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TOUR REPORT: Jim Furyk speaks on his wild prototype lob wedge

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Break out your tartan jackets: It’s RBC Heritage week at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.

Even though the event’s place in the PGA Tour schedule puts it the week after the Masters, the RBC Heritage boasts a strong field, with five of the top-10 players in the world in attendance.

GolfWRX was also in attendance during the practice round days to dive into players’ bags to figure out what equipment they’re using and why. This week’s Tour Report is stacked with interesting custom gear and insights from PGA Tour players.

Let’s dive right in!

TG2 talks to the Masters champion

Scottie Scheffler holds the championship trophy after winning the 86th Masters golf tournament on Sunday, April 10, 2022, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

In case you didn’t hear, 25-year-old Scottie Scheffler won the 2022 Masters. Just days after winning his first major championship, Scheffler was nice enough to speak with our Two Guys Talkin Golf (TG2) podcast to talk about the win, his TaylorMade gear, and what it’s like to be a Masters champion.

The entire interview is definitely worth a listen, but the most fascinating part of the interview came when Scheffler revealed his first big purchases following the victory. They might not be what you expected.

“Ya know, we have a little backyard here at our house,” Scheffler told TG2. “I went to Lowes yesterday and got some pool equipment to clean the pool. We’re redoing the grill area in the backyard, and I asked one of the guys that helps us around the house what I should do to clean the leaves up, and he was like, ‘You have to get this leaf vacuum.’ Now I’m kind of jacked up about the leaf vacuum. So I’m going to go to the store after this and get that. Just clean, get outside. The weather is so good here at home. I’m used to being outside practicing, but right now I’m just getting a bit of rest, maybe go clean the yard, go for a swim. Just do nothing.”

Hopefully someone snaps a photo of Scheffler cleaning up leaves while wearing his green jacket.

Make sure to check out the full podcast below, either on YouTube or SoundCloud.

Charl Schwartzel’s prototype Artisan irons

Charl Schwartzel, who finished T10 at the Masters after missing six straight cuts this year, debuted a brand new set of unreleased Artisan Golf prototype irons at Augusta last week. The irons were designed by Mike Taylor, a master craftsman who also built irons and wedges for Tiger Woods throughout his career.

We caught up with Schwartzel at the RBC Heritage to take in-hand photos of the irons and get his insight on the switch.

“Mike built me clubs for 10 years. Probably the 10 best years of my career,” Schwartzel told GolfWRX. “I’ve been on him for awhile to build me irons again. So, he finally did. I think this is the first set that he sent me, just before Augusta. Augusta was my first tournament with them, but they’re very familiar for me. Mike is just so good with the way he weights his clubs. He uses more head weight than anyone else. They’re very familiar for me and I think the results show. I hit the ball really good last week [at The Masters].”

Check out the full story and more photos here

Stewart Cink lofts down to gain distance

Defending champion Stewart Cink, now 48 years old, has gained big distance off the tee in the last few years. It wasn’t by accident either.

“I set out to achieve (increased distance) two years ago,” Cink told GolfWRX this week. “That’s something we’ve been focusing on, gaining a little distance. I felt like I was leaving something in the tank. I just wasn’t properly using everything I had at my disposal. Me and my coaches went out and tried to solve that, and two years later, (it worked)…It’s not like I found a hot driver and could hit it farther, it was definitely technique and form and biomechanics first, and then I got my equipment to be efficient to match that. Fitting is one thing, but especially if you have optimized mechanics and form.”

For Cink, the answer was to shift his attack angle from 2 degrees downward, to 2 degrees upward. To optimize distance with the swing change, he also changed the loft on his driver by 3 degrees, helping him gain about 4 mph of ball speed and 8-10 yards of total distance per drive.

Read our full story over on PGATOUR.com

Jim Furyk’s wild lob wedge story

Jim Furyk has never exactly played golf like his contemporaries. His swing has always been a little different, and the lob wedge he uses is quite different, too.

Now an equipment free agent, Furyk uses a prototype Cleveland lob wedge that he got back in 2010. And it has A LOT of offset.

Furyk told GolfWRX the story of how it ended up in his bag:

“This is back from my Srixon-Cleveland days. Srixon started making this for me and I was with them from 06-10… then they acquired Cleveland and they started stamping Cleveland on this wedge. It was an old Cleveland 485 that I had ground and taken the weight off of. Hogan made one for me, then Srixon made one for me.

“Good story behind this one is, I knew the last year that I was with them was 2010, and I had to think back to what year the grooves changed in the rules. That was 2010. I had 4 of this head. They all had a certain (JF-1) stamp.

“I had 4 of them. I sent them off the to the USGA to have them test them. They came back conforming, and they said that anything that had the markings was conforming. But this is the one I sent them, and then I have 3 other heads.”

Interestingly, Furyk also revealed that he’s a bit of craftsman, and tinkers with golf equipment at his house.

“I have a wheel at home. Loft and lie for both putters and irons. I have like an office/workshop type thing. I’m always kind of had something where I can mess around and tinker. Basically it’s just a mess, but I like to do it. I like to mess around with the wedges. I can actually bend the offset in now too, Dean (Teykll, Manager of Tour operations at Callaway) taught me to do that.”

