The post Wyndham Clark’s clubs: What’s in his CJ Cup Byron Nelson-winning setup appeared first on Golf.

The post Wyndham Clark’s clubs: What’s in his CJ Cup Byron Nelson-winning setup appeared first on Golf.

Wyndham Clark’s first PGA Tour win in two years is also his first as a gear free agent.

Clark’s endorsement deal with Titleist ended at the end of 2025, and all season he has embraced his newfound equipment freedom. No changes have been more prevalent than the ones made to his driver and putter.

The 2023 U.S. Open champion began the season by using four different drivers in his first five events, but eventually settled on the TaylorMade Qi4D. He actually made a change to the driver this week, tweaking the lie angle and switching to a new, unreleased Project X Titan Yellow shaft.

Clark initially settled on the Qi4D, then with the Titan Black shaft, thanks to increased spin consistency, specifically not over-spinning and causing a right miss. However, Clark wanted to dial in his driver to favor a touch more accuracy this week, even if it meant sacrificing a bit of distance.

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TaylorMade found an answer with the new Titan Yellow and slightly more upright setting.

“It was probably spinning 100-200 RPM more than he would want but with the consistency of the Qi4D head at that lie angle creates more accuracy which is what he was looking for,” TaylorMade Tour Rep Adrian Rietveld said. “I was happy with him playing that because he’s long enough at his ball speed and if he can get more fairways he doesn’t need the distance.”

He gained more than four strokes off the tee at TPC Craig Ranch, good for 6th in the field. It’s the first non-contract win for the Qi4D driver.

Clark also plays a Qi4D Tour 3-wood, which he added to his bag at the Masters, that is built to match the original spec of his driver.

Once he settled on the top end of the bag, Clark cycled through a few different putters before landing on Ping’s Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset. Clark switched to the Ally Blue at the Houston Open after showing up at the Players Championship with a putter he bought in the pro shop of his home club.

But he loved the five degrees of toe hang on the Ally Blue Onset, which helped counteract his left miss with low torque putters. He switched to a counterbalanced version at the RBC Heritage and was positive in Stokes Gained: Putting in his first two events with it.

He led the field this week by picking up more than 12.5 strokes on the greens.

For more on Clark’s detailed setup, keep reading below.

Wyndham Clark’s winning clubs at the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson

Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D 10.5
FCT Setting: Upright One Click toward lower
Front TAS Weights: 9g heel, 3g toe
Back TAS Weights: 9g heel, 3g toe
Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 60 TX
Length: 45″ CUT
Tipping: 1″
Swingweight: D3

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.

$649.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, TaylorMade

Project X Titan Black Wood Shaft

You can only evolve so many times. Then you have to reinvent. Designed and engineered in our R&D Lab in San Diego, CA, Titan Black is built to meet the demands of today’s faster, more aggressive swingers. A more elastic handle section progressively firms through the mid and tip, delivering a smooth feel with added stability where it matters most. Synex Technology utilizes multi-axial carbon fibers to reinforce the shaft’s outer structure, increasing hoop stiffness from the handle through the mid-section for efficient energy transfer and enhanced control. By blending feel and stability, Titan Black gives players the confidence to swing faster without sacrificing dispersion or consistency.

$350.00 from Fairway Jockey

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3-Wood: TaylorMade Qi4D Tour 15.0˚
Shaft: Project X Titan Black 80 TX

TaylorMade Qi4D Tour Custom Fairway Wood

MATERIAL ADVANTAGE Advanced Multi-Material Construction combines the most effective engineering techniques with the finest materials to create one of our longest moveable weight fairways. The Titanium Qi4D Tour fairway is designed for golfers who seek the ultimate weapon to conquer long par 5s and to thread the needle of the narrowest of tee shots. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE Utilizing three Trajectory Adjustment System weights (15g x 1 / 4g x 2) provides the golfer the most mass efficient way to adjust shot shape and spin. 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. CG OPTIMIZATION Engineers were able to improve launch without adding spin due to the use of an ultralightweight titanium body and advanced CAD model simulations. This result is a fairway that is easy to launch with incredible distance from any lie. A large 60g tungsten mass pad moves the center of gravity extremely low and forward, creating a hot trajectory for more distance. 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 fairway performance. Twist Face™ features corrective face curvature is designed to provide straighter shots on mishits.

$449.99 from Fairway Jockey

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5-wood: Ping G440 Max 19.0˚
Actual Loft: 17˚
Ping Trajectory 2.0 Setting: Big Minus (—)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Gen 4 Black 90 TX
Length: 41″
Tipping: 2.5″

PING G440 Max Custom Fairway Wood

The G440 fairway family (MAX, LST, SFT) advances PING’s reputation as a Tour-preferred model of choice through a re-designed face structure and low CG system. The face is taller for more confidence off the tee while maintaining a CG location that delivers high- launching performance off the ground. The MAX model (which fits most golfers) is available in five lofts (including a new 4-wood) to provide more gapping solutions.  HIGH MOI Easy to launch, stable design increases forgiveness.  FLEXING FACE Maraging steel face flexes for more ball speed, optimizes spin.  TALLER FACE PROFILE Improves performance off the tee, maintains low CG.  FREE-HOSEL DESIGN Saves weight to lower CG, optimize launch/spin and increase forgiveness. 

$369.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Irons: Titleist ’23 T200 4-5, Titleist ’25 T100 6-9
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X7

Titleist 2025 T100 Custom Irons

Unmatched precision meets unrivaled feel with T100 Irons. Fully forged with more aggressive grooves in the mid/short irons, T100 offers pure player’s feel with improved consistency in variable conditions. Now with higher long-iron launch for optimal trajectory control in every club. Forged Player’s Design   Masterfully forged into a pure player’s design that offers precision control and buttery feel. Superior Flight and Stability  Split High-Density Tungsten produces optimal CG with remarkable stability for precise shotmaking. Consistent Speed & Spin  New VFT technology and progressive groove design for consistent spin and speed across the face in variable conditions. Elevated Long-Iron Launch  Lower CG and a new muscle channel help improve peak height and carry. 

