Gear

7 ways players (including Phil Mickelson) are altering their gear for the U.S. Open

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Open is a tough test made even tougher since most players in the field have never played Los Angeles Country Club under tournament conditions. With all of the game’s top players in one place, we scoured the range and equipment vans to find out from an equipment perspective exactly how players are getting ready to handle the host course.

1. Fresh wedges

Justin Thomas US Open wedge
Justin Thomas has new Vokey wedges including a different grind. Ryan Barath/GOLF

Fast firm greens mean players need one thing — as much spin as possible around the greens. Many players, including Justin Thomas, have put fresh wedges into play this week. JT was working with a new Vokey T-grind lob wedge to test against his low bounce K.

Another player we spotted with a new wedge was Collin Morikawa who put a TaylorMade HiToe3 60 degree into play to help with open-faced shots around the green. This seems to be something he is quite comfortable with since he has used a HiToe model lob wedge at previous Open Championships and U.S. Opens.

Collin’s TaylorMade HiToe wedge and P770 4-iron TaylorMade Golf

Although it’s at the other end of his bag, Collin also recently added a new P770 to help add height and stopping power to his longer approach shots.

2. New irons with a Tiger connection

Jason Day’s new P7TM irons Ryan Barath/GOLF
Why Tiger Woods is still part of this week’s U.S. Open gear conversation
By: Jonathan Wall

Recent PGA Tour winner Jason Day has switched out his TaylorMade P7MCs for a set of P7TW blades this week at LACC with the hopes of gaining extra control into greens. The extra precision comes from the small jump in spin the irons generate compared to his previous set. Beyond the iron heads, his specs remain identical.


3. Putters, putters, putters

Scottie Scheffler with Scotty Cameron reps on his putter. Ryan Barath/GOLF

The early talk of U.S. Open week has been the state of Scottie Scheffler’s putting, and he has spent much time on the practice green comparing a new putter to his current model. The testing sessions have included messing with various weight configurations in the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Plus, but even with all the testing, it appears that a new putter switch will be a game-time decision.

Titleist Scotty Cameron Super Select putters

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We also spotted a new Scotty Cameron putter for Hideki Matsuyama to test, which offered a very different look compared to his usual Newport 2 style.

Last but certainly not least we got an early look at a milled putter from what we suspect is an upcoming line from TaylorMade named Reserve. The blade-style putter has a grooved face, but we don’t have any technical information about the grooves beyond the fact they are different from the current PureRoll grooves.

TaylorMade TP Reserve putter spotted at the U.S. Open Ryan Barath/GOLF

4. More Titleist irons are showing up

Justin Thomas’ new T100 4-iron Ryan Barath/GOLF

A few weeks ago at the Memorial, Titleist released its newest T-Series irons into the hands of PGA Tour players. Now, more of the irons are showing up in players’ bags, including Justin Thomas’. JT has one T-Series iron (4-i) to help increase height and stopping power into the firm greens.

Other players with the new irons include Sungjae Im with a full set of T100, Tom Hoge with a T100 4-iron like Thomas and reigning Open Championship winner Cameron Smith with a set of blacked-out T100’s to go along with a new low bounce Vokey K-grind.

Cam Smith’s new Titleist T100 irons Ryan Barath/GOLF

5. Phil mixing old with new

Phil Mickelson’s wedges and fairway wood on the range. Ryan Barath/GOLF

Phil is here at the U.S. Open looking to complete the career grand slam and he has brought a unique combination of clubs including a blacked-out original RBZ fairway wood and a couple of older Ping wedges to go along with his combo iron set.

6. A snake in the grass

Gary Woodlands prototyp Cobra Baffler 7-wood Ryan Barath/GOLF

One more cool piece of gear we found belonged to former U.S. Open champ Gary Woodland. It’s a baffler-style 7-wood with extended rails on the sole to help keep the club moving through the turf and longer grass. Considering Woodland’s length along with the length of the longer par 3’s, this club could be a major contributor if he is in contention.

7. Other notes

Other things we spotted on the course or in the bags of players include Sergio Garcia using a Titleist TSR3 driver during his practice round with Jon Rahm. Keegan Bradley using a new and extremely tacky Golf Pride grip on his clubs.

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