Morgan Hoffmann returns with new sticks

Back from a nearly 3-year hiatus from the PGA Tour, Morgan Hoffmann, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, is in the field this week. Since we haven’t seen Hoffmann in years, we were especially curious to see what equipment he’d have in the bag. Would it all be 3-year-old gear, or has he upgraded his set?

As it turns out, Hoffmann has upgraded just about every club in the bag after working with Scott Kraul (manager of player development at Acushnet) down in Jupiter, Florida, recently.

Hoffmann is particularly pleased with Titleist’s new T100 irons.

“It’s like I’m a kid in a candy shop with the new equipment,” Hoffmann told GolfWRX on Tuesday. “The new T100s are so amazing with what they’ve done with the topline. They look nice and thin, like a blade, but the forgiveness is amazing. It’s exactly what I need right now.”

Read the full story on PGATOUR.com here!

Shane Lowry answers 7 quick questions

In a non gear-related interview with Shane Lowry, I hit him with 7 quick interesting questions. Check out his answers below. Let me know in the comments who you’d like me to interview next and what questions you’d want me to ask them!

What’s your favorite restaurant to go during a PGA Tour season where it’s like you can’t wait to play in that tournament so you can go to that restaurant?

That’s a great question. There’s a little sushi place besides Sawgrass that I’d say we eat there four nights every week when we’re there at The Players. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s beside Starbucks right down the street from Sawgrass.

What’s your go-to sushi order?

We just order a lot. We load up.

What’s your go-to snack on the course?

I eat Clif bars and Quest bars. And a banana.

What’s your favorite sport aside from golf, and what are your favorite teams and players?

Gaelic football is my sport that I love. Not too many people know too much about it in America. Rugby, as well. Obviously I like Ireland, and we love a team called Offaly (GAA) at home.

What’s on your music playlist right now?

Lot of kids stuff, because I have two small kids. One is a Sing To playlist. I like Irish artists. I just put a playlist on Spotify that just has Irish artists and I put it on shuffle and it just goes.

What’s been the most important lesson you’ve learned along the way about golf, life or travel in general.

In golf, you’ve got to enjoy the good days. The bad days are tough. I think in life in general, it’s pretty similar to be honest.

Last one. What’s your best advice for amateur golfers who are trying to improve their games.

The only way you’re going to improve is from 100 yards and in. Everyone goes to the driving range and hits drivers, but get around the chipping green and the putting green.

Bettinardi’s collab with PEZ

Bettinardi, a putter and wedge manufacturer, teamed up with PEZ, an Austrian candy maker, to make putter covers that we spotted at the RBC Heritage this week. There were multiple colorways of the Bettinardi x PEX collaboration, including blue, white, and the orange one that’s pictured above.

Pretty sweet, right?

Yes, that was a candy pun. I’m sorry.

New Titleist golf balls on the way?

White box alert!

It seems as though Titleist has started tour seeding for two new golf balls at the RBC Heritage this week. Unfortunately, we don’t have any information on them yet, but we’ll keep you informed when we learn more.

And with that, we wrap up this week’s Tour Report from Hilton Head. We’ll see you in New Orleans next week for the Zurich Classic team event.

Click here to see the rest of our photos from the 2022 RBC Heritage

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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. Mitch

    Apr 19, 2022 at 5:25 pm

    You had me googling Tursky when I saw that PEZ was Australian. Turns out we didn’t invent it, the Austrians did.

  2. Chuck

    Apr 17, 2022 at 10:59 am

    What’s interesting about a prototype wedge from 2010 is that the groove rule was just coming into effect. The rule was of course well known prospectively. And I would have a very hard time believing that now, Furyk and/or his agent and/or Cleveland would allow a non-compliant (with the Condition if Competition) Club into professional competition.
    But still it’s interesting that Cleveland may have been building prototype wedges in 2009 that were compliant. And that the new rule wasn’t even relevant for those clubs.

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Whats in the Bag

Taylor Pendrith’s winning WITB: 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson

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Driver: Ping G430 LST (9 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Accra TZ Six ST

3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 80 6.5 TX

7-wood: Ping G425 Max (20.5 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 90 6.5 TX

Irons: Srixon ZX (2, 3) Buy here, Srixon ZX7 Mk II (4-9) Buy here.
Shafts: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 6.5 90, 6.5 100 (2-3), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Cleveland RTX 6 Tour Rack (46-10 Mid, 52-10 Mid, 56-10 Mid, 60-9 Full) Buy here.
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Putter: Odyssey Jailbird Versa Buy here.
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Flatso 1.0

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

The winning WITB is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.

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Whats in the Bag

Ben Kohles WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Hybrid: Titleist TSR3 (19 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue HB 9 X

Irons: Titleist T200 (4, 5), Titleist 620 CB (6-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.0

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 50-12F, 54-12D, 60)
Shafts: Project X 6.0

Putter: Scotty Cameron P5 prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Check out more in-hand photos of Ben Kohles’ clubs in the forums.

 

 

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Whats in the Bag

Kris Kim WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @7)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 60 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (15 degrees @13.5)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P770 (2, 4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW)
Shafts: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX (2), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120 X

Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (50-09SB, 56-12SB, 60-11TW)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 WV 125

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

Check out more in-hand photos of Kris Kim’s equipment here.

 

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