The post The sneaky benefits of a 15-degree mini driver, explained | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post The sneaky benefits of a 15-degree mini driver, explained | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

Earlier this year, TaylorMade quietly added a new loft option to its R7 Quad Mini Driver: 15.5 degrees.

That was significant because modern mini drivers had settled into both 11.5˚ and 13.5˚ options, with 13˚-13.5˚ being the most common for golfers to find a suitable club to replace their 3-wood and give themselves a true secondary option off the tee.

And if the modern 3-wood sits between 14˚ and 16.5˚, what is the purpose of a 15.5˚ mini driver? On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow discussed this topic.

In the episode, as Morrow and Wunder explained recent changes they’ve made to their bags in the last few months, Morrow noted he’s playing a TaylorMade R7 Quad 15.5˚ Mini driver.

“I don’t understand it,” Wunder said. “I don’t know what universe that has benefits for anybody.”

But Morrow explained that the 15.5˚ loft solves a simple problem.

TaylorMade R7 Quad Custom Mini Driver

PERFORMANCE FOR THE MODERN PLAYER Inspired by one of the most iconic models in TaylorMade history, the R7 Quad Mini Driver pays homage to what’s come before, while creating its own modern identity in the same breath. It’s that very modern design that incorporates proven TaylorMade technologies to give golfers versatility and playability. R7 QUAD WEIGHTING SYSTEM The new quad weighting system features four movable weights (13g x2, 4g x2) that provide the ultimate in spin management and shot shape control. Forward CG creates a penetrating flight best suited for maximizing distance whereas rear CG helps prioritize control and ease of use from the deck. Shot shape can also be fine-tuned helping create the most optimal flight. Additional weights can be purchased for a wider range of adjustability. INFINITY CARBON CROWN A new satin Infinity Carbon Crown has been added to the R7 Quad Mini Driver chassis creating a stunning look while saving weight for better mass optimization. The cosmetic package is clean, elegant, and confidence-inspiring.

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Many players agree that the R7 Quad sits slightly shut at address, and many players loft down the club to help solve for that. But then you’re playing with less loft than you want simply for optics’ sake.

With a 15.5˚ mini, you can loft the club all the way down on TaylorMade’s 2˚ FCT adapter and play the club at a 13.5˚ loft with a square or even open face angle.

“It’s literally built so you can put the adapter in the lower position and have a square face,” Morrow said. “It’s a square-faced, 13-and-a-half-degree mini driver. That’s what it really is.”

This setup works well for Morrow because if he’s going to play his mini driver, he doesn’t want it to go more than 260 yards. While you might want to set up a driver to go as far as possible, the mini driver is more of a position club. That’s also why Morrow’s mini driver is just over 42 inches long.

For more from Wunder and Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post The sneaky benefits of a 15-degree mini driver, explained | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post What Japanese baseball pitchers can teach you about club fittings | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post What Japanese baseball pitchers can teach you about club fittings | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

When it comes to finding the right shaft in your golf club, we know how important timing is.

Based on how you swing the golf club, the shaft is going to be the timing mechanism that allows you to swing at your rhythm and tempo to hit the ball in the center of the club face.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-host Johnny Wunder explained how the way baseball pitchers in Japan are taught to throw the ball can help you figure out what is best for your game.

Wunder was explaining that he wanted to find out how players could gain data and learn the optimal way to move around. The old theory is that players who walk fast generally should have faster, more abrupt tempos, while slower walkers are smoother and more deliberate. He used the examples of Nick Price, a fast mover, and Fred Couples, a smooth one.

Then he called on what pitchers do in baseball.

“If you watch Japanese pitchers throw a baseball,” Wunder said. “It’s a full release one way and a full release the other way. There are no constraining forces. There’s no torque.

“The reason why they teach that, one is that it’s easier on the body. But it’s easier for the human body to repeat that if there’s not an opposing force.”

So what does that have to do with golf?

Well, just like they teach the optimal way to find repetitive movements in baseball for pitchers, golfers can find the optimal timing and rhythm with the right golf clubs to help them make repeatable swings more often.

“There’s a way to optimize your fittings by making sure you’re looking at the right swings,” co-host Jake Morrow said. “The process of figuring out what the right swings are is what Johnny is currently after. Defining what is my good golf swing and then going into future fittings, knowing what those numbers look like and matching up your fitting data to that swing data is going to be an important part moving forward.”

The idea is that you might hit a club well in a fitting, but the swing your making might not actually be the best for your game. That’s why when you take it out on the course, you end up putting a different swing on it and struggle.

But if you can be sure you’re making an optimal swing for your body, then you can expect to make that same swing on the golf course.

