Gear Notes: Why the Canadian Open is one of the most unique weeks on Tour for equipment

Even though the Canadian Open is being hosted in Toronto, Ontario, only a couple of hours from the U.S. border, it is one of the few events all year that is absent of the popular OEM equipment trailers that traditionally dot the range week to week. The simple reason for this is, just like any commercial truck carrying products across the border, the trailers are subject to a litany of paperwork and documents that make the trip a difficult one.

To help serve any last-minute equipment needs, many OEMs have a Tour rep on site armed with products shipped to the course beforehand and utilize local golf shops if needed in a pinch.

Mackenzie Hughes lofting up

It’s the Canadian Open after all so let’s start with some Canadian gear news. This week Ping staffer Mackenzie Hughes switched from a 9 to a 10.5 degree Ping G425 LST with the goal of increasing spin for extra carry.

A fun behind-the-scenes story, as mentioned off the top there are no equipment vans present at this week’s event so yours truly helped the Ping team track down a local club building studio with a hotmelt gun so MacKenzie’s driver could be tuned for his preferred acoustics.

U.S. Open driver prep for JT

Justin Thomas was spotted on the range and practice green Tuesday with two Titleist TSi Drivers in the bag. For a guy that just won his second major, it was interesting to see an extra driver in the bag a week before another one, but considering the potential course setup at The Country Club at Brookline compared to Southern Hills he could be trying to maximize accuracy.

As of Wednesday’s pro-am, JT looked to have settled back into his gamer Tsi3.

Special edition head cover

Sticking with the Canadian theme, TaylorMade and TaylorMade Canada released a limited edition Spider putter head cover, with the inspiration coming from classic hockey jerseys — of course.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below.