$215.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM11
Lofts/Grinds: 44.10F, 50.12F, 54.14F, WedgeWorks 60L
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X7 (44), S400 (50-60)

Titleist Vokey SM11 Tour Chrome Custom Wedge

$199.99 from Fairway Jockey

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Putter: Ping Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset CB
Loft: 3˚
Lie: 70˚
Length: 38″
Headweight: 385g (17g tip weight)
Insert: PEBAX
Grip: SuperStroke Tour 3.0 17″

PING Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset Custom Putter

$399.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Grips: SuperStroke Revl Player

Ball: 2019 Titleist Pro V1x

Titleist Pro V1x 2025 Special Play # Golf Balls

THE GREATEST COMBINATION OF SPEED, SPIN AND FEEL For players who prioritize total performance, with higher flight and higher spin. New faster high gradient core Speed amplifying high-flex casing layer Spherically-tiled 348 tetrahedral dimple design Soft cast urethane elastomer cover Product Features New faster high gradient dual core delivers more speed and iron and wedge spin for more control Low long game spin from a speed amplifying high-flex casing layer Penetrating and consistent flight from a spherically-tiled 348 tetrahedral dimple design Excellent greenside spin from a soft cast urethane elastomer cover Player Benefits Extraordinary Distance Increased Drop-and-Stop™ control Low long game spin High trajectory More consistent flight Soft feel What’s New – (what performance attributes have improved) 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x produce more speed off the tee, more control with irons, more spin with wedges and more opportunity to shoot lower scores. Player Profile For players who prioritize total performance, with higher flight and higher spin. Available Colors and Play Numbers White golf balls are available with play numbers 1-4, 5-8, and all the same play number 00 or 1- 99. High optic yellow golf balls are available with play numbers 1-4. Not available for purchase or shipment to Australia.

$57.99 from PGA TOUR Superstore

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

The post Wyndham Clark’s clubs: What’s in his CJ Cup Byron Nelson-winning setup appeared first on Golf.

The post What Brooks Koepka said about new putter before season-best round | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post What Brooks Koepka said about new putter before season-best round | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Fully Equipped’s weekly Tour equipment report. Every Friday of PGA Tour weeks (plus other times, if news warrants), GOLF equipment editor Jack Hirsh runs you through some of the biggest news surrounding golf clubs on Tour, including changes, tweaks and launches.

At least for one round, Brooks Koepka finally took advantage of his PGA Tour-leading ball striking, firing an opening 63 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

Koepka was once again dialed in on approach, where he leads the Tour in Strokes Gained for the season, but he seems to have found something with a new flatstick, too. Koepka’s +2.56 Strokes Gained: Putting in Round 1 was not only 10th in the field, but also the five-time major champion’s second-best day on the greens this season.

The new putter in question — a Scotty Cameron Fastback 1.5 mid-mallet — is Koepka’s fourth different putter this season after spending most of his career using Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Teryllium blade models. Koepka used the Fastback 1.5 model at last year’s Irish Open when his putting started to slip.

Koepka started the year with his Newport 2 before making a change at the WM Phoenix Open, his second event after rejoining the PGA Tour from LIV Golf. He used a TaylorMade Spider Tour X L-neck putter until last week’s PGA Championship, when he tried a prototype Spider Tour V.

That lasted just one week, as Koepka was 63rd in putting at Aronimink. He showed up in Texas this week saying he wanted a putter with a bit more natural release.

“It’s something that just feels good in my hands,” Koepka said of the Fastback on Wednesday, before the tournament. “I feel like I’ve struggled with the toe release a little bit, kind of fighting that, kind of holding it off, and this putter seems to have a little bit more toe hang, to get kind of scientific with it or more in depth on it.

“It’s got a bit more toe hang than what I have been using all year, kind of similar to the blade. I know the CG’s up closer to the front of the face, which is kind of what I’m looking for.”

A more forward CG makes a mallet putter feel more like a blade through the stroke. That presumably was the same concept behind Koepka’s Spider Tour V he used last week. While we don’t know the technical details for certain, the previous generation Spider Tour V had the most forward CG in the TaylorMade lineup.

Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Custom Putter

STUDIO CARBON STEEL (SCS) FACE INSERT Designed to deliver the unmistakably soft sound and feel of carbon, the new precision milled Studio Carbon Steel (SCS) insert is treated with an electroless nickel plating for enhanced durability in a re-engineered concept that includes the line’s new chain-link face milling technology and aerospace-inspired vibration damping for tuned sound, feel and performance. CHAIN-LINK FACE MILLING TECHNOLOGY New chain-link face milling technology reduces the putter face insert’s touch points at impact with the ball using a texture that softens the sound and provides improved roll characteristics while preserving feel and feedback off the putter face. FULL CONTACT SLIM GRIP With a comfortable chain-link texture to match the new putter face milling pattern, the custom crafted Full Contact Slim paddle-style grip was designed to complement the stroke and performance of blade and mid-mallet putters. Its uniquely contoured profile and flat top provide superior comfort and contact between the hands and the putter, and enhanced body alignment. MULTI-MATERIAL CONSTRUCTION The Studio Style Fastback 1.5 extends Scotty Cameron’s proven design methodology of incorporating complementary materials to achieve desired performance characteristics. The Fastback 1.5 has a precision milled 6061 aircraft grade aluminum sole plate expertly designed into the 303 stainless steel putter head, as well as an aluminum heel-toe inlay anodized black, which allows for designed weight distribution, balance and feel.

$499.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, Titleist

The major difference between Koepka’s TaylorMade putter last week and his Scotty Cameron this week is the Fastback has a short jet neck, designed to increase toe hang and rotation in the stroke. Koepka’s prototype Spider Tour V has an elongated L-neck, likely intended to make it more face-balanced.

“Something I feel like released on its own, something I’ve been trying to — been fighting a little bit, and I feel like it definitely releases a little bit,” Koepka said of the putter.

Koepka said he had been doing a lot of putting work in a home “little warehouse” with a putting studio, trying to hone his fundamentals like grip and alignment.

Interestingly, he also mentioned on Wednesday that being back on the PGA Tour this season has given him some new thoughts to explore with his bag, especially now that he is a gear-free agent after splitting from Cleveland/Srixon three weeks ago. Koepka said he had never explored use of a mini driver until seeing their usage on the PGA Tour.

“Maybe during the off-season, start doing a little bit of testing just because all of these options now are out there,” Koepka said. “Like the mini driver, I haven’t even — I don’t want to say, but it’s kind of like — it feels like a PGA Tour club because I never saw it until maybe the end of last year. I watched guys hit it. It’s only out here. I haven’t seen many other guys use it.

“Yeah, looking at that, it’s funny, I was talking to Shane Lowry at Zurich about it, and Augusta kind of suits it to the ground. Like you look at 1, it might be a perfect hole for that mini driver, 2, 5, 7, 9 is kind of perfect for it, 10. You can go down the list. Just little things like that, I guess, broadens your capabilities of options.”

Might we see a full Brooks Koepka bag makeover coming soon? Only time will tell.

Taylor Moore speeds up

Koepka was clipped by one shot Thursday for the overnight lead by Taylor Moore, who has a new driver and putter this week.

The driver may not look like a huge change on its face, as it’s still a Ping G440 K driver, but he’s gone to a head with a half-degree lower loft and more weight forward via hot melt. He’s also gone back to the Mitsubishi Diamana GT 60 TX shaft he used last season.