For more from Wunder and Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post What Japanese baseball pitchers can teach you about club fittings | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Why there’s no sense in chasing perfect golf club specs | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Why there’s no sense in chasing perfect golf club specs | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

When you find a club that you hit well, best not to question it. What’s that they say about never looking a gift horse in the mouth?

But there’s always something that makes us gear nerds want to overanalyze everything.

And so brings us to the dilemma of GOLF’s Jake Morrow, who, until very recently, was going through some major struggles with the driver. That all changed when he received his new Titleist GTS3 that he was fit for at Titleist’s TPI facility.

It’s a new GTS3 with the Graphite Design Tour AD-FI shaft, which Morrow didn’t really expect to fit into, but it’s turned into a weapon.

“I have an Arccos statement that says that I am now a perfect driver of the golf ball and other things are my problem,” Morrow told his fellow GOLF’s Fully Equipped co-host Johnny Wunder on this week’s episode. “I hit some absolute nukes. There was a couple of references to Walmarts being in between me and my coach on some of those shots.”

There’s just one issue. When Morrow put his new driver on the swingweight scale, it checked in at a hefty D8.

As a gear nerd, Morrow naturally reached out to his fitter, TPI’s Hunter Brown, and wondered if it was still the best driver for him.

Titleist GTS3 Custom Driver

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“I said, ‘Hey, man, my only issue is it on my scale at home. It came out at D8 and that’s a little aggressive,'” he said. “Now, the conversation and after playing four rounds, if everybody told me not to mess with it, I would leave it how it is and I would be happy. But you can tell that the head’s heavy. The shaft is a little soft, but not like in a bad way. My only gripe was for the first two rounds, everything was a left-to-right ball flight.”

Morrow wanted to take the 5-yard fade he was hitting and make it a 5-yard draw by getting the driver down to D6.

But if he was hitting the driver so well, why even bother with it? That was Wunder’s response.

“You’re chasing perfection. And when you said that you had it at D8, my first instinct was like, so what?” he said. “Like, that’s a number that you care about. It’s not a number that matters to the performance of the driver.”

Morrow was going to ask Brown for a weight kit, but Wunder said he would tell him not to send one. The driver works now, don’t mess with a good thing.

“If he sends me the weights to fix it, then I’ll try it,” Morrow said. “If he doesn’t or they get lost in the mail, then I have what I have and I’ll continue to play it.”

Perhaps this is one of those situations where it would have just been better to simply leave well enough alone.

For more from Wunder and Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to find the best driver for your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post Why there’s no sense in chasing perfect golf club specs | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post TaylorMade’s Adrian Rietveld on what it’s like fitting Rory McIlroy | Tour Validated appeared first on Golf.

The post TaylorMade’s Adrian Rietveld on what it’s like fitting Rory McIlroy | Tour Validated appeared first on Golf.

Listen, if you’ve spent any time around a Tour truck, you know that the distance between a “good” driver fitting and a “legendary” one is measured in fractions of a millimeter… and a whole lot of sweat. I recently sat down with TaylorMade’s Senior Tour Manager, Adrian Rietveld, for an episode of Tour Validated, and what he broke down regarding Rory McIlroy’s transition into the Qi4D is the kind of gear-head gold that keeps me up at night.

Rietveld, a.k.a. AD, has been a close buddy since my days back at WRX, and watching his evolution from a new U.S. hire coming over from the DP World Tour to the Alpha fitter on the TaylorMade truck has been one of my proudest things to witness in this industry. There’s nothing better than getting those texts early in the season when he’s had a breakthrough with a player or a new piece of tech. The passion and dedication is inspiring; honestly, much of what I know about this game comes from this guy and Callaway’s Kellen Watson. Podcasts like this make me really grateful all over again.

Precision at 190 MPH: The ‘Rory Robot’

Adrian started peeling back the curtain on the R&D process at The Kingdom. Imagine a robot calibrated specifically to Rory’s delivery: 5 degrees up, high 180s to 190 mph ball speed. That isn’t just a machine; it’s a simulation of a freak of nature.

The stress in the room was palpable. Adrian noted that at those speeds, a face angle discrepancy of just 0.2 degrees, a literal hair’s breadth, would send the ball off the range. It gives you a chilling appreciation for how precise Rory has to be with his own hands. When the robot finally started spitting out that signature Rory flight, Adrian knew they were close. But “close” doesn’t win green jackets.

The 2400 RPM Sweet Spot

For years, the “Rory Number” has been 2200 to 2400 RPM of spin. That’s where he owns the air. The challenge with the new Qi4D architecture was tightening the standard deviation without losing the integrity of the flight.

