Beyond a putter, the most difficult clubs to get a tour player to change is their fairway woods, and with the way Champions Tour money-leader Steven Alker has played this season, his trusty 5-wood isn’t going anywhere.
Alker talked about the club in a recent video posted to the PGA Tour Champions Twitter account and goes into detail on the 5-wood’s specs and some of his most memorable shots from the season.
The 5-wood is a TaylorMade Sim Titanium (gen 1) with an adjustable hosel set to add loft with an Oban Kyoshi Purple shaft. Although Alker mentioned the shaft isn’t one you see that often anymore, the Kyoshi purple is still part of Oban’s line of graphite shafts and a cult favorite.
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Another place where some sharp-eyed gear junkies might have spotted this shaft in the past is in the bag of social-media star and king of the slinger Mac Boucher, who plays the Kyoshi Purple in his 3-wood.
One thing to note that should be clarified for those curious about a little nugget Alker dropped toward the beginning of the video is how his 19° 5-wood is bent weak to 20°. The club itself is NOT bent weak (to add loft), instead, the club has been adjusted using the adjustable hosel sleeve to increase the loft a degree from standard.
I don’t blame Alker for the terminology misstep since tour vans are known for bending fairway woods using specialty molds, but in the case of an adjustable hosel, it only takes a few wrench clicks to dial in your ideal loft setting.
This week marks the end of the PGA Tour Champions season, and Alker is currently leading the money list with $3,334,425 in earnings, which puts him $481,170 ahead of Padraig Harrington.
As a career journeyman on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour, Alker’s career money total was $2,318,886. Considering this second lease on his professional golf life out on the Champions Tour, his $3 million-plus in prize money leading into the final event of the season makes this 5-wood a very valuable club.
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