Why the sudden change for one of the 25 best drivers of the ball on the PGA Tour? Because Moore has gotten faster over the course of the season.

When Moore fit into the new 440 K last offseason, Ping Tour Rep Kenton Oates said his speed was down, in the mid-to-high 170s, which led them out of the GT and into a softer Diamana Whiteboard 63 X, not the TX flex he previously used. Oates said that’s not all that uncommon.

PING G440 K Custom Driver

$649.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore

“That happens for a lot of guys throughout the year. It’s cold on the West Coast. You’re coming out of the winter,” he told GOLF. “Then obviously playing a little warmer now.”

Moore went to the softer flex because he needed a little more spin and flight, but now he’s swinging about 4 mph faster, allowing them to go back to his old shaft and bring the loft back down.

“I would think he would stay in this for a really long time because he’s had success with it in the past and now it’s working in the head that he likes,” Oates said.

The putter change was something Moore has been working on with Ping Tour Rep Jeff Brown, who originally brought Moore in to Ping as a junior. Brown believed an Anser-style hosel would work best for Moore than the slant neck he was currently using.

The Ally Blue H, which has been finding a few bags of late, won out thanks to its square shape, which fits Moore’s visual preferences for alignment. It also has a flat milled face, as Moore likes to see the ball come off the face hot.

In his opening-round 62, he was 8th in SG: Putting and 27th in SG: OTT, so needless to say, both changes paid dividends quickly.

Check this out

This section is dedicated to cool photos we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet.

This week, check out Jordan Spieth’s four-year-old Titleist TSi2 hybrid.

Odds and Ends

Some other gear changes and notes we’re tracking this week.

Si Woo Kim, Chris Kirk and Noah Goodwin all added Odyssey prototype putters … Hank Lebioda added a Titleist GTS2 10.0 driver and 15.0 fairway, marking the 70th player to put a GTS driver in play on the PGA Tour … Luke Clanton added P7CB 5- and 6-irons to his bag, giving him three models in his iron set … L.A.B. Golf launched its new VSN.1i mallet while Graphite Design launched three new Tour AD profiles.

3 things you should read/watch

A selection of GOLF content from the past week that may interest you.

What you can learn from Tommy Fleetwood’s mini-driver setup – Jake Morrow dives into the mini driver setup of golf’s most prolific mini driver user

What happens when JAKE KNAPP hits a game improvement iron!? – We ran PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp through each of the irons in PXG’s lineup just to see what would happen.

After PGA win, Aaron Rai’s Spider is the hottest putter on Tour – After winning the PGA Championship, TaylorMade’s Spider putter has won five of the last six majors and Rai is the first to do so without a contract.

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

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

The post What Brooks Koepka said about new putter before season-best round | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post This PGA Tour rookie’s win came after a Ping putter switch — with a twist appeared first on Golf.

The post This PGA Tour rookie’s win came after a Ping putter switch — with a twist appeared first on Golf.

Kristoffer Reitan’s win at Quail Hollow was validation not only for the PGA Tour rookie but also for Ping’s new Scottsdale TEC putter platform.

If indirectly.

Officially, Reitan’s victory is credited to Ping’s PLD platform, their custom building program for putters that typically have milled faces. But according to Ping Principal Design Engineer Tony Serrano, the putter has all of the guts of the new Scottsdale TEC line.

“The putter he has now is, in my opinion, it is a TEC putter,” Serrano told GOLF. “We made it here in our machine shop for him. Same sole plate, same head, same insert, same hosel. The only thing different, he wanted a different sight line on it.”

In February, Reitan visited the Ping PLD lab to work on his putting while the Tour was in Arizona for the WM Phoenix Open. It was the rookie’s first chance to visit HQ during a Tour week.

In testing, Ping engineers found that Reitan, who was at that time using a face-balanced putter, could do a lot better with something that had toe hang.

“We could see, and he saw the numbers, suggested that he needed some toe down,” Serrano said. “He didn’t really fit that great with a face balance putter.

“He needed something that would match his natural putting stroke.”

Reitan eventually landed on a new Ping Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue H putter. The Ally Blue H an option of the Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset that is available now, but with a plumber’s neck, which is what got the square-shaped mallet to match Reitan’s arcing stroke.

While the Ally Blue H isn’t available in the U.S. market, it is in other markets around the world and on the Ping Tour truck.

Reitan loved just about everything about the new putter, from the feel and roll of the PEBAX insert, to the white finish and the way the putter released with his stroke. However, he wanted one with a simple full sight line instead of the EyeQ version on the TEC that has a dot on the top line and then a full-length trailing line.

Rather than take an existing Scottsdale TEC head and mill away the sight dot into a complete line, Serrano built Reitan a PLD version of the Scottsdale TEC, just with a different sight line. It was easier to build a new putter from scratch while retaining every other feature of the Scottsdale TEC.

PING Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset Custom Putter

$399.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore

That includes the new PEBAX insert that is made from the material pioneered in the use of running shoes. It provides a feel on the softer side, but because of the lighter weight and increased energy transfer, is still quite responsive and lively.

Reitan received the putter, built to his specs at 37″ and 2˚ of loft, a few weeks ago and put it in play for the first time at Quail Hollow. He finished second in the field in SG: Putting, picking up 5.158 shots.

Reitan’s Putter specs

Putter: Ping PLD Ally Blue H
Hosel: Plumber’s Neck
Finish: White
Alignment Aid: Full Line
Insert: PEBAX
Loft: 2˚
Length: 37″
Lie: 70˚
Grip: Ping Superstroke Tour 1.0P 17″

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

The post This PGA Tour rookie’s win came after a Ping putter switch — with a twist appeared first on Golf.

The post Justin Thomas’ new putter takes a page from Cam Young | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Justin Thomas’ new putter takes a page from Cam Young | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Fully Equipped’s weekly Tour equipment report. Every Friday of PGA Tour weeks (plus other times, if news warrants), GOLF equipment editor Jack Hirsh runs you through some of the biggest news surrounding golf clubs on Tour, including changes, tweaks and launches.

Out on the PGA Tour, when one player starts to have success with something, it doesn’t take long for others to take notice and try it for themselves.

Specifically, putters catch fire more often than other clubs.

In recent years, the Jailbird craze of 2023 is an obvious example, with Rickie Fowler, Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley all winniung with Jailbird Cruisers in the span of two months. This year, hordes of pros have flocked to TaylorMade’s Spider putters after the boatloads of wins by Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.

Now, Cam Young’s Phantom 9.5R has the potential to be the next hot putter.

This week, Justin Thomas made a switch to an essential copy of the putter after Young won the Players Championship and the Cadillac Championship over the past month and a half.

