A few weeks ago I played in the only weekend of golf where I truly care about what I shoot. It’s a tournament called Player’s Cup. It’s a Ryder Cup style event hosted by my buddy Bryan LaRoche from @BryanGolf in Fleming Island, Fla. I had to lock my bag down to make sure that I practiced with the proper gear. Now that Player’s Cup is over (our team dominated) and its now open season on the bag, I figured it was as good of a time as any to do a little update to the What’s in the Bag, and my first installment on the Fully Equipped platform. I promise it will be the first of many.
To say my game is in a good spot would be a very confusing statement. I can hit my driver into a bucket, no par-5 is safe from me having an eagle putt, and inside 50 yards I’ll likely get up and down. But from 140-200 yards, it’s really anybody’s guess. On days that I hit my irons well, which I have the best shot at with this current set, I’ll score close to par. On days that I don’t, I’m struggling to keep it under 80. If nothing else, it’s quite the adventure. I managed to get by at Player’s Cup winning all 3 of my points, and my singles match on Sunday showed a very promising game, but still, from 140- 200yards it was a toss up for success.
I have learned a few new things this year, and some of those discoveries have lead to some fantastic equipment changes. Other discoveries have sank me. For the first time in my golfing career I went through actual swing changes over the 2024-2025 winter, and starting this season my game was in shambles. The exact reason why I never wanted to get lessons was that I never wanted to have to break myself to fix myself. But there I was at the start of the season barely able to break 80 with a handicap index going up, up, up and away.
By the start of June things started to mellow out, and some equipment discoveries were made:
Go. Get. Fit.
One thing that I am absolutely terrible at is getting properly fit. I have a very nice access to equipment, but lots of times it’s plug and play with familiar options and when something “kinda works” it’s good enough to go in the bag. But earlier this year I did a brand agnostic irons fitting at Carl’s Golfland, and it opened my world up to a change that I desperately needed to make, and that was the turning point this year where I realized that all hope was not lost and I could probably make it work and bring the scores back down to Earth. You can watch that fitting video on my Made for the Range YouTube here. (no surprise I’m not using those irons)
Playing a fairway wood
I have a tendency to bucket myself into certain equipment that I want to play, and restrict myself from testing out other options or getting fit for things that might not “fit” what I would traditionally think to play. The top end of my bag is where that shines the most. Last year I was dead set on playing a mini-driver, and I still love all my mini drivers. But the reality is that my game was better served by sacking up and figuring out how to hit a fairway wood. Which in my head means getting fairway woods and testing them until I find the one that I feel sucks the least. There was no sense in having a mini driver that goes 260 yards off the tee if I can’t hit it into long par-5s consistently. So, you’ll actually see a fairway wood in the top of my bag. Which is a shocker for my long time followers.
Driver set-up is phenomenally important
I currently hit my driver set-up better than anybody I know. I have no shame in being incredibly braggy about it. I got to play with Wunder for two rounds and I think I missed three fairways in total, and they were because I was trying to do some hero type nonsense. Even he told me that if I ever change away from this driver he’d disown me. So there’s that. But having a driver that I trust this much has unlocked so much more. More confidence in tight holes, more confidence in long par-4s, and no fear of having to hit my irons out of weird or penalizing lies.
I love hitting wedges
This is the best part of my game no doubt. Hitting a good 75% 50-degree wedge is such a joy. Long bunker shots with a back-foot 56-degree? No problem. Spinners off of a tight lie? Bring ’em to me. It’s lovely. I’ve got the coolest set of wedges I’ve ever owned in my bag, and it shows. I’ve always loved my wedges. I’ve had stock, custom, lasered, stamped, you name it. Wedges are my little art piece, and I continue to learn about the best way to create my set and take advantage of the amazing wedge market we find ourselves in.
The Wilson Staff Model X deserves more credit
My goodness do I love this golf ball. I credit this ball for saving my game. At the start of May I switched from a TP5x (lower spin ball) to the Staff Model X at the suggestion of Ed Garland from Wilson Golf, as well as the Ballnamic Fitting Tool, and BOY WAS HE RIGHT. Playing a spinnier ball allowed me to make the driver switch that I now swoon over, as well as unlocking some performance benefits with the irons that I desperately needed. The golf ball is durable, it feels great, it spins like a top, and it couldn’t care less about the wind. The perfect combination for a guy who plays his golf in Chicagoland’s tree-lined suburbia.
