Links golf requires creativity, imagination and use of the ground that golf in the United States typically does not, so when the game’s best head across the pond for the Open Championship, it’s no surprise they use a few different clubs than they do anywhere else.
A lot of the changes we’re seeing at the Open make a lot of sense, like many, many, many players adding utility irons to hit low stingers off the tee and keep it out of the sea breeze at Royal Portrush.
Other changes need a little more nuance to understand, like the trend of players buffing out the angles (or ribbons) in their wedge grinds to deal with the tight, firm turf of links golf.
And others, they are just good players making interesting switches like any other week.
Keep reading below for the five gear observations we’re seeing from the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
Utilities galore
What do Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Lucas Glover, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Joaco Niemann, Xander Schauffele and J.J. Spaun all have in common?
They are all among the many players who have dropped high-lofted fairway woods (5-wood or higher), utility woods or hybrids in favor of utility irons this week.
It’s the complete opposite trend we saw at the last two majors, where players flocked to 7- and 9-woods to gain height and stop the ball. But this week, that extra height comes at the expense of keeping the ball out of the wind.
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By far the most popular choice is the new Titleist T250 utility iron that was released on Tour in May, with 30 players using one this week and Titleist leading the overall utilities count with 57 when you add in the higher launching U505 and previous generation models.
Interesting to note about the T250 utility on tour is that players don’t actually use the T250U head that’s available at retail. The only differences between the standard T250 head and the T250U are the heavier headweight and .370 hosel bore to accommodate a hybrid shaft. But on Tour, it’s easier for reps to just have the same head in case they want to put a steel shaft in it and they can always add weight and grind down the shaft tips.
Justin Thomas, while he tested a U505 1-iron last week, is once again sticking with his 10-year-old Titleist 915d 5-wood after strengthening the loft slightly.
Lots of 2s, but few 1s
As I mentioned on Wednesday, there were a few more 1-irons than normal last week at the Scottish Open, including in winner Chris Gotterup’s bag. But it seems many of them, including Gotterup’s, were lost somewhere over the Irish Sea.
Kidding, of course, but Gotterup re-added his Mini Driver this week and has a new TaylorMade P770 3-iron in the bag instead of the butter knife.
Ben An, who carries one week in and week out on the PGA Tour, still has his U505 1-iron, along with a T250 3-iron, and Dean Burmester had a fun conversation with my colleague Sean Zak about his 1-iron use in a Thursday 71 that was documented here by my other colleague Alan Bastable.
The Open has a very cool statistic view for driver usage this week that you can view here under “Driving” stats.
Removing the ribbon
The four most popular lob wedge grinds for Titleist, whose Vokey wedges are the No. 1 wedge this week are the low bounce K, K*, L and T.
That’s not so surprising as those are the most popular wedge grinds on the PGA Tour normally, but check out this thread below for Vokey Tour rep Aaron Dill’s comments on why each grind is popular this week.
The interesting thing about some players choosing these grinds, specifically L, T and K* is that some players are having the ribbons, also known as the grind lines, smoothed out. Taking the ribbon out of the L grind results in the Vokey A grind, while removing it from the M grind makes it into an A+ grind.
Patrick Reed is playing a modified T grind this week with the ribbon removed and Schauffele, who won at Troon last year with the K*, is playing a modified K* with both ribbons removed.
When you take out these ribbons, it helps the club move through the turf quicker because it’s not getting caught up with the angles. On firm links turf, that’s really advantageous for players who want to hit low spinners off the bottom of the face.
Bryson DeChambeau goes back to LA Golf irons and more
Bryson DeChambeau’s bag is a seemingly never-ending carousel of gear changes as he searches to optimize every facet of his game. The latest change involved taking out the new prototype LA Golf irons for the Avoda irons he used to win the U.S. Open last year.
DeChambeau detailed the move before the tournament this week on Tuesday.
“I had built the L.A. Golf irons, and we just made the wall thickness a little different. Just for some reason, well, I know why, they were just coming off a little hotter,” he said. “So we’re working on building the new set to where it’s the same wall thickness, and I’ll put those other irons right back in play.
“They’re doing great. Everything else was flying straighter, doing everything I wanted, from the sole interaction, you name it. It was flying over the greens at Oakmont, and that ultimately cost me making the cut, which was disappointing for me.”
But just as quickly as they went out, DeChambeau has a set of LA Golf irons and three new LA Golf prototype wedges in the bag this week. The key thing about the LA Golf irons was a new weighting system, but we’ll have to wait to hear from DeChambeau himself if this is the new set or an older one.
The wedges are new this week in the 45˚, 50˚ and 55˚, but he has kept his Ping Glide 4.0 lob wedge in the bag.
DeChambeau struggled in Round 1, posting a 78, but rallied with a 65 to be in position to make the cut.
Tom Kim goes Spider
Throughout his entire professional career, Tom Kim has never known anything other than a Scotty Cameron putter.
That’s changed this week as Kim has moved into a new TaylorMade Spider Tour X, L-neck. The 23-year-old enters the week on the outside looking in of the FedEx Cup at 88th and putting has been a large part of it as he’s fallen from 73rd in 2023 to 142nd in the category this year.
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The TaylorMade Spider family has picked up 24 wins on the PGA Tour the last two seasons, so clearly Kim is looking for what has made the putter the winningest on Tour. Through 14 holes of his second round, Kim was 3rd in the field in strokes gained putting, picking up over 4 shots on the greens. He opened with a 69 in Round, but was on the cutline of one over with four holes to play.