It’s Thomas’ second switch in a month after he benched his Phantom 5.5 gamer midway through the RBC Heritage last month and played well on the weekend using a backup Newport 2 GSS blade.

He continued using that putter last week, but at Quail Hollow, he wanted to find something that would stick long term. He had worked himself nearly back to 0 strokes gained: putting after a disastrous start to his season at Bay Hill, before a rough opening two rounds at Harbour Town. He lost strokes with the blade last week in Miami.

“Some of it is just calibration. … some of it is just, he, you know, the potential of making good putts but not seeing anything go in type of thing,” Scotty Cameron Tour Rep Brad Cloke told GOLF. “It just seemed like he kind of wanted to start a little bit from scratch this week.”

So he asked for a couple of new putters, including some 9.2Rs, a shape he used previously, and a copy of Cam Young’s 9.5R.

“I literally texted Cameron’s guys and said, ‘Just give me Cam’s putter,'” Thomas said Friday, who played with Young the first two days.

Not an uncommon request.

Scotty Cameron 2026 Phantom 9.2R Custom Putter

$499.00 from Fairway Jockey

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“Obviously, with the success that Cam is having … these guys are as they see success and they want to see what it’s all about potentially,” Cloke said.

In addition to having a low-bend shaft that mimics the look and toe hang of a jet neck, Thomas’s 5.5 also has smooth face milling that makes it a bit louder-sounding and firmer.

His new putter matches Young’s so it has mid-milled face, but he’s actually preferred the milling on the new 9.5R.

“It was more so of like, ‘Hey, this is different, but I’m kind of liking it,'” Cloke said. “The comment that I heard from him was about feel, but it was more so like, ‘I’m actually surprised I like the way this feels.’”

While the putter is Thomas’ spec length and has his grip, it has the same graphite shaft Young uses and a full-length sight line. Thomas found that made it super easy to line up.

“It’s just so hard to putt well if you don’t have confidence, and so hard to have confidence unless you’re seeing it go in more often,” Thomas said. “So I really, really worked hard Monday through Wednesday on my speed and start line and everything to where I just felt like I was in a better place and more freed up when I was putting.”

Through two rounds, it’s been highly successful as Thomas sits at seven under going into the weekend and is gaining nearly three strokes on the field, good for top 10 in the stat.

Sahith Theegala’s newest putter wasn’t random, finally

While the biggest story in Ping putters was Tony Finau’s bizarre technique with a prototype Oslo Onset long putter early in the week, he ended up going back to the Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset he switched to in February.

In fact, Ping’s Ally Blue headshape had a solid week, earning two high-profile conversions, one so surprising Ping Tour Rep Kenton Oates didn’t even take it seriously.

Sahith Theegala, who, as we profiled in Bag Spy this week, loves to practice with random putters every week on the PGA Tour before returning to his longtime Anser gamer, was losing a putting contest on the practice green using an Ally Blue H when Oates hollered over for him to try his gamer.

“He goes, ‘This is what I used Sunday of Cadillac,'” Oates said. “And I go, ‘What? 
He goes, ‘Yeah, I think I’m going to use it on Thursday.'”

Theegala followed through on Thursday in the first round of the Truist Championship and kept it in the bag for Friday as well.

Turns out, this wasn’t another random practice putter for Theegala; this is something he worked on with Ping Principal Design Engineer Tony Serrano. He’s actually had the putter for over a year.

Theegala started working on a mallet putter with Serrano, feeling like he could gain forgiveness over his Anser blade.

“The key thing for him is, he has a certain stroke, a certain rotation in his stroke that requires something with some toe down,” Serrano said. “He’s always played an Anser 2 that hang at that 40 or 42 degrees that work perfectly for his stroke.”

PING Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset Custom Putter

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The Ally Blue H has the same plumber’s neck hosel Theegala is used to and similar CG and toe hang properties, making it a more natural transition.

At the RSM Classic last November, Serrano and Theegala spent lots of time with a Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue H, but it was the PLD Milled version that ended up going in the bag. Theegala ended up putting a counterbalance grip on it as well, but Serrano didn’t know when or why he added that himself.

A new Ally Blue H is also in the bag of Kristoffer Reitan as the PGA Tour rookie finds himself three off the lead heading into the weekend.

Reitan’s PLD Milled Ally Blue H is virtually identical to the Scottsdale Tec version, complete with the aluminum head, steel sole plate and PEBAX insert. But it was made from scratch to have an uninterrupted sight line.

After visiting Ping’s PLD Putting Lab in February, the Ping team discovered that Reitan needed a putter with more toe hang than the face-balanced model he was using. He loved the Scottsdale TEC feel and visual with the white head, but just wanted a full sight line.

Serrano said it was simply easier to make him a new PLD head than repurpose an existing Scottsdale TEC.

Rory McIlroy returns to Qi4D 3-wood

In his first event back since winning his second green jacket, Rory McIlroy changed the one club he switched out for his his big Masters win.

After using a Qi4D fairway wood since November, McIlroy went back to his Qi10 3-wood for the Masters, and promptly won his fifth straight major for the club.

But that turns out to be a short-term reversion for McIlroy as he’s back in a Qi4D 3-wood at Quail Hollow, where he’s won four times.

McIlroy said on Wednesday the switch was made because his Qi4D had a bit of a left miss.

“I had been using the 4D 3-wood at the start of the season. I noticed that it just had a little bit of a left bias in it,” McIlroy said. “So I went back to an old Qi10 for a while. But that wasn’t, it really wasn’t spinning enough. It’s more like a mini driver than a 3-wood.”

McIlroy actually said that kind of club could be useful at the Memorial, seemingly teasing he’ll use it at Muirfield Village next month, but for this week at Quail Hollow and next week at the PGA Championship, he wanted something with a bit more spin.

He started working on a new 3-wood with the TaylorMade team.

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Fairway Wood

PROVEN RECIPE TaylorMade Fairways have dominated on Tour for over a decade because of their unique performance recipe, which enables maximum distance and versatility. The Qi4D fairway is designed for golfers who want the most advanced technology while still prioritizing versatility and control with amazing distance. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE Utilizing a single Trajectory Adjustment System weight (8g x1) provides the golfer a more mass efficient way to adjust flight, spin and swing weight. 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight and is available in all lofts. REFINED ATTRIBUTES, BIG CHANGES Engineers conducted an objective analysis of all the performance attributes and discovered new methods to enhance performance and confidence. Sit points, lie angles, address views, and center of gravity locations were all updated based on Tour feedback and the expertise of leading fitters worldwide, ensuring the optimal fairway across skill levels. 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 for TaylorMade fairway performance. Twist Face™ features corrective face curvature designed to provide straighter shots on mishits. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to maximize performance by increasing discretionary weight.