Wilson Staff Model X Golf Balls
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The last thing I want to talk about is a quick story with my wedges. The entire process is going to be a YouTube video for all of you to watch soon, but the long story short is that I was able to sit down with Jose Miraflor of Cobra Golf who is a closet wedge guru. He trained under Bob Vokey, and doesn’t get credit for the wedge knowledge that he has in his brain. It was a phenomenal set of wedges and the day that I have to replace these, I am going to be very sad. I’ll probably end up going straight back to him, but you’ll notice below that I have a custom set of Cobra King RAW Wedges each custom ground by Jose himself. I’ll list the grinds that we started with for each and the changes we made.
So here we go. My final hurrah WITB for BryanGolf’s Player’s Cup 2025. As of September 9th, it’s open season on the bag again.
Golf Balls: Wilson Staff Model X
Driver: Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond Tour Draw 9.0º N/S Adapter
Shaft: Mitsubishi D-Limited 60TX Tipped 1” @ 45.5”
Carry: 285yds
Fairway Wood: Wilson Dynapower Carbon 4W (16.5º) – Standard Loft/Lie
Shaft: UST Linq PC Blue Prototype 7TX Tipped 1” @ 42.5”
Carry: 260yds
Hybrids: Ping G440 3/5
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red HB Velo+ 9X
Carry: 235yds/215yds
PING G440 Custom Hybrid
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Note: Fujikura deciding to add the Red HB profile to the lineup this year was genius. There wasn’t a red profile in the previous lineup and lots of people wanted it. The Red HB profile is a little bit different than it’s woods shafts counterpart, and it’s even easier to load and launch. A wonderful addition to make hitting your hybrids feel just a little bit easier.
Irons: Callaway Apex TCB ’24 (RAW) 5-10 [10 Wedge is GOAT]
Shafts: Nippon Modus 120 X, Standard Length 1* Flat
Carry (5-PW): 200, 187, 175, 164, 154, 142
Callaway Apex TCB 24 Custom Irons
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Wedges: Cobra King 50 V Custom Grind, 56 W Custom Grind, 60@62 T Custom Grind
Custom Stamping: 50 AHK (Niece), AAK (Nephew), M4TR
Shafts: Nippon Modus 125 Wedge, BGT ZNE 130
Carry(50-62): 130, 118, 105
Note: I always do custom work on my wedges. I like the personalization of it, and it’s also nice to keep reminders of my niece and nephew in the bag. Been known to calm down a potential club toss every now and then. My niece is always on the gap wedge loft, nephew on the sand wedge loft, and some sort of nod to Made for the Range on my lob wedge. I’ve done this for the last 4 or 5 sets of wedges that I have had!
Cobra KING Custom Wedge
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Putter: Toulon Chicago Smallbatch Prototype (Double Bend)
Shaft: BGT Stability Carbon (Red Coupler)
Specs: 34.5” Length, 72º Lie Angle
Grip: SuperStroke 1.0P 17
Note: This is a prototype of a future small batch putter. The Chicago shape for this small batch has been modified slightly, but the core design remains. This time they’ve taken a 904L material head and topped it off with a glossy sort of piano black finish. Combined with the sight dot, it’s the best Chicago they’ve ever made. Truly a work of functional art.
Grips: SuperStroke REVL Comfort on Woods / REVL Element on Irons and Wedges
PAYNTR Jason Day Eighty Seven SC (Men’s)
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Before we wrap up, I also need to make specific mention of my golf shoes. I have worked with the Softspikes team over the last couple of years. I’ve learned more than I ever needed to know about spiked footwear, and I’ll never return to spikeless shoes, at least not in play. I’ve been able to test tons of different shoes over the last year and my favorites without a doubt are the Payntr Jason Day Eighty Seven SC. They come stock with Softspikes Tour Flex Pro spikes which gives the most traction for players right out of the box. The shoes are insanely comfortable right out of the box, the provide a high level of stability while still being flexible enough to work with your feet when you’ve got a less than flat stance on a hill, standing on debris, or in wet conditions. Highly recommend.
So that’s it. Or, that was it. Now it’s open season. Nothing is safe. The rules for the rest of the year are that nothing you just read is allowed to be gamed unless I have enough money on the line for it to matter, or I somehow end up in a tournament where my score affects others like it did at Player’s Cup.
My first thought? Boy do I need to find a new set of irons.
To start your own bag exploration with a club fitting visit your local True Spec Golf location.