Brooks Koepka’s ‘Old Faithful’ clubs offer lesson for us all

Professional golfers get access to the latest and greatest technology every season, but not every pro chooses to add the new, shiny toys to the bag.

Some, like Brooks Koepka, have found the club that fits their swing and their game, and they are going to hit them until they have to make a change.

For Koepka, the five-time major champion still games a Nike Vaporfly 3-iron, which is no longer in production, and a TaylorMade M2 HL 3-wood, which hit the market around a decade ago.

In an interview with Today’s Golfer at the Dunhill Links Championship last week, Koepka explained why he keeps those two clubs in the bag instead of opting for newer technology.

Koepka’s Nike 3-iron

While some players might opt for a 5-wood for more length, Koepka has stuck with the Nike Vaporfly 3-iron because of his trust in its ball flight and the negligible difference between it and the 5-wood.

While the Vaporfly is no longer in production, Koepka has some spares in his garage. He recently added a new Vaporfly after the face of his old one caved in during the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

“I’m not a tinkerer,” Koepka told Today’s Golfer. “I don’t play around with different options. I’ve tried throwing a 5-wood in but the ball flight just doesn’t look right to me. I don’t know why. I’m not at the age where I need a little extra help with extra woods, which is lucky, but maybe in probably five or six years, I’ll definitely take all the help I can get. That 3-iron has been my Old Faithful. I know the flight it should be, the original one actually caved in on 18 at Portrush this year. Luckily I wasn’t playing Saturday or Sunday so I didn’t have to go without a club. But it’s been crazy, I’ve been carrying the backup around for a couple of months, sort of knowing it was at the end and it just happened to now make its way to the front of the bag.”

Brooks’ 3-wood

As for Koepka’s TaylorMade M2 HL 3-wood, it has become a bag staple because he has been unable to recreate the feel with other 3-woods. To Koepka, the 3-wood is the most difficult club in the bag to get fit into. Once you do, don’t move on unless it’s necessary.

“I think the 3-wood is the toughest club to even get fitted for,” Koepka said. “I haven’t really ever found anything where it sits down quite right in the fairway or off the tee. The flight that I see with this one, I haven’t found just anything where it’s better. I think this one is going on maybe 10, 11, maybe 12 years now, but it’s crazy, like I said, I don’t tinker, so when I find something that works, I’ll keep going with it.

“You put in a new shaft occasionally. I don’t change those, I think I’ve had every shaft in this bag for a long time and occasionally just the wear from the little wear marks on the bag when the bag gets a little done in, so you have to change shafts but not the heads.”

“When something works, I keep going with it.”

As my colleague Jack Hirsh noted, this is an approach that recent Sanderson Farms winner Steven Fisk also uses.

All of the clubs in Fisk’s bag, except for his Mizuno ST-Z 230 driver and his Vokey SM10 lob wedge, are from the early part of the 2020s, including his Mizuno MP-20 irons and T-22 wedges and his Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie putter.

We’ve seen Rory McIlroy pay almost $1000 for an Uber to bring him his old woods, his TaylorMade Qi10s, for the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. McIlroy played the first three rounds with the new driver and fairway woods, from the Qi35 line, but wanted to go back to the clubs he felt more comfortable with.

Even if it’s not the newest or shiniest club, when you find something that fits your game, stick with it. There’s no need to tinker if you don’t have to.