Equipment

Rory, JT and Spieth make big equipment changes in Memphis, and Penny Hardaway’s SICK custom clubs

Published

4 years ago

Aug 14, 2022

Typically, the FedEx Cup Playoffs mark the start of “slow season” for equipment changes on the PGA Tour. This late in the season, players are already dialed into their gear, focusing on the FedEx Cup prize, and awaiting the off-season to conduct more serious gear testing to make any major changes.

That’s not exactly what we saw this week at the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, though. Big names such as Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth all made changes to their setup this week.

We also got a look at the awesome custom clubs that Penny Hardaway – a former NBA superstar and current head coach for the University of Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team – used during the Wednesday pro-am.

Check out all the gear news you missed from Memphis in this week’s Tour Report below!

Big name WITBs, and their recent changes

With the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings collected in Memphis, it was time to dive back into the WITB setups for some of the bigger names on Tour to see if anything has changed. This week, GolfWRX photographer Greg Moore captured WITB photos for Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, Cameron Young, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy, plus we caught up with Jordan Spieth.

We noticed a few changes.

McIlroy, who’s been changing up his 3-wood head quite often throughout the year, changed up his 3-wood shaft this time. We spotted him using a Mitsubishi Kai’li White 80 TX in his TaylorMade SIM2 15-degree fairway wood for a slight adjustment in spin characteristics.

He’s also using a new 58-degree TaylorMade Milled Grind 3 Raw wedge, made with a standard bounce of 11 degrees, except it was bent by one degree to slightly increase the bounce.

Justin Thomas, who continued using his previous TSi3 driver model through the 2022 Open Championship, made the switch into a new Titleist TSR3 driver, equipped with a Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX in the D1 hosel setting, this week in Memphis. PGATOUR.com has the full story on the switch, but here’s what JT had to say about the new driver:

“The biggest difference is the spin,” Thomas said after his first-round 67. “When I heel it, it doesn’t spin crazy high and when I toe it, it’s somehow spinning a little more. It’s unbelievable in terms of misses…I like it being a little bit open (the D1 setting delofts the driver by 0.75 degrees and opens the face). I don’t like when I can’t see a lot of face because then I feel like I have to get it up in the air and then I start getting underneath it and that gets the two-way miss going. I feel like when I’m driving it my best, although I like to work it both ways, I feel like I aim at something and rip it and it goes pretty straight and falls right. Kind of letting the openness in the club let it fade a little bit.”

Jordan Spieth played in the 2022 Travelers Championship using a TSR3 driver, but has since switched back into his previous TSi3 gamer. At the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship, however, Spieth switched out his longtime TS2 3-wood for a new TSR3 15-degree fairway (D1 setting), equipped with a Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue 75 TX shaft.

For more WITB photos from the forums, click here

Playoffs?!

Playoffs? You talkin’ bout playoffs?!

Jim Mora, former head coach for the Indianapolis Colts NFL football team, still has one of the most legendary press conferences ever, as you can see in the clip above.

Odyssey, a putter manufacturer that’s known to make custom headcovers for various PGA Tour events throughout the season, made a Jim Mora-inspired custom cover ahead of the first FedEx Cup playoff event this year.

Mora is to the word “playoffs,” as Allen Iverson is to the word “practice.” A great choice for a custom design from Odyssey this week.

See more photos of the playoff headcovers here

The backstory to one of the coolest wedges on the PGA Tour

Funny enough, one of the coolest wedges on Tour doesn’t actually belong to a PGA Tour player – at least, not anymore.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PGA TOUR (@pgatour)

Mike Thomas, father and coach of Justin Thomas, carries around one of his son’s Vokey SM6 wedges every week to use as a walking stick. We’ve written about the wedge before here on GolfWRX, but this week, we collaborated with PGATOUR.com to tell the full story on video, with input from both Mike and Justin. In my somewhat-biased opinion, the video above is well worth a watch if you love custom golf equipment.

Penny Hardaway with a bag full of 1-of-1 custom clubs

Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, a former NBA superstar and current head coach for the Memphis Tigers men’s college basketball team, played in the Wednesday Pro-Am at TPC Southwind. Mr. 1 Cent showed up with a bag full of mind-blowing 1-of-1 Sub 70 equipment, which he discusses in the video here. The clubs are lasered with the Tigers team logo and Penny’s personal logo, and come with Tigers blue-and-white paintfills (custom work done by @wedge_fx on Instagram).

We also shot photos of Penny’s full WITB; check out some of the highlights below, including his custom staff bag with a shoutout to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics where he helped Team USA win a Gold medal:

New Scotty Cameron, Odyssey and Ping putters

Apparently, it was a hot week for fresh putters down in Memphis. Scotty Cameron (T-12 proto and Masterful+/Timeless+) , Odyssey Toulon and Ping all unveiled new putters, and we were there to take in-hand photos. Check out a selection of photos below, or click the links above to see more.