$379.99 from Fairway Jockey

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“Post-Augusta we went back and looked at the data and he was actually getting center strikes that were drawing too much,” TaylorMade Tour rep Keith Sbarbaro said. “So the club was acting like he was toeing it. It was kind of gear-affecting left.
 
“So what we did is we moved the CG a little more toward the toe to try and square that up. The other thing he was getting some under-spinning shots that were knuckling a little bit.”

With the new 3-wood, Sbarbaro said McIlroy hit eight shots that all spun between 3,100 and 3,300 RPM and flew right on target. That’ll do!

Check this out

This section is dedicated to cool photos we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. For this week, check out Justin Thomas’ 10-plus-year old Titleist 915Fd 5-wood.

Odds and Ends

Some other gear changes and notes we’re tracking this week.

Reitan also has a new Ping G440 K driver with a Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro White shaft. … Titleist launched the GTS300 Mini Driver on the PGA Tour this week, with the name suggesting it’s larger than its predecessor. … Brooks Koepka began his post-Srixon era with a new Grove XXIII staff bag and set of Vokey SM11 wedges, along with a rare WedgeWorks 60B Lob Wedge. … Lucas Glover added new GTS2 15.0 and 21.0 fairway woods. … Five players added new TaylorMade Qi4D fairways: Nico Echavarria (Qi4D 3-wood), Jason Day (Qi4D 9-wood), Robert MacIntyre (Qi4D 7-wood), Denny McCarthy (Qi4D Tour 3-wood) and Matt Wallace (Qi4D 7-wood) … McCarthy also switched to a Spider Tour X L-neck.

3 things you should read/watch

A selection of GOLF content from the past week that may interest you.

Sahith Theegala calls his own bag ‘weird.’ Here’s why it works for him | Bag Spy – Take a deep dive into one of the weirdest bags on the PGA Tour that goes driver to 4-wood to 3-iron to 9-wood at the top and then has two 8-irons later.

Bettinardi adds ‘Fitz’ models to its BB family of putters – After three wins this season, Bettinardi is releasing a limited number of Matt Fitzpatrick’s BB1FF and BB48F gamers to retail.

Cleveland releases limited edition set of legendary 588 Tour Action wedges – The Cleveland 588 wedge revolutionized the category. Now with Roger Cleveland back in the fold, the company is releasing a limited number of updated 588 sets.

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

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

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The post What makes Ping’s hybrids so good? I met with their engineers to find out appeared first on Golf.

The post What makes Ping’s hybrids so good? I met with their engineers to find out appeared first on Golf.

If you ask different experts across the industry who makes the best hybrid, Ping won’t lack for votes. I’ve personally used a Ping hybrid since the G400 hit the market, and I have no desire to switch. There are other excellent hybrids on the market — PXG and Cobra specifically surprised me this year — but there’s just something about a Ping.

At the Ping Proving Grounds in Scottsdale, Ariz., I had a chance to hit my own personal hybrids (G440s 4- and 5-hybrid) and talk through them with Master Fitter James Lee and Travis Milleman, senior design manager. Here’s what I learned.

Shape

For me, the starting point that makes the hybrids so good is the shape. The Ping hybrids aren’t trying to be small, and they aren’t trying to “look like an iron.” They’re on the larger side, but with a shallower face profile, and they provide tons of confidence. It’s hard to set down the clubhead behind the ball and not feel good about the swing you need to put on it.

Gear

How a new mindset changed this scratch handicap's fitting experience | Fully Fit 2026

By: Jake Morrow

Sound and feel

Another easy nod for the Ping hybrids is how they sound and feel off the face. The hybrids have never been cursed with the high pitched ringing noise that wasn’t solved in Ping drivers until the G430 line. They’ve always had a loud sound at impact with a bit of a firmer feel that rockets off the face, but it’s never accompanied by a high pitch. It’s a nice crack at impact with a short duration that satisfies even the pickiest of audible concerns.

Performance

As I noted above, I have been playing a Ping hybrid since I started playing golf. The first was a G400 that I bought used for less than $50. I quickly upgraded to a G410, then a G425, G430 and then a G440 at the start of 2025 when the new lineup was launched. I’m also eagerly awaiting the arrival of new woods from Ping early next year, assuming they stick with their normal 2-year cycle.

PING G440 Custom Hybrid

The G440 hybrids appeal to a variety of skill levels, each engineered to deliver different ball- flight characteristics – from the slightly fade-biased 2 hybrid for off-the-tee performance to the draw-inducing 5, 6 and 7 hybrids that help optimize gapping. They all share a new, shallower and thinner face design, which improves face contact for more ball speed and higher-launching shots that hit and hold the green.  FLIES HIGH LANDS SOFT Optimized launch and spin ensure distance with stopping power.  FREE-HOSEL DESIGN Saves weight to lower CG, optimize launch/spin and increase forgiveness.  ROUNDED SOLE  Ensures pleasing face angle in all hosel settings  CARBONFLY WRAP  Lightweight carbon crown saves weight to increase MOI, lower CG. 

$319.00 from Fairway Jockey

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For me, every iteration of Ping hybrids has improved in a key area. From G400 to G410, they sounded a bit better; from G410 to G425, ball flight was more consistent with the introduction of Spincistency Technology; and G430 saw a massive ball-speed difference over G425 — enough that many golfers had to go into higher lofted models to maintain the same gapping in the bag. When G440 came along, I didn’t notice a ton of difference in “launch-monitor performance,” but they made one huge change: a progressive face-angle across the lofts. This is massive, and a way that Ping is taking one more thoughtful step before releasing its products.

In the video above, which you can also watch on YouTube below, you hear Travis talking about the Ping team diving into Arccos player data when developing the latest lineup. The key point is that few players used a 2-hybrid and 5-hybrid in the same bag, so why were they designing them the same way? The 2-hybrid player is at higher speeds and longer distances, and they also want something that’s not going to go left. The 5-hybrid player typically struggles a bit more and needs help launching the ball up in the air and getting it to turn over.

With the introduction of the progressive face angle in the new G440 hybrids, Ping controlled those expectations. The 2-hybrid starts the most open and fade biased, leading all the way down to the 7-hybrid that is the most closed at address and helps to launch the ball high and mitigate a right miss. It’s a cool way to direct performance straight to the end user.

Team hybrid for life

In the recent surge of high-lofted fairway wood use, I’ve been a staunch supporter for more golfers trying out the hybrid, and I’ve recommended Ping to all of them. What’s not to like? Plenty of launch help at lofts where it’s more needed; tons of ball speed; an easier-to-control flight window; and more playability from bad lies. If you’re a player looking to replace an iron, potentially even all the way down to an 8-iron, these clubs are terrific options that make the game easier.