Adrian described a session at The Bears Club where the data was almost unbelievable. We’re talking about 190 mph ball speeds with a spin deviation of maybe 150 RPM over dozens of shots. That is pure, unadulterated consistency. It’s the kind of performance that makes a guy like Rory put down his old gamer and never look back. In fact, Adrian mentioned that once Rory hit the final Qi4D build, he didn’t even pick up his previous driver again.

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Driver

SHAPED FOR SPEED The re-engineered head profile increases ball speed thanks to improved aerodynamics developed through advanced simulations. FACE FOR DISTANCE 60x Carbon Twist Face™ is a technological cornerstone that provides weight savings, incredible ball speed and more consistency vs. a titanium face. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.

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The ‘Harry Diamond’ Effect

One of the coolest nuggets Adrian dropped was about the visual evolution of the club. When they were looking at finished parts at Wentworth, Rory’s caddy, Harry Diamond, made a crucial observation. Harry pointed out that while the earlier prototype was clean, the retail-leaning Qi10 had a distinct top line on the crown.

Rory was looking at both, and Harry, who knows Rory’s eye better than anyone, helped bridge that gap. Adrian realized it was easy to just bring both versions to The Bears Club for the final showdown. Having Harry involved isn’t just about carrying the bag; it’s about that second set of eyes that ensures the player isn’t just seeing good numbers, but seeing a look that inspires total confidence.

Rory McIlroy’s Qi4D driver specs

This isn’t an off-the-rack build. Every gram and every quarter-inch was debated. Here is the full breakdown of the big stick Rory used to conquer Augusta:

The Architect of the Top of the Pyramid

Beyond the nuts and bolts of one driver, you have to look at the run Rietveld has been on with TaylorMade. It’s unprecedented. We’re talking about a guy who has managed the bags of the top three players in the world simultaneously, a “Fitter’s Triple Crown” that most in the industry can only dream of.

His track record isn’t just about longevity; it’s about stability. Adrian has overseen a period where TaylorMade athletes have captured seven of the last nine Masters titles. Whether it’s Scottie Scheffler’s unmatched ball-striking, Tommy Fleetwood’s unique iron requirements, or Rory’s pursuit of the career Grand Slam, Adrian is the common denominator. He has transitioned from a “driver specialist” into a master of the entire bag, proving that the secret sauce at TaylorMade isn’t just the carbon, it’s also the people who know how to tune it.

The Emotional Connection

What I love about Adrian is that he isn’t just a “numbers guy.” He takes this personally. He talked about the stress of the “Masters pursuit” and the 10 years of work leading up to Rory’s recent success.

You can have all the robots and Trackman data in the world, but at the end of the day, it’s about a player looking down at a piece of carbon and feeling like he was “born with a driver in his hand.” Rory’s specific Qi4D setup, with that grey face and the top line Harry helped dial in, was a collaborative build that started as a shell at East Lake and ended with a green jacket.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post TaylorMade’s Adrian Rietveld on what it’s like fitting Rory McIlroy | Tour Validated appeared first on Golf.

The post What I learned hitting Cobra’s secret 3D-printed Tour prototypes appeared first on Golf.

The post What I learned hitting Cobra’s secret 3D-printed Tour prototypes appeared first on Golf.

While visiting Cobra HQ to film our 3DP feature, I was able to spend some time hitting prototype irons built for a few different Cobra staff players on the PGA and LPGA Tours.

This is probably the most unique feature of Cobra’s 3DP process. They can make one-of-one sets for Tour players in just weeks, rather than retooling a head for a new forging, which would take months. This turnaround ability has vaulted Cobra to the top of the list for free agents seeking a new set of irons, and it’s likely we’ll start seeing more players on major tours switch to their own 3DP customs.

Let’s break down my favorites from testing at HQ.

Max Homa’s solid MBs

Max Homa signing with Cobra was big news, and Max has repeatedly said that the process of building his own 3DP iron was one of the reasons he was so excited to sign with Cobra. He was a big fan of the standard King MB forged irons that Cobra was making, and a lot of what he did with his 3DP.MH irons (which you have also seen in some images as the 3DP.MB.s) were to emulate the feeling he got from those, while adding a bit of forgiveness thanks to the increased mass properties of the 3DP heads. He also adds a touch of offset to his set compared to the standard forged offerings. The biggest difference for Max? He doesn’t have an internal lattice system with his irons. He chose to create his set as a solid-printed set that gives him the feel he’s been looking for, matching the irons he’s played most of his life. The advantage for him? He still gets the shape, visual package and performance he’s after to his exact specifications.

