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WM Phoenix Open Tour Report: Adam Scott speaks, CHIII talks putter testing, and custom “party” covers

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Every year, the Waste Management Phoenix Open is home to the “Greatest Party on Grass,” and event-goers celebrate with a couple of adult beverages. The stadium atmosphere on the 16th hole is one of the most raucous scenes in sports, and most certainly the rowdiest in golf.

TPC Scottsdale – site of the WM Phoenix Open – is also known for having some of the smoothest and truest rolling greens on Tour. Players often find the WM Phoenix Open to be a great spot for putter testing.

So, in this edition of our weekly Tour Report, we focus mostly on new and custom putters as well as festive custom putter covers we spotted inside the ropes this week.

Let’s dive right into the Tour Report from the 2022 WM Phoenix Open. Here are 10 things we spotted.

Check out all of our photos from TPC Scottsdale here!

1) Adam Scott’s Mezz.1 putter and new bag

Being that Adam Scott is no longer a full Titleist staffer, I was curious to see what he’d have in the bag this week. While he does still have 13-of-14 Titleist clubs in the bag, he’s using a new L.A.B. Mezz.1 Proto broomstick-style putter.

He spoke with GolfWRX about the new head:

“I think they’ve refined their design with this new head,” Scott said. “The original head, that Directed Force, maybe was hard for a lot of people to adjust to the size of the head, and this new [Mezz.1 Proto] is smaller, but has the same benefits…I thought the technology in the original was good, but now with the new head design, it feels, looks, does all the things better than the original head for me…I’m looking forward to a week on pure greens to see what happens.”

He’s also made a bag switch-up for this year. He’s now carrying an all-red leather staff bag with “UNIQLO” logos on the front and side panels. Scott is a brand ambassador for the global apparel retailer.

2) New Scotty Cameron putters

Scotty Cameron began tour seeding of two new putter models this week: Phantom X 9 and X 9.5.

Click here for more photos, speculation and information about the launch.

3) Charles Howell III does putter testing, as always

Ahead of his 600th start this week, Charles Howell III was conducting some extensive putter testing. As he explained to GolfWRX, he enjoys doing putter testing just to keep things interesting since he’s happy with the rest of the 13 clubs in his bag.

“I don’t switch anything else…I’ve played the same driver and driver shaft forever now. I’ve played the same 3 wood, etc., so you have to switch something. There’s also part of it, too, that it keeps it interesting and exciting. When you’ve played golf as long as I have, sometimes it’s just part of the fun of it to look at something else. It’s why we’re all gear heads, right? You don’t need any more reason to it than that. I’m not a guy that can look at the same putter forever. I’m just not.”

4) New Ping putters

Ping unveiled a number of new PLD (Putting Lab Design) putters this week, and Ping has confirmed that a retail offering is on the way. According to a Ping representative, the “PLD Milled” putters will come available in four models – Anser, Anser2, Prime Tyne 4 and DS72 – starting the second week in March.

5) Custom party covers

Seemingly every year, Bettinardi creates a new custom “Party On” headcover made of festive colors. This year, the company is back again with a new design, featuring stick figures partying with solo cups. A few artistic liberties aside, I’d say they capture Arizona’s Phoenix Open party scene quite well.

Swag Golf, a company that makes custom covers and putters, got in on the fun as well with its Cactus party covers.

6) Aaron Rodgers’ TaylorMade putter

With hair down to his shoulders, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers showed up at the Wednesday Pro-Am with a bag full of TaylorMade equipment. His setup included a brand new Stealth Plus driver and a custom TaylorMade Spider putter with an “A12” logo on the sole; as a reminder, Rodgers wears No. 12 on the football field.

7) Tom Hoge’s custom Pebble-winner

I don’t want to sell you on it too hard, but the story behind Tom Hoge’s winning Odyssey White Hot OG 2-ball putter is an all-timer. What started as a simple request for a custom putter turned into so much more.

Check out the full inside scoop on Hoge’s ultra-custom 2-ball putter here

8) Brooks Koepka’s Cleveland-Srixon setup

As of November 2021, Brooks Koepka is officially a Cleveland-Srixon staffer, and he’s carrying a Srixon staff bag. Speaking with the media, Koepka went deep into his experiences with the company’s clubs over the past year. To summarize, he’s extremely happy with the V-sole construction of his irons, he loves the stability that his Srixon Z-Star golf ball offers in the wind, and he worked hard with the company on the grind of his Cleveland RTX ZipCore wedges – especially the lob wedge (pictured above).

For a much deeper dive into Koepka’s new setup, click here.

9) C.C. Sabathia’s Eastside Jordans

Former left-handed pitcher of the New York Yankees, C.C. Sabathia, played in the Wednesday Pro-Am wearing a pair of custom Jordan 4’s. In speaking with GolfWRX, he revealed they’re a limited-edition collab between Jordan and Eastside Golf.

Eastside Golf was developed as a lifestyle brand, raising awareness to the sport among the youth and non-golfers: “We want to inspire the culture, promote diversity and continue to be authentic,” says their website.

10) A proto Toulon blade

While this putter wasn’t designed for any pros in particular, the Odyssey Toulon SSM Proto is a bullseye-style putter that can be used by lefties and righties.