Are you team hybrid? You should be!

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The post PING Golf’s irons lineup has something for everybody appeared first on Golf.

The post PING Golf’s irons lineup has something for everybody appeared first on Golf.

I recently took a trip to the PING Golf Proving Grounds in Phoenix, Arizona to do a bit of testing with their full roundup of 2026 offerings. After our Fully Fit visit in December, I was looking to spend a bit more time with some of their offerings that I haven’t gotten to take more than a handful of swings with. The PING lineup of irons is quite robust, and it’s definitely one of the more ‘complete’ lineups on the market. Let’s break down the lineup and sort out which irons fit for what style of player and who may benefit the most from each design.

PING i240 – A cavity back ‘plus’

The PING i240 is a unique iron, in a category where PING has definitely differentiated themselves. It’s not a true cavity back iron, that would be the PING Blueprint S, but it’s also not a player’s distance iron; like the PING i540. It sits somewhere in the middle. It’s a great option for players who want the shape and size of a more traditional cavity back, with a loft structure that’s a bit more traditional, but still need a little bit of help. The i240 aims to provide precision for players that want a bit more control over their flight, but with an MOI package that mirrors a much more helpful category of irons.

Irons

Ping i240 irons | 5 things to know about the newest player's irons

By: Kris McCormack

With its more traditional cavity back shape, PING took performance of the i240 one step further over previous generations by giving a significant boost to MOI. On the back of the iron you’ll see the new ABS badge, which helps them save over eight grams in weight, distributed to the perimeter of the iron for an increase in MOI without an increase in size or shape of the platform. They’ve also added an elastomer insert in the cavity which helps to create a softer feeling and sound out of the cast 413 stainless steel body. For the better ballstriker who’s looking for a little bit more help than a traditional cavity back like the Blueprint S, the i240 is the perfect option within the PING lineup. If it’s good enough for a guy like Viktor Hovland, it’s good enough for your bag too.

PING i240 Custom Irons

The Tour-inspired i240 advances our popular Players technology, providing added forgiveness along with the control, look and feel that will appeal to a wide range of skill levels. It’s PING’s highest-launching Players model, giving golfers more control and the ability to consistently hit their distance numbers and stop the ball close to the hole. A new ABS badge in the true cavity-back design is 8.5g lighter, and combined with an elastomer insert allows for more perimeter weighting to increase the MOI in the mid and long irons. This helps achieve an 11% reduction in dispersion. The badge and insert contribute to a more desirable sound and a softer, responsive feel from the 431 stainless steel cast head.

$200.00 from Fairway Jockey

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PING i540 – Some speed assistance for the better player

The i540 is a special iron. It competes in a really unique marketplace for the better player who wants a good visual but may be losing speed. These are the senior club champions at your local course, or in my case, the guys who take my money every weekend, despite being twice my age. They’re also a really good option for players who need the turf efficiency of something like an i240 but they don’t quite have the ball striking to back it up. The i540 sits here in a really good bucket. It provided almost a club more worth of speed for me compared to the i240, while adding launch and maintaining a similar spin window.

PING i540 Custom Irons

$214.25 from Fairway Jockey

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While testing the lineup, the i540 stood out most. I made the comment while working with PING WRX Master Fitter James Lee that it almost felt too easy. I would have to calibrate my distances a little bit on course, and probably do some gapping work at the bottom end of the bag, but playing the i540 felt… right. It felt like something I could possibly end up doing, just because the data showed us that the iron was really working for me. The only in my own testing is they’re actually a little bit too fast. 130 mph for a 7-iron is quite a bit of speed, and that calibration in speed and distance could make some of the creative shots a little bit more difficult. But this iron wasn’t built for me. It was designed for a crowd that sits in a nice single digit handicap arena but just doesn’t quite swing it as fast as they used to.

Gear

Ping's G440 K driver makes surprising first impression | Fully Fit 2026 Ep. 1

By: Jack Hirsh

When we visited for Fully Fit both Johnny Wunder and Wadeh Maroun agreed. Wadeh was VERY close to putting them in the bag, but since our first day of the trip was at PING, he actually based the rest of his fittings off of the benefits he saw in the i540, and the rest of the week was testing hollow-body irons over cavity backs or forged options. Johnny jumped on board, too. Both guys are low single-digit golfers with very consistent swings and they know what they need out of their equipment. But, in their own admission, they’re losing out on a little bit of speed compared to where they may have been in years past. A hollow-body, high-tech offering like the i540 that maintains a nice visual behind the ball and allows the better player to worry more about making a good swing than if their clubs can keep up with their current game.

PING G440 – In-line game improvement

In-line irons can be tricky. Every company makes a game-improvement style iron that shares the name of their current in-line metal woods, but its a tough category to find balance in. Making sure that the iron performs well for the bulk of the golfing majority while still looking, feeling and sounding good seems to always involve tradeoffs. If there’s one thing that the G440 isn’t going to tradeoff, it’s performance. In the video testing with Lee you can see how much fun we had hitting the G440 irons. For lack of a better word, they’re dummy-proof. The biggest compliment I can give to anything in this realm is that it’s easy. As long as you make half-decent contact, the club is going to work for you.

PING G440 Custom Irons

The G440 iron is a distance-driven design that best fits golfers in need of game-improvement technology who prefer the influence of a players-style shape. Increased ball speed comes from the thinner face and the low/back CG location – resulting in higher- launching, longer-carrying shots with stopping power. FAST AND FORGIVING Thinner face flexes for more ball speed, saves weight to increase MOI. LOW CG SYSTEM Shorter face lowers CG for more ball speed, higher launch.  PLAYERS INSPIRED Shallow face height and shorter blade height.  PREMIUM PERFORMANCE  Four-piece, chrome-plated cavity badge increases flexing, damps vibration. 

$164.25 from Fairway Jockey

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I always like to say the G440 is meant for the infrequent player. Somebody who definitely knows what they’re doing and has a repeatable swing, but doesn’t practice much and wants a set of irons that will last a long time and always produce for them. My dad, who’s in the last generation G430 irons, is a perfect example. He doesn’t play a whole lot, usually just on weekends that I can visit, but he knows what he’s doing with his swing and just wants to be out there and have fun without any equipment issues getting in the way. Everything I’ve set up in his bag is about ease of use, and the irons are no different. You can get away with a very off-center strike, they still feel good for the category they fall into, and it helps to make the round go by without any additional stress. Plus, PING continues to make sure that they look good in the bag, behind the ball, and in the hands as you twirl a nice approach.