New spikes spotted

Lastly, we spotted Ryan Palmer wearing some custom white Jordan shoes equipped with new Soft Spike Tour Flex Pro spikes in their soles. With Penny Hardaway getting a mention in this week’s Tour Report, I found it all-too-fitting to end off the week with a note about sneakers; I wonder what Lil Penny would have to say about them?

And with that, we say goodbye to Memphis, and we’ll see you next week at the 2022 BMW Championship in Wilmington, Delaware.

See all of our photos from the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship here

Up Next

TaylorMade launches all-new women’s line: Kalea Premier golf clubs

Don't Miss

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (8/12/22): Bettinardi BB0 DASS Oil Rubbed Bronze Smooth Face putter

Andrew Tursky

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.

1 Comment

Prtal Berita

Oct 11, 2024 at 6:39 am

What big change in golf equipment did Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas make in Memphis?

Regard Prtal Berita

Reply Report comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Equipment

Interesting clubs at top of bag – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

14 hours ago

Jun 3, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, users are talking about top of bag setups that are non-traditional or thought-provoking in some way. Original poster @SuperSpurs106 inquired about other members who might use unorthodox set-ups to help with gapping issues or weak spots.

They wrote:

“I currently have a PING G430 driver, TM Qi35 3W and a TM Qi4D 7W. Driver and 7W are fine but can’t get on with my 3W and have always struggling with this club over the years. Thinking of adding a 2H which I know would look odd. Just wondering if anyone else had a weird set up at the top of their bag?”

Our members in the forum have offered up their thoughts and personal experiences with non-traditional top of bag set-ups, and their reasoning for thinking outside of the box to begin with. 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.

BowMain42: “Don’t worry about what “looks” odd. If the club does what you need it to do, it’s the right club.”
scooterhd2: “I cant hit 3 woods either. Thats why I roll with a unicorn XL Hibore 2 wood. 400 cc head at 16 degrees of loft and its just a monster 3 wood off the tee. Off the deck, we are playing the f6 baffler. 5 wood at 41.75 inches and its easy to control.”
phizzy30: “I had driver, 3 metal, 2/4 hybrid once upon a time as a higher ss player. 4 hybrid is gone and in place is a driving iron nowadays. I don’t think what you’re proposing is weird in anyway, however the yardage gap might be glaringly huge between driver and 2 hybrid. What is it about your 3 metal that has got you all messed up? You could always go 4 metal with shorter shaft and see if that works.”

Entire Thread: “Interesting clubs at top of bag”

If you aren’t a member, join us in the GolfWRX forums today!

Equipment

Members of the Mini Driver Club – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

14 hours ago

Jun 3, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, one user has gone searching for fellow users of a mini driver. In a post, @TightFade asked for other mini driver users to chime in with their weapon of choice, the reason for employing a mini, and what club follows it in the bag.

@TightFade asked:

“What mini are you playing? What spot in the bag did it take over? What’s the next club after it? For me: Elyte mini 13.5. Replacing 3w. Next up club looks like it’ll be 5w.”

Our members in the forum have been sharing their own bag setups featuring the mini driver, and the various reasons they purchased one in the first place. 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.

RCGA: “Ping G430 Max 12* ‘Thriver.’ Next club is a 4w and 2i (I play a weird course).”
JMB3: “R7 at 12.75 with Diamana BB 63s. 3w replacement. Next Club: Elyte Ti 5w at 17*.”
ColdOkieGolf: “R7 15.5 turned down to 13.5 It replaces the 3w. I found it surprisingly easy to hit off the deck, and it’s very rare that I need or want to hit something beyond 250 from the fairway, so next club is my 7w.”
ChaosTheory: “I’m sub-90 MPH with driver. But I’m able to hit DOD. I have been wanting something like the R7 15.5, so I just ordered one. I have a spot in the bag so nothing has to go. But I could see it replacing my trusty 4 wood, which I never use for approach shots. Just tee shots and lay ups. If I drop the 4 wood, I will turn my 7 wood down to ~20 degrees and will have good gaps. I recently tried a thriver build: 12 degree driver turned to 14, with a heavier 44 inch shaft and added head weight. I hit it great. Very accurate and not overly high, but the problem was that it sometimes went as far as a typical drive. And that’s not what I needed. So I will probably turn the 15.5 up to 16.5 or even 17.5. It’s all theoretical at this point. ?”

Entire Thread: “Members of the Mini Driver Club…Check In.”

If you aren’t a member, join us in the GolfWRX forums today!

Whats in the Bag

Chris Gotterup WITB 2026 (June)

Published

14 hours ago

Jun 3, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Chris Gotterup had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.

Drivers: TaylorMade Qi4D (8 degrees), Ping G440 LST (9 degrees @8), Ping G440 LST (7.5 degrees)
Shafts: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Grey 6.5 TX 70 g, Project X HZRDUS T1100 Handcrafted 6.5 TX 70 g, Project X HZRDUS Smoke Grey 6.5 TX 70 g