Rickie Fowler’s 3DP King Tour Love

Rickie Fowler has an interesting equipment story on tour. He’s an unabashed golfer who wants to use the best tools for his game, and over the last several years, he has made a few changes you might not expect from a Tour player. He started playing AeroTech graphite iron shafts and a “player’s distance” iron in the Cobra King Tours. The combination has been great for Rickie, and he’s been nothing but complimentary of the more forgiving build. When Cobra introduced him to the 3DP program, he really didn’t want to change much from the King Tour heads. So the 3DP.RF (which you’ll also see in photos as the 3DP.KT for King Tour) is based heavily on the King Tour, but again, with better mass properties that increase the MOI of the head. His irons are a combination of the King Tour and the 3DP Tour. Offset from the King Tour, MOI from the 3DP Tour, a touch higher toe height compared to the 3DP Tour and the coolest part of his build is they didn’t add any tungsten to Rickie’s 3DP irons. They achieved a higher MOI design with just the internal lattice structure. The combination of which allows them to hit Rickie’s preferred launch properties.

The toughest switch: Lexi Thompson

Lexi Thompson likes the weirdest iron ever — the Cobra S2 Forged. This is an iron that came out over a decade ago, and she has been so in love with it that she still has them in the bag. The problem? Cobra doesn’t make the iron anymore, and they don’t even have a stash. But there’s a simple fix: 3D printing. I actually think this is where Cobra’s 3D-printing ability really shines. They can take a player like Lexi Thompson and give her the exact iron shape and visual that she wants with more performance. In very simple terms, they can scan the old S2 Forged, then take that model into their new software and create an internal lattice structure that gives her a higher MOI design with a bit more ball speed, while keeping the exact offset, sole and loft package she has desired for years.

You can watch our full Cobra 3DP Feature on YouTube!

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The post Here’s how a driver’s shape can influence a player’s swing | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Here’s how a driver’s shape can influence a player’s swing | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

Figuring out how the looks of a golf club impact how a player swings is a big part of fitting, but some traits are more obvious than others.

While you might not think to give more loft to a player who adds lots of loft at impact — like this writer — being able to see loft can actually make a player lean the shaft more at impact to compensate.

But on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow explained how head shape can also influence how a player will swing.

“So when I was doing the driver testing with Charles Howell III, for example, from the TaylorMade LS to the Callaway Triple Diamond, the deeper the face gets, the steeper he gets, which is a little counterintuitive,” Wunder said. “That sits off the ground, instinctively, he wants to beat down on it, and his angle of attack starts going down, and for him, his launch numbers get all over the place.”

LS heads are typically deeper faced, so they can be shorter from heel-to-toe and front-to-back to move the CG closer to the face, thus lowering spin.

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But if someone reacts to that like Howell does and gets steeper, then it will have the opposite effect, and players will spin the ball more. He also swings slower.

“That’s really, really in the weeds, but again, it’s stuff that matters to every player,” Wunder said. “It’s not just the guys that hit it good, it’s every single player, because the one thing that a 35 handicap can do and a tour player can do, they have relatively the same action.

“If you swipe across it, you’re going to swipe across it a lot.”

For more from Wunder and Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to find the best driver for your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post Here’s how a driver’s shape can influence a player’s swing | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Cobra’s R&D was asked to think outside the box. Now they’re 3D printing golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post Cobra’s R&D was asked to think outside the box. Now they’re 3D printing golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

For several years now, the No. 1 golf equipment story I have been obsessed with is Cobra’s 3D printing. Dig deep and you’ll find their process is the culmination of a decade’s-worth of work by a team who was challenged to think outside the box. Not only did this year find something new, they charged down a path of innovation that could be the greatest stride in golf equipment I will ever cover in my career.

The Fully Equipped team dove in on this story and spent two days with the Cobra team to discuss how they’ve gotten the project to where it currently sits, the trials they went through, the problem-solving they needed, special programs they use, and a glimpse into the future of what 3D printing means for the consumer customer. Here are my 3 biggest takeaways from our feature piece.

It almost didn’t happen… at several stages

Irons

Can Cobra's 3D Printing completely change the irons market?

By: Jake Morrow

The very first question I asked when we sat down to begin discussing the project was, “Who will raise their hand and take credit for being in a board room years ago and proposing such a wild idea?” Turns out that, as Director of R&D Doug Roberts pointed out, that man was Ryan Roach. Roach leads the Innovation Team at Cobra Golf and his job, in a nutshell, is to dream. There’s some pressure attached to those dreams, of course; in actuality it’s Roach’s job to justify his dreams. And that’s exactly what Roach saw in 3D printing: A dream.