PING G740 – All the help you want

If the G440 is for the repeatable player looking for stress-free and easy rounds, the G740 is for ANY player who wants every single bit of help PING can offer them. The G740 is a large and in charge iron meant for one thing: forgiveness. This is actually a key difference maker in the lineup. The G740 is not an iron developed with speed gains in mind. For me it was about as fast as the i540 or the G440, which all sat around 130 mph ball speed off the 7-iron. What the G740 offers is forgiveness.

It really does feel like you can hit the ball anywhere on this iron and get away with it. It makes the G440 seem unforgiving, which is saying a lot. With the 740, the goal is high-tech performance and good looks. This is the true “play the game because you enjoy it” type of iron. Older players who just want to keep swinging, juniors looking to get into the sport, or beginners who would like a non-offensive entry point into the sport will all appreciate the forgiving benefits of the PING G740 irons.

Most importantly, get fit.

One of my favorite lines I’ve ever been told was the first time PING’s Marty Jertson told me “PING is an engineering company that happens to make golf clubs.” Part of that philosophy is that every single golfer should get fit for their new golf clubs by an authorized fitter, like True Spec. PING chooses to not sell their equipment direct to the customer to really hammer home this belief. As an engineering company there’s an understanding that to make tools work for the right player at the right time it takes some fine-tuning. There is no “one size fits all” offering at PING, just the final combination of parts that fits you.

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The post How Ping’s new alignment design promotes better focus and stability appeared first on Golf.

The post How Ping’s new alignment design promotes better focus and stability appeared first on Golf.

Through work with Tour pros and a deep dive into eye-tracking techniques, Ping Putting Lab developers have determined that quiet eyes promote a more stable putting stroke.

That’s what the new Scottsdale TEC (Tour Elevated Concepts) putter series is all about. Its new Eye-Q alignment sys- tem features a single dot placed ahead of a line on the crown that leads to the sweet spot of the new putters (Ally Blue, Ketsch, Hayden).

By focusing your eyes on the dot at address — PING refers to this as a “discrete anchor” — your stroke will be more relaxed and steady through the strike. A stable stroke equals more putts that go in. That’s intelligence we can all get behind.

Shop Ping’s Scottsdale TEC putters at Fairway Jockey

PING Scottsdale TEC Ketsch Onset Custom Putter

$399.00 from Fairway Jockey

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PING Scottsdale TEC Hayden Custom Putter

$399.00 from Fairway Jockey

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PING Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset Custom Putter

$399.00 from Fairway Jockey

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The post How Ping’s new alignment design promotes better focus and stability appeared first on Golf.

The post The one club that’s dominated my bag for years | Fully Fit 2026 appeared first on Golf.

The post The one club that’s dominated my bag for years | Fully Fit 2026 appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Fully Fit 2026, GOLF’s new platform for providing you with real-golfer insights into what 2026 gear might be best suited for your game. To this end, we assembled six GOLF content creators of varying abilities and ran them through the gauntlet of six full-bag fittings (driver to putter!) at six major club manufacturers in Phoenix and Carlsbad, Calif. Our hope: that you might see shades of your own game in one of our panelists’ and take some learnings and inspiration from their fitting experiences. In this installment (below), Jack Hirsh details the one club he can’t live without from Fully Fit 2026, his Cobra 3DP MB 5-iron. You may browse each of our panelists’ full 2026 dream bags here:

Jake Morrow (0 handicap) | Johnny Wunder (2) | Wadeh Maroun (2) | Jack Hirsh (2.4) | Maddi MacClurg (5.6) | Sean Zak (7.8)

MORE FULLY FIT: Fully Fit hub page | Why we’re ‘testing’ golf clubs differently this year | Inside 6 days of fittings and testing | Browse 2026 drivers | Browse 2026 irons | How 5 days of club fittings changed my mind on golf equipment

My golf bag is ever-changing. Week to week, I’ll have different clubs; hell, there was a stretch where I played a different set every day, even playing a set once that had a different brand for all 14 slots in the bag. There is, however, one single club that you won’t see leave my true gamer bag; my Ping hybrid.

Currently, the G440 4-hybrid has dominated its place in the bag, and the 5-hybrid still wants to join the party, but I’ve had a Ping hybrid in the bag dating all the way back to the G410. Replaced by a G425, G430, and now the G440 series.

It just does what I need it to do

The biggest reason why the Ping hybrid is so important to my bag is the consistency that it delivers. Sure, they’ve gotten faster over the years, definitely easier to launch, too, but they’ve always been extremely consistent. Spin values across the face stay very true, and some of that is due to the more shallow profile that a Ping hybrid provides, which is also a great visual for me behind the golf ball.

My hybrids are all built to do one job: go up, and go left. All I want is a big high-tower draw that lands softly on the green. In the current bag, that’s at about 220 yards, but I can also float it down to 210 or absolutely rip one to about 230 when I need to.

Another advantage of the new G440, and one of the reasons that I upgraded, was that they’ve now gone with a progressive face angle. Using Arccos player data, they realized that a player using a 7-hybrid isn’t the same player using a 2-hybrid.

They took that knowledge and transformed the lineup so the 2-hybrid has more right-bias in it, and the higher lofted hybrids are meant to help turn the ball over. The 4-hybrid falls right in the middle. Where my G430 and previous 4-hybrids were a little bit shut, the G440 4-hybrid is very square, which is a helpful visual to see behind the ball. I play my hybrids in the standard loft, flat setting to help start the ball a bit right and let it draw back.

Another huge benefit for me with the hybrid, particularly in this distance category, is the ability to hit it from anywhere. You can tell when you look at the face of my hybrid that it’s been well-loved, but lots of those marks are from me using the hybrid out of fairway bunkers, in the trees, off of some concrete-like conditions, and even a couple of balls in some bushes.

There is nothing I am afraid of going after if I have the chance to bring out the hybrid. The club definitely comes away with some war wounds, but I’m a big believer in the tools-not-jewels strategy on course.

The Final Build

Thanks to Adam Harding of the Ping truck, my hybrid also gets a little bit of tour-sauce credit with a custom blacked-out face. That’s something the internet made controversial when I posted about it, but they didn’t understand the rules.

To me, it makes an incredible difference. Blacking out the score lines hides the loft on the face. That’s actually counterintuitive to how I like to set up the rest of my bag, but with the hybrids, it just works. It worked even better on the 5-hybrid we built, and in that case, it helps to make the face not look so closed.

I match my G440 4-hybrid up with a Fujikura Ventus HB Red Velocore + 9X. I’ve now installed this exact shaft in about 8 different clubs, and I absolutely love what it offers. Since the very first swing I took with it, there was something special about the shaft.

