Equipment

Top 5 insider takeaways from Hideki Matsuyama’s 2021 Masters WITB

Published

3 years ago

Apr 12, 2021

When it comes to players on the PGA Tour, there are few as detail-orientated as Hideki Matsuyama. His equipment testing sessions are non-stop week to week in his tireless pursuit of accomplishing greatness on every swing.

Even as recently as two weeks ago, Matsuyama was spotted at the WGC Matchplay testing no less than 5 different putters. He eventually settled on the one that ultimately helped him win the Masters—but what about the rest of his clubs?

Earlier this year GolfWRX got an insider look at Hideki’s “what’s in the bag” including the how and the why and these are the top five most interesting notes.

He plays a heavy driver shaft

The general rule in club fitting is golfers with smoother tempos can use lighter weight options since their load profile puts less stress on the shaft—we’ve even seen some extreme examples of lightweight options being testing on tour by other players.

For Hideki, using a Graphite design DI 8 goes against that even though he has a fairly smooth tempo and a tiny pause at the top of his swing, but it should be noted he also swings his driver between 115 and 120 mph. It just goes to show the importance of player preference and feel when it comes to finding what’s right.

Srixon tour team – “Hideki is constantly testing driver shafts, including lightweight options. He has found that heavier shafts allow him to generate more clubhead speed with his swing. Hideki also believes that heavier shafts help create and support his unique tempo.”

He prefers a more “game improvement” look to his driver

Even with his ballstriking ability, Hideki—like many other players on the PGA Tour—prefers to use a driver that offers a higher MOI to increase ball speed and forgiveness on shots hit around the face. That means choosing the Srixon ZX5 over the ZX7, even though he has used both with great success.

Srixon tour team – “We had success with both the ZX5 and ZX7 drivers. Hideki played both models in numerous PGA tournaments this year. The deciding factor for Hideki to choose the ZX5 over the ZX7 was distance. The ZX5 setup generated more ball speed and carry distance. The ZX7 setup allows him to maximize his control. During a tournament, Hideki played the ZX7 and hit over 80 percent of his fairways, but it was not carrying as far as the ZX5. He went back to the ZX5 mid-way through that event.”

Hideki is very specific about lead tape

Some golfers just slap on lead tape until it feels right, but not Hideki. He takes his lead tape and testing seriously to the point where he uses precut pieces around iron heads to get things just right.

Srixon tour team – “We travel with pre-cut lead tape in half-gram and one-gram increments, and Hideki will apply the tape to different areas of the club (muscle, flange, hosel, shaft), depending on how the club feels while testing. When iron testing, Hideki likes to have a full set built rather than just a few lofts. We do this because if he likes the iron while testing, then we have the full set ready to go for him to test right away.”

He players softer iron shafts than his wedge

Much like his heavier driver shaft, Hideki’s shaft of choice in his wedges goes against conventional fitting wisdom. He uses True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 wedge shafts compared to S400 iron shafts and for most players on tour, it would be the other way around.

According to the team at Srixon, he prefers the stiffer profile to help with flighting the ball down and controlling his launch window.

He is always tinkering with his highest-lofted wedges

With course conditions varying week to week, Hideki is always working with different bounce variations to maximize the efficiency in his short game. Even though he does play with his bounce combinations, the overall sole shape stays constant along with the look he prefers from address.

Srixon Tour team – “Hideki doesn’t change his 52-degree sole often, but he is constantly tinkering with his 56 and 60. All three soles have a subtle C-grind shape. The 56 and 60-degree have an aggressive heel relief. Hideki also utilizes a similar subtle leading-edge grind that is in his irons. He plays his 60 and 56 weaker to help remove the offset and maintain a very straight, smooth transition from the hosel to leading-edge.”

Read the full GolfWRX Insider piece here.

Full Matsuyama WITB here.

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Streelman WITB 2024 (April)

Published

15 hours ago

Apr 29, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Kevin Streelman what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X

3-wood: Titleist TSR3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Streelman’s clubs here.

5-wood: Ping G (17.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 10 X

Irons: Wilson Staff Model CB (4-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Streelman’s clubs here.