In theory, the idea was simple. Create the ability to make a 1-of-1 golf club for anybody who wants to order. Even 10 years ago, this was possible; it just cost a significant amount of money. You’d have to build the tooling for a set of irons, test those irons, make changes, invest in more tooling, create a new set, and repeat until you had the clubs you wanted. A single set made for a tour pro for example could cost tens of thousands of dollars. That may be worth it when you’re playing for millions on the PGA Tour, but not when you’re trying to win $5 off your buddies on the weekends. So the dream added an asterisk. Create the ability to make a 1 of 1 golf club for anybody who wants to order *and* at an accessible price point.

Their first hurdle? Nobody knew how to do it and nobody knew where to start — until Roach brought the idea of 3D printing forward. It had been used in other industries, and the technology was rapidly improving, but the idea of bringing the technology to golf was unheard of. From what we’ve been told, those discussions alone were almost enough to stop the project from happening. Become an industry leader would take resources, people, and most terrifying of all: time.

The second hurdle? Tour adoption. This concept wasn’t going to work if it didn’t work in the hands of the best players. This mean that the made-from-powdered-metal, stainless steel, lattice filled irons would have to perform, feel, and sound just like the forged options that players have been using for years. Any sacrifice in any category would halt the project.

Gear

Rickie Fowler changed nearly every club this year. He told us why | Bag Spy

By: Jack Hirsh

Thankfully Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Matti Schmid, Lexi Thompson, and others have all settled in very nicely to their new 3DP irons, all of which are personal builds.

Finding the digital speed to keep up with the analog speed

One of the most interesting things that came up during our interviews for the feature was their use of nTop. nTop is a computational design software that is a significant reason for the entire project’s success. Why it’s so interesting is because, in a weird turn of chance for the year 2026, the analog side of the 3D printing process was outrunning the digital side. Once a design was sent to the printer, it could be done in days, depending on the urgency. The issue was that the experimentation to actually design the clubs, particularly the internal lattice, was tedious and time consuming.

Cobra’s Bryce Hobbs, R&D Team Leader, speaks in the feature about their research into mass properties. Mass properties are essentially the determination of how the weight in the head is going to be distributed depending on the performance outcome they are trying to achieve. If we take a look at the retail line of 3DP.MB, 3DP Tour, and 3DP.x you can see mass properties shift. The MB has its weight more central in the blade for better control and a higher overall center of gravity. The 3DP Tour uses over 100 grams of tungsten that’s set out towards the perimeter of the blade with a wider sole for increased forgiveness, and a lower, deeper CG placement. The 3DP.x takes that even further to spread the mass out towards the perimeter and create Cobra’s most forgiving 3DP platform design. And that’s all decided by how the internal lattice is constructed.

I’m not incredibly versed in computational design programs, but from what I got out of it was that nTop allowed them to speed up their digital design process by 10x; specifically in the way they design the internal lattice structures. The reason the internal lattice structure is so crucial to the irons is that it controls the performance characteristics of that design. Depending on the characteristics desired by the designer and the eventual player, tungsten weight needs to be moved around inside the head. With nTop, they’re able to prototype, design, and test different internal structures, shapes, and even materials with no delay in their overall manufacturing process. The digital design process can support the timelines of the analog manufacturing times, helping to speed up the overall process but also taking steps to learn faster. This is where the genius of the club design and the 3D printing engine really starts to hit home, and gives us a glimpse into what the future may actually look like in pursuit of the *accessible* 1-of-1 dream.

What ACTUALLY comes next?

It’s hard to know exactly what comes next, but we’ve now been given plenty of hints as to what is possible. It’s just a matter of what the Cobra team decides to do in the space, and how quickly they want to do it. Let’s recap what we know, and what we can infer for the future based off the available facts.

1. Tour pros are getting custom 1-of-1 irons.

For Cobra’s Tour staff and select others, there is nothing off limits. They can choose every aspect of their iron build that they want down to the head weight. CG placement, top-line thickness, sole shape, offset, speed, even the material the iron is made out? Everything is in play for those at the highest level of the game. They even converted longtime Cobra S2 Forged player Lexi Thompson into a new set of 3DP irons. How’d they do it? They printed her a set that visually retains the crazy offset those irons had and the interesting blade shape and sole, with an internal structure that gave her more speed and more forgiveness on off-center strikes. Mind you, Cobra’s S2 Forged came out 15 years ago. This is a pretty big deal.

So you’d have to imagine that in pursuit of an *accessible* 1-of-1 irons program, that would all be up for grabs with the consumer in some way. I have no idea, they were very careful about not leaking that info. But I’m just telling you what we know is currently possible.

2.) The lattice is the key.

I would encourage you to watch the nTop portion of the feature over again and really pay attention to what Ben says. The lattice is the key to this entire thing. By being able to structurally achieved different mass properties, they can give players options that nobody else can. You love your MBs but you want that CG pushed a little bit lower? No problem. Massive performance change, zero visual change. Do you love the 3DP Tour but wish it had a bit less offset and spun a bit more? No sweat. Massive performance change, zero visual change. All by adapting the way the lattice is built and the weight inside the head is manipulated. And it’s all at the finger tips of Ben and his co-workers. It’s hard to even fully wrap a thought process around understanding the potential that that unlocks.