Xander Schauffele, a right-handed player, had some fun on the practice green, hitting a few putts from the left-handed side. Don’t worry, he’s sticking with his right-handed stroke come competition time, but the Toulon blade was a big hit on the greens given its updated take on an old-school design.

And that’ll do it for this week’s putter-heavy Tour Report, and don’t forget to check out all of our photos from the week here. We’ll see you next week for the 2022 Genesis Invitational.

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.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Ed Settle

    Feb 12, 2022 at 7:19 pm

    I’m sure you noticed it also, Aaron Rodgers logo on the bottom of his putter is not just 12, but “a R”

  2. PJM

    Feb 11, 2022 at 1:44 am

    “Ping unveiled a number of new PLD (Ping Lab Design) …”

    Hmmm – pretty sure PLD is an initialism of Putting Lab Design, as it appears on the putter shown.

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Equipment

Best ‘forgiving’ wedges – GolfWRXers discuss

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In our forums, our members have been discussing the most forgiving wedges on the market. WRXer ‘aaronpoling’ lays out his current setup and what he’s currently considering, saying:

“I am looking at getting new wedges, but looking for a forgiving wedge.

I currently play Ping G25 50°, MD4 54° and 58°. I used to play the CBX2 in the 50°, 54° and 58° and liked them a lot; but like any good dad, my son took them.

I am currently looking Callaway’s CB12 and Cleveland’s CBZ. Anyone have thoughts on these? Or recommendations of other wedges that I should check out?”

And our members have been weighing in with their thoughts and recommendations in response, with one brand coming out emphatically on top.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

  • boggyman: “CBZs are amazing wedges!”
  • drewbens: “Agreed, the Cleveland CB wedges are great! Already had a CBX Full Face 2 54 and recently added a 50 and 58 (for well under $100 a piece). Was chipping so well last week that my brother-in-law asked if the wedges were legal. Definitely underrated wedges for those of us that are not scratch golfers.”
  • BogeyTed: “Get Cleveland CBX/CBZ. Very underrated clubs.”

Entire Thread: “Best ‘forgiving’ wedges – GolfWRXers discuss”

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From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Ping PLD Ally Blue Onset putter

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At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who 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, @negncic has a Ping PLD Ally Blue Onset putter up for grabs.

From the listing: “34” Ping PLD Ally Blue Onset. Ping composite shaft Ping PLD Pistol grip. No issues. $345 shipped.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules

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Equipment

I built the worst fitting clubs ever – GolfWRXers discuss

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In our forums, our members have been reacting to a WRXer who claims to have built the “worst fitting clubs ever.” ‘dlow206’ recounts his experience with plenty of insightful findings for where he can go better next time in a detailed post, saying:

“Here’s my story of building the worst fitting clubs ever (for me). And my findings of what a better fit is.

I am short in stature, as well as a very short wrist to floor of 30.5″. I went down a rabbit hole of wanting to try irons 1″ shorter of more than standard length. Given the shorter lengths, the swingweights would be super light unless I added back a ton of weight to the heads, but I don’t like adding an extreme amount of weight back to the heads, so I decided to compensate with heavier shafts (115 grams instead of 95). Played with this set for a while and was hitting all irons extremely poorly. Thin, fat, right, right, left. My swing didn’t deteriorate that much because I was hitting my driver well, woods well, etc.

Went back to my older set of irons, playing at standard length, and my iron play improved immediately. Since then, have been doing more testing, while paying more attention to different possible variables. What I have found is I actually prefer lighter total weight with relatively normal or slightly heavier swingweights. Did a recent fitting and found that 85 gram shafts were better for me than 95 grams with standard length and relatively standard swingweights. 

Still trying to dial in a final iron shaft choice, so have a few contenders that I will be testing. Will be moving away from my current Steelfiber i95 S parallel to lighter and softer

  • MMT 80 parallel R – worked pretty well in a limited number of swings at a fitting
  • Fujikura Travil 85 R – the fitter liked the Axiom 95 R for me at Club Champion, but i didn’t love the effort required to swing them. If there was a 85 Axiom, that would probably have been a great fit. So i am going try a Travil 85 R which is japan only
  • Steelfiber i80 CW R – i have been playing Steelfibers for a long time, so need to give one Steelfiber shaft a shot

Given I do club building work, I am going to build all of these shafts with the All-Fit universal iron adapters to pair with a Srixon 7 iron head for testing. With these adapters, there isn’t a swingweight issue because the amount of weight from drilling out is about equivalent to the universal adapter components.”

And our members have been sharing their reactions in our forum.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

  • Mikey_HACKilroy: “That length cut costs you a fair amount in swing points. I’d posit the length mattered more than the weight because a 115g shaft isn’t going to actually add enough back after cutting an inch off. Does it mean 115 would ultimately work? Hard to say. Maybe try a 1/2″ cut and add 2g to the head to compensate assuming the 7i is 37″ long. Maybe that will feel better. It translates to the same ~D2 you’re swinging at with the 95g shafts (estimated based on common weight, but you can weigh your parts on your own obviously).”
  • Stuart_G: “Your process is good – keep at it and trust it.”

Entire Thread: “I built the worst fitting clubs ever – GolfWRXers discuss”

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