Wedges: Wilson Staff Model (48-08, 54-08), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-L @59)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (48), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (54, 58)

Putter: Scotty Cameron TourType SSS TG6

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Streelman’s clubs here.

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Equipment

Choose Your Driver: Which 2012 driver was your favorite?

Published

15 hours ago

Apr 29, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

The year was 2012. Gangnam Style ruled supreme, its infectious beats and ludicrous horse-riding dance moves hypnotizing us with their stupidity. Everyone was talking about the Mayan calendar, convinced that the end of days was near. Superheroes soared on the silver screen, with the Avengers assembling in epic fashion. Katniss Everdeen survived The Hunger Games. And the memes! The memes abounded. Grumpy Cat triumphed. We kept calm and carried on.

In much the same way that automotive enthusiasts love classic cars, we at GolfWRX love taking a backward glance at some of the iconic designs of years past. Heck, we love taking iconic designs to the tee box in the present!

In that spirit, GolfWRX has been running a series inspired by arguably the greatest fighting game franchise of all time: Mortal Kombat. It’s not “choose your fighter” but rather “choose your driver.”

Check out some of the standout combatants of 2012 below.

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Nike VRS

Often harshly critiqued during its years releasing golf equipment (right, Phil Mickelson?), Nike’s tenure in the club-and-ball business gets a gloss of nostalgic varnish, with many of its iron and putter designs continuing to attract admirers. Among the company’s driver offerings, the 2012 VRS — or VR_S, if you will — drew high marks for its shaping and toned-down appearance. The multi-thickness, NexCOR face was no joke either.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Callaway RAZR Fit

Callaway’s first foray into moveable weight technology (married with its OptiFit hosel) did not disappoint. With a carbon fiber crown, aerodynamic attention to detail, and variable and hyperbolic face technologies, this club foreshadowed the tech-loaded, “story in every surface” Callaway drivers of the present, AI-informed design age.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Cleveland Classic 310

Truly a design that came out of left field. Cleveland said, “Give me a persimmon driver, but make it titanium…in 460cc.” Our 2012 reviewer, JokerUsn wrote, “I don’t need to elaborate on all the aesthetics of this club. You’ve seen tons of pics. You’ve all probably seen a bunch in the store and held them up close and gotten drool on them. From a playing perspective, the color is not distracting. It’s dark enough to stay unobtrusive in bright sunlight…Even my playing partners, who aren’t into clubs at all…commented on it saying it looks cool.” Long live!

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Titleist 910

While there’s no disputing Titleist’s “Titleist Speed” era of drivers perform better than its 2010s offerings, sentimentality abounds, and there was something classically Titleist about these clubs, right down to the alignment aid, and the look is somewhere between 983 times and the present TS age. Representing a resurgence after a disappointing stretch of offerings (907, 909), The 910D2 was a fairly broadly appealing driver with its classic look at address and classic Titleist face shape.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

TaylorMade RocketBallz

The white crown. The name. You either loved ‘em or you hated ‘em. TaylorMade’s 2012 offering from its RocketBallz Period boasted speed-enhancing aerodynamics and an Inverted Cone Technology in the club’s titanium face. Technology aside, it’s impossible to overstate what a departure from the norm a white-headed driver was in the world of golf equipment.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Ping i20

Long a quietly assertive player in the driver space, Ping’s i20 was more broadly appealing than the G20, despite being a lower-launch, lower-spin club. Ping drivers didn’t always have looks that golfer’s considered traditional or classic, but the i20 driver bucked that trend. Combining the classic look with Ping’s engineering created a driver that better players really gravitated toward. The i20 offered players lower launch and lower spin for more penetrating ball flight while the rear 20g tungsten weights kept the head stable. Sound and feel were great also, being one of the more muted driver sounds Ping had created up to that time.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

GolfWRXers, let us know in the comments who “your fighter” is and why!

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Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/29/24): Krank Formula Fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft

Published

19 hours ago

Apr 29, 2024

Gianni Magliocco

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 Krank Formula fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft.

From the seller: (@well01): “Krank formula fire 10.5 degree with AUtoflex SF505. $560 shipped.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Krank Formula Fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft

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