3.) Cobra WANTS us to be the beneficiaries of their dream

You hear it at the end from Caitlin Farley. Doug Roberts mentions the excitement they had for 3DP Tour to hit retail for the first time. Ryan Roach mentions his confidence in the project several times. Bryce Hobbs and Ben Lemery are both focused on the “light” at the end of the tunnel. That’s their dream. 1 of 1 sets for consumers. Cobra wants this. This project isn’t meant to stay a Tour-only thing. It’s meant to give every single player an accessible chance at creating whatever set of irons they need to shoot the best scores. The levels of this are hard to comprehend. If they can scan and print Lexi’s S2 Forged irons with 2026 performance inside, what’s to stop them from scanning any other iron?

Everything is on the table. We don’t know when. We still don’t quite know exactly how. And we don’t even know if they’ll stop at irons. What we do know is that this continues to be the coolest story in golf equipment innovation, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have a front-row seat to follow along and see the eventual impact it’s going to leave on our industry. Everything we know right now is truly the lead up, the Part 1 of this entire story. Part 2 has seemingly just started, and the introduction is already astonishing.

It’s like watching a sequel for a great movie and the first 60 seconds of the sequel have already made you forget the original. We’re watching that sequel in real time.

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On this week’s’ episode of the Fully Equipped Podcast with Johnny Wunder, we talked about the prospect of the LS model being on its way out and the questions that its potential exit raises. Let’s explore the theory and the implications.

There’s a few things at play here.

1.) The death of the LS driver

Johnny and I talked about this last week as well. Jack also did a good write-up on the topic that you can read here. The idea is that we’re starting to see less use of LS-style drivers such as the TaylorMade Qi4D LS, Cobra OPTM LS, and Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond. Players are opting instead for Qi4D Core, Cobra OPTM X, or Callaway Triple Diamond Max profiles.

The main reason is that ‘core’ style heads, those that sit in the middle of a woods lineup, have gotten so versatile. With any of the ‘core’ style heads I have mentioned, I have been able to fit them into the same numbers I would get out of their LS counterparts but with far more forgiveness. The looks have also been significantly improved as well. The idea of playing smaller, pear-shaped LS-style heads was never especially appealing, but that’s not as much of a factor as it used to be. In fact, many LS style heads are getting bigger to boost forgiveness, like the Cobra OPTM LS. The new Titleist GTS 4 is also rumored to be a bit bigger than it has been traditionally.

The one category I believe is being overlooked, though, is the high-spin slice golfer. This is the golfer who traditionally steer clear of the LS head models because they worry about a lack of forgiveness. But with the modern heads that’s not such a problem anymore. I’ve fit quite a few higher handicap golfers into more forgiving LS models, like the OPTM LS or the Wilson DYNAPWR LS models, and it’s gone quite well. The big advantage is to take a 9-degree head and turn it all the way up on the sleeve to add loft and, even more importantly, close the face. A closed face with lower spin results in a much more friendly ball flight.

Is the LS head dead? No. Could it possibly be on its way out, or find itself in an increasingly niche market? I think it already has.

2.) The spawn of the Triple Diamond Max

A big reason why the lines between driver models are starting to get blurred was the emergence of the Callaway Triple Diamond Max model driver, which started in 2024 with the Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max. As a special release item, the Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max gave players a Triple-Diamond feel and flight bias but with a larger head for more forgiveness, a touch of added spin to complement the low-spin tendencies of the standard Triple Diamond head, and an easier time turning the ball over. It did all of that without losing the speed that the Triple Diamond is known for. The setup was the same as it was for the Triple Diamond: one weight forward in the head, and one weight in the rear of the head. This helps to control not only spin and launch, but also start line.

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Max Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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The normal in-line Triple Diamond head has always had a right-start bias with a tendency to support a fade for a right-handed golfer. By adding more weight to the front of the head, that feeling was intensified, and by adding weight back, start lines would get a bit more neutral and the face was easier to close so the player could manufacture a draw. Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max was a monster. Non-contract athletes like Justin Rose and Sepp Straka won multiple times with the model. Fast forward to the new Quantum Triple Diamond Max, and many golf writers and equipment reviewers are wondering why the other heads in the Callaway lineup even need to exist. I said the same in my own launch video. I don’t think there’s a reason for fitters to take a second look at the Triple Diamond or the standard Max heads. Just go straight to the Triple Diamond Max for nine out of 10 players. That’s my opinion.

