On the range at LIV Golf Miami, these clubs most caught my eye

MIAMI — Whatever your opinion of LIV Golf, being here at the Blue Monster with the likes of Bryson, Rahm, Brooks and Niemann is electric.

LIV has a totally different vibe than other professional events. The easiest way to describe is welcoming and creator-friendly; this is my second LIV event (I also attended LIV Bedminster in 2023), and I have yet to have a boring minute onsite. It’s a good time.

Adding to the energy this week are the YouTube stars who are on full blast for the LIV’s new pre-tournament exhibition, The Duals.

Grant Horvat, George and Wesley Bryan, Fat Perez, Luke Kwon and Rick Shiels all are here to battle it out with pro partners in a competition that will air on Horvat’s massive YouTube channel (1.12 million subscribers and counting).

Here are the teams:

Tuesday and Wednesday are closed to the public so from a content creation and access perspective, it’s a dream. The players are laid back, the golf course is elite and the teams stay together in wolf packs. As a gear dork, I also was amped to check out some bags I haven’t seen in a while. Of everything I saw (visit my Instagram page for pics and videos), these were the clubs that most caught my eye.

Bryson DeChambeau’s Avoda and LA Golf prototype irons

The story of Bryson’s bag goes well beyond these irons, but for the purposes of this exercise, we’re dialing in only on his irons. As a natural drawer, Bryson is always looking for optimized toe strikes to harmonize with his in-to-out swing path and mitigate an aggressive left miss. Having curvature or bulge on the face (with onset) allows him to keep the face to path in a good spot so he can swing out to the right and trust that even a shot off the toe will start right and stay right. When Bryson goes south, his path gets in to out and the handle gets up, which can lead to chaos if the face isn’t dialed. Keep in mind, he’s still in the one-length set-up so that factors in here as well. He’s unique because of his insane speed, but there is without a doubt real world application to the rest of us when this concept gets fully cooked.

I’ll do a deep dive with Bryson sometime soon for the full story. That video might last 9 hours.

Phil Mickelson’s machine-milled Callaway X-Forged irons

For all the gear heads out there, this is a set that will grab your attention. Lefty is no stranger to getting Callaway to one-off a set for him and these clubs are no different. (Actually, there are two sets floating around, including another Callaway Left-Hander.) Machine-milled sets are pricey. I won’t give you the exact cost, but I will say that you could buy a pretty decent car or Trackman with the dough. Phil put a custom grind on the soles to help the clubs get through the turf faster. The stock version — which a number of Tour players use at this point (Hojgaard twins, Rose Zhang, Ronnie Yin, Min Woo Lee in the long irons, to name a few) — have a back edge relief and a little front bounce, but Phil added a hair more to suit his taste. His irons have MCA MMT Proto 115TX shafts.

Joaquin Niemann’s Ping G430 5 Hybrid

Joaquin is fast, as in 185 mph of ball speed fast. So when you see a 5-hybrid in the part of the bag where a 4-iron should be, it’s pretty wild. Why? As Ping Tour rep Spencer Rothleubber told me:

“Joaco is what we would call a low launch yet mid-spin player. Usually ‘shaft-leaners’ tend to fight the overspin. Not this guy. In simple terms, his angle of attack (AOA) is down but he’s still pretty shallow, which looks like a player that launches it low and tends to need a hair more spin to keep the ball in the air.”

A low-launch player who wants “help” getting the ball up with spin? Sound familiar? This is why arguably the hottest player in the world’s longest iron is a 5-iron. Niemann carries this hybrid 225-230 yards in the air with spin in the mid to high 4000s.

ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore | Ping

Wesley Bryan’s two 4-irons

I know Wes really well so this move doesn’t surprise me at all. When he signed his Takomo deal early last year and started the testing, he found something interesting in the 5-iron section of his bag: For whatever reason, the Takomo 101U 4-iron bent back two degrees was the best “5-iron” for him. It was forgiving, launched high and gave him a club he could carry anywhere form 212 to 225 yards. So why not just use the 5-iron in the same head? Well, they don’t make one. Next question is why not just go with the same head in the 4-iron in the same model and 4-iron loft? Because Wes hits it too far. Welcome to the mind of Wesley Bryan. The T200 4-iron was the perfect fit here giving him a 225-240 club that launches and spins. Get fit, people!

ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore | Titleist

I have much more content coming out of Doral. To follow along in real time, visit @Johnny_wunder and @fully_equipped on IG.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2025? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.