.

This week at the 2024 PGA Championship, GolfWRX got its first up-close look at what some of the LIV Tour players have in their bags in 2024. We also caught back up with a few PGA Championship legends, such as Rich Beem and John Daly, and we dove into the bags of PGA Sectional qualifiers, too.

In total, we captured 47 different photo galleries this week, including 32 individual What’s In The Bag (WITB) forum threads. Click here to see all of our photos from the event, or continue reading to see my 10 equipment highlights from Valhalla.

1) Brooks Koepka’s new putter

Koepka was previously using a Scotty Cameron T5.5 putter with a slant neck, which he used to win at the beginning of the month in Singapore on the LIV tour. This week, however, he tried a T5.5 with a plumbers neck instead of the slant neck, and it’s immediately going in the bag. According to Scotty Cameron Tour rep Drew Page, Koepka already loved the head, and now finds the plumbers neck a bit more familiar to the blade-style putters he’s used throughout most of his career.

See Koepka’s full WITB here

2) The lead tape king returns, with putting goggles

Phil Mickelson has always been one of the GOATs when it comes to lead tape usage, so it was no surprise to see his 64-degree custom Callaway wedge slathered with slabs of lead tape on the back.

The big surprise was that lefty was spotted using ProAim putting training goggles on Wednesday during his warm-up session.

The ProAim goggles are helpful to find center lines and ensure proper alignment to the target.

See Phil Mickelson’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship

3) Dobyns’ old-school gamer setup

Speaking of lead tape, check out Matt Dobyn’s old Titleist 718 T-MB irons, which are so loaded with lead tape that the club is nearly unrecognizable.

Respect.

The head professional at Meadow Brook Club is making his sixth start in a PGA Championship, and he’s using a throwback Callaway GBB Epic driver with MOI-boosting lead tape and adjustable weight placements.

As GolfWRX Forum user “InTheBag” pointed out in our Matt Dobyns’ WITB thread, he has the type of setup that makes you want to hide your wallet: “I don’t know Mr. Dobyns, but one look at that bag tells me he can take your money,” writes InTheBag.

Spot on.

4) John Daly’s custom Sub70 irons and wedges

We first saw John Daly using $750 direct-to-consumer Sub70 659-CB irons and TAIII wedges at the 2023 PNC Championship, and he still has them in the bag, but he’s since stepped up the customization on the Sub70 clubs.

Does Daly ever NOT keep things entertaining?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

A true showman.

See Daly’s full WITB

5) DJ’s custom putter

Dustin Johnson has always been one to test multiple putters week-to-week, and he has a keen eye for different alignment lines and crowns. This week, he’s opting for a completely gray TaylorMade Spider Tour “T3.0” prototype with a short slant neck.

See the rest of DJ’s WITB from the week here

6) Patrick Reed still rocking GrindWorks irons

Patrick Reed knows his stuff when it comes to equipment, and he’s a prolific tester. Still, however, the GrindWorks PR-101A irons are squarely in the bag after his departure to the LIV tour.

The most notable new addition to Reed’s bag is this Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond 3-wood.

Click here to see Reed’s full WITB from this week

7) Beem’s Scratch set

Rich Beem, who won the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, came to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla with a bag full of Scratch Golf irons, which are loaded with lead tape and equipped with some of the coolest custom ferrules in professional golf.

See Rich Beem’s full WITB here

8) Jon Rahm’s 10-iron

Before going to LIV, Rahm was using a Callaway Apex TCB pitching wedge.

Now, he’s using a Callaway Apex TCB “10 iron.”

He’s also since upgraded to three Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke metalwoods, and fresh stampings on his Jaws Raw wedges. Click here to see Rahm’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship.

9) “Why so serious?”

Tyrrell Hatton, another LIV player in the 2024 PGA Championship field, channels his inner Joker to ask everyone, “Why so serious?”

See Hatton’s full WITB here

10) Block’s “Proto” iron, from address

As you probably know by now, Block switched out of his old TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2014 irons, and into a full set of TaylorMade’s new “Proto” irons. We’ve already seen the Proto 4-iron in the bags of Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, but this is our first look at the higher-lofted irons in the set.

Here’s a look at the 7-iron from address:

See what GolfWRX members are saying about the Proto irons in our Forums

And, with that, we say goodbye to Louisville, and the second major championship of the 2024 season. We’ll see you next week at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas after a champion has been crowned.

Until then, don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week at the 2024 PGA Championship!

Your Reaction?