Gear

Callaway launches Paradym AI Smoke Triple Diamond MAX driver

By: Ryan Barath

What makes the Triple Diamond Max so good is its versatility. You can add front weight or back weight, the head starts neutral and can be useful for players work work the ball either way, and spin is incredibly manageable on mis-hits across the face. If you look at the market over the last three years, you can see the response to the success of the Triple Diamond Max. TaylorMade’s new Qi4D core head shares lots of similarities. The OPTM X is a wonderful head that can change characteristics when you move the weights and play around with the FF33 adapter settings. There have been others. Wilson released its DYNAPWR MAX+ as a direct competitor to the Triple Diamond Max, and Ping’s new G440 K came into the fray as the new 900-pound gorilla in the room. All of these designs had the same goal: Make the platform as versatile and “fittable” as possible without sacrificing an ounce of forgiveness. Each company also happened to do this without sacrificing speed. Which was one of the original wins that we claimed for the new G440 K when we first tested the product.

Right now, we’re living in the best imaginable driver market for consumers. Having categories or types of heads that overlap or blur lines only means more chances for an incredibly detailed fitting. Each one is going to do something different, and because no two swings are the same, that can only be a good thing. Do I think that we are going to start seeing models taken out of lineups? No. But I do think the models are going to get more specific. There’s going to be a ‘core’ style head in each lineup that will work for 90% of golfers, something that wasn’t true even five years ago. And then you’ll have niche heads specific to golfer needs in specific areas. Which is nothing but fun, useful, and encouraging for the future of golf equipment.

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The post Why you don’t need a 9-wood | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Why you don’t need a 9-wood | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

On this week’s Fully Equipped podcast with Johnny Wunder, we talked about Tommy Fleetwood’s 9-wood in the bag for the Masters. Fleetwood has said the addition of the 9-wood is to make sure the ball is getting high enough and landing steep enough to battle the increasingly tough greens at Augusta. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should run out to buy a 9-wood. I’ve already gotten roasted in our YouTube comments, but I stand by my explanation of where I feel the club category falls.

My argument is that the 9-wood is great for either the player who has tons of control, or the player who needs all the help they can get to launch the ball. It’s the group in the middle that may have a hard time finding ultimate success with a 9-wood. I fall into this bucket. I am also a big fan of hybrids, so I don’t really ever have moments where I wish I had a 9-wood or a 7-wood in the bag. So let’s talk about the two sides of the game for a second.

First, we’ve got the tour-level guys who are putting high-lofted fairways in the bag. Fleetwood’s got one, Scottie Scheffler has messed around with it, and Dustin Johnson is the original high-speed 9-wood player. The reason they choose to put a 9-wood in the bag has been to make sure that they are getting enough height on the club at the distance they need with their stock shot. And that’s an important designation. The stock shot. By starting with a club that’s going to launch higher than any other alternative, these pros and their elite ball-striking can figure out how to bring flight down or add spin when they need to. These 9-wood builds going in their bag have a bit of versatility, but they are really meant to do a specific job. And that job is to get high up in the air with little effort and enough spin to fall softly onto firm greens just like this week at Augusta.

The reason tour pros and other high-skill golfers can get away with this, though, is because it’s situational and they treat it as such. It’s a tool in the bag to do a job. When a situation comes up for that distance, but the tool can’t fulfill the outcome with a stock shot, they are able to manipulate that offering to do what they need it to do. The best example, of course, would be into the wind. For an amateur, any amount of wind in the face would normally take the fairway wood out of the hands. It’s simply too high and produced with too much spin for the ball to fly properly. It is quite fun to watch a high-lofted fairway get hit into the wind because it’s almost an exaggerated penalty, but again, not useful. And this is where the middle ground of players begin to falter. Fleetwood has no problem controlling the flight and spin of his 9-wood. He may find a situation where he chooses to go with another option for the shot he needs to create, but it’s not out of the question for him to flight the 9-wood to a more reasonable peak height window if he’s battling some mild elements. For the average 10 handicap though? Likely not an option. They’re better off with a large, driving-iron style club in that area of the bag, or my choice: a hybrid.

That brings us to the other side of the spectrum — the golfer who just needs launch help.

This is the golfer that I think SHOULD buy a high-lofted, forgiving fairway wood, and as many as they see necessary to play well. I’m talking 11-woods, heaven woods, spinners, all of it. Whatever you need to get that ball up in the air. The beauty of this category, which usually coincides with slower players as well, is that the high-lofted fairway woods are just so easy to hit. There’s no fear of getting steep on the ball, the more shallow face makes it easier to pick off the turf, and the size of the heads gives plenty of confidence if you’re in a sticky situation like long rough, pine straw, debris or even in a fairway bunker. For slow swing speed players, the speed benefits that a fairway wood will get you over an iron replacement or a hybrid are going to be pretty extreme. In most cases, you’ll see a 2-to-3 mile per hour difference between the groups, with the fairway wood leading the way. Because of the size, shape and center of gravity of the club head, you’ll also see a strong increase in forgiveness over other options of the same loft. Really, the only argument for the slower swing speed or lower-skilled category to not play a high-lofted fairway is if they just absolutely hate how it looks behind the ball.

The group in the middle and the group that I do not think needs a 9-wood is the largest group on the bell curve. Fleetwood even mentions in the above video that a 9-wood isn’t built for speed or distance, and it’s also not particularly built for tee shots. With the shots that are left to play at that point, I just don’t see the value in a 9-wood as a 4-iron style replacement for many golfers. The range I’m talking about here is a five-to-12(ish) handicap range. They’re good enough players to hit a more forgiving iron-replacement style club, or choose the flight characteristic benefits of a hybrid. Now, if those players really hate the look of the hybrid, or maybe have zero confidence in the iron, sure, spring for the high-lofted fairway wood that makes you more confident with that longer distance shot. That decision, though, will come with drawbacks, mainly a lack of versatility and a club eliminated when playing in the wind.

As always, my opinion on any club is that if it works for your bag and you’re fitted for the club with an understanding of the role it plays in your bag, then add it to the bag. Nothing is off limits. That’s the beauty of the game that stresses us all out. There’s endless options. Sometimes that can be overwhelming and create some stress to decide, but work with a fitter and find out what you NEED for your bag. If it’s a 9-wood, then I hope it ends up being the best club in your bag.

If you’re curious about getting into a 9-wood or figuring out if it’s the right option for your game, visit your local True Spec fitter to get dialed.

The post Why you don’t need a 9-wood | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Why companies go for one- or two-year release cycles | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Why companies go for one- or two-year release cycles | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

For companies like Callaway, Cobra and TaylorMade, you know you are getting a new driver each January. It’s like clockwork.

For Srixon and Ping, they also release drivers in January, but they only release a new line every two years, but again, it’s like clockwork.

Then there’s Titleist, which also follows a two-year release cycle for its metal woods lines. The company just started teasing its upcoming GTS metalwood line with a Tour launch two weeks ago at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. That’s earlier than the typical summer launch they’ve employed in their last couple of cycles.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow broke down why it makes sense for some companies to go for a two-year product cycle and others a one-year cycle.

While many people on the internet always claim there aren’t meaningful performance gains for companies that release a driver every year, Morrow pushed back on that common criticism.

“I think some of the companies going every year is smart, because I think those companies churn out iterations faster,” he said. “And there’s a reason for all those launches.
There’s always that one thing that they needed to release. And a lot of times it’s because that thing leads to the next thing, but they can’t get there unless that’s actually out in the public.”

But on the other side of the coin is Titleist, which sits back and can react to the market with its more flexible release cadence.

“Titleist is like the tiger that’s sitting under the shade, just waiting to see what’s happening in front of it until they decide it’s ready for their food, right?” Morrow said. ““And that’s why people are like, why did Titleist switch to a release schedule this year? Because they f****** can. Like, because they sat back, they were like, okay, we’ve got this, we’re going to do this, we’ve tested this, here’s the update to our thing, how it compares to others. We’re just going to sit here and wait until we think it’s ready for the market and people are going to actually see benefit from it and then we’ll release it.

Drivers

Titleist GTS drivers make big splash with this surprising model | Tour Report

By: Jack Hirsh

“Turns out this year, it looks like, it appears like it’s going to be a little bit early.”

We still don’t know any technical details behind the new lineup, but there were 34 GTS drivers in play at the Valero Texas Open, making for an impressive two-week conversion rate.

Morrow guessed that Titleist is probably bullish on the new GTSs, leading to the earlier launch.

But there’s also good pressure on the R&D teams of companies with one-year cycles to constantly innovate.

“You don’t get a sit back for six months,” Wunder said. “Not that any of these companies, even the two-year launch cycle people, don’t sit back. But when you are constantly thinking about next year, next year, next year, next year, next year, I know for a fact that Callaway, TaylorMade, all those guys, I guarantee they’re all 75% cooked on the one for 2027 already. Because this is kind of when— we’re in April, so if I go back in time, we’d be seeing unpainted prototype heads on the truck kind of around now.

“It wouldn’t have a name on it. It would be a project name, and you’d see it wouldn’t have any paint on it, but you’d see it and you’d be able to hit it.”

For more from Wunder and Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to find the best driver for your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post Why companies go for one- or two-year release cycles | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.