It’s a slightly differnet profile than it’s wood shaft counter-part so to me it feels a little bit softer in the hands while remaining stiff enough to really attack the transition in my swing, and it provides a stiffer tip section than you would think with a softer mid that allows for assistance in launch, but also remains stable enough to be able to flight the ball down or get a bit more steep on the ball too. It’s a wonderful pairing for a hybrid for players like myself who really need the hybrid to work different flights and create some more scoring ability.

My final build specs
Ping G440 4-Hybrid (23° Loft)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Red Velocore + 9X
Length: 39.25″ EOG
Ping Trajectory Tuning 2.0 hosel: FLAT, Standard Loft
Swingweight: D3

PING G440 Custom Hybrid

The G440 hybrids appeal to a variety of skill levels, each engineered to deliver different ball- flight characteristics – from the slightly fade-biased 2 hybrid for off-the-tee performance to the draw-inducing 5, 6 and 7 hybrids that help optimize gapping. They all share a new, shallower and thinner face design, which improves face contact for more ball speed and higher-launching shots that hit and hold the green.  FLIES HIGH LANDS SOFT Optimized launch and spin ensure distance with stopping power.  FREE-HOSEL DESIGN Saves weight to lower CG, optimize launch/spin and increase forgiveness.  ROUNDED SOLE  Ensures pleasing face angle in all hosel settings  CARBONFLY WRAP  Lightweight carbon crown saves weight to increase MOI, lower CG. 

$319.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore

Ready to overhaul your bag in 2026 like our Fully Fit panelists? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post The one club that’s dominated my bag for years | Fully Fit 2026 appeared first on Golf.

The post These clubs were built just for Augusta National | Masters Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post These clubs were built just for Augusta National | Masters Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Fully Equipped’s weekly Tour equipment report. Every Friday of PGA Tour weeks (plus other times, if news warrants), GOLF equipment editor Jack Hirsh runs you through some of the biggest news surrounding golf clubs on Tour, including changes, tweaks and launches.

Augusta National presents a unique challenge to the best in the world every year, but with near-perfect conditions, the test is even more demanding.

With a fairly dry lead-up to the Masters and the rare occurrence of no rain in the forecast for this weekend, Augusta National will be as firm and fast this weekend as the club wants it, meaning pros are searching for more height to stop the ball.

That’s why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that 11 players chose to drop 4-irons this week in favor of high-lofted fairway woods or hybrids. A few of those players are guys who don’t typically play a 4-iron, like Tommy Fleetwood, Zach Johnson and PGA Tour Champions players Vijay Singh, Mike Weir and Freddie Couples, who has his normal three-hybrid setup this week.

But other players, including Akshay Bhatia, Brian Campbell, Jason Day and Matt Fitzpatrick, have all dropped the 4-iron for clubs they’ve had built specifically for Augusta National.

Bhatia added a new Callaway Apex UW ’26 21-degree this week in place of his normal 22-degree X Forged UT 4-iron.

“Basically, he was looking at incoming second shots to Nos. 13 and 15 and needing something hitting a higher apex to land softer on those greens,” Callaway Tour Content Manager Johnny Thompson told GOLF.

Bhatia’s gamer OG prototype UW, which is closer to 17 degrees in loft, remains in the bag as his 5-wood alternative. Despite the roughly three-degree gap between the two clubs, the new UW is more than two inches shorter, which provides an optimal carry yardage gap.

Akshay Bhatia’s new Apex UW specs
Apex UW ’26
Loft: 21˚ @ 20˚
Lie: 58.2˚
Sole weight: 14 g
Hot melt: 2 g crown
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 10-X
Length: 39.375”
Tipping: 2”
Swingweight: D1.8

Campbell, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour last season, like Bhatia, also does not play a traditional 4-iron week-to-week, opting instead for Ping’s iDi long iron replacement. But this week, he’s got a G440 Max 9-wood to help him get even more stopping power on the firm greens.

“When he hits it on No. 4 or into 5, that 9-wood is just going to allow it to stop so much faster than even that [iDi]4-iron,” Ping Tour Rep Kenton Oates told GOLF. “The 4-iron gets in there fine, but it still spins like a 4-iron — it’s just not going to react the same.”

Oates said the spin is the real difference maker when it comes to switching from an iron to a fairway wood or hybrid. He could build a 4-iron that nearly reaches the same height a high-lofted metal wood, but it’s the extra spin that really gives a player control on the greens.

PING G440 Max Custom Fairway Wood

The G440 fairway family (MAX, LST, SFT) advances PING’s reputation as a Tour-preferred model of choice through a re-designed face structure and low CG system. The face is taller for more confidence off the tee while maintaining a CG location that delivers high- launching performance off the ground. The MAX model (which fits most golfers) is available in five lofts (including a new 4-wood) to provide more gapping solutions.  HIGH MOI Easy to launch, stable design increases forgiveness.  FLEXING FACE Maraging steel face flexes for more ball speed, optimizes spin.  TALLER FACE PROFILE Improves performance off the tee, maintains low CG.  FREE-HOSEL DESIGN Saves weight to lower CG, optimize launch/spin and increase forgiveness. 

$369.00 from Fairway Jockey

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“It’s probably not a huge difference on a TrackMan peak height number — maybe only about 15 feet — but that extra height is coming from spin. When the height is coming from spin, that’s when you really start to see the ball actually react on the green and stop. That’s the difference,” Oates said. “That extra 15 feet can end up being 15 feet closer to the hole when it lands.”

Ping had three 9-woods in play this week, 10+ 7-woods and Carlos Ortiz gamed a 26-degree G440 5-hybrid.

Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Jason Day all used TaylorMade 7-woods, but the interesting note there was that Fitzpatrick and Day both kept the 5-woods they already had in the bag, bucking the trend of either having a 5- or a 7-wood. Lowry dropped his Srixon ZXiU 3-iron for the Qi4D 7-wood.

“Sometimes I feel like you need it, especially with the added length,” Day said on Wednesday of the extra fairway wood. “You kind of need a better gap at the top end for some of these holes around Augusta National. So nothing too dramatic, but just the top end.”

TaylorMade’s Adrian Rietveld told GOLF that both Day and Fitzpatrick have shorter builds on their 7-woods, but otherwise, there’s nothing different about the spec for it to cover both a 3-iron and 4-iron distance. Rietveld said both players are using shot-shaping to hit higher, more floaty shots when they need to cover 4-iron yardage.

Basically, the 7-wood acts as two clubs in one.

Mini Mania at Augusta National

Mini driver usage has been growing steadily on the PGA Tour over the past two years, but it seems like it might be peaking at the Masters.

A total of 23 players played a mini driver at Augusta National and it seems the consensus is that the clubs are built for the modern game at the historic course. Callaway lead the way with 10 while TaylorMade had eight.

While several of those mini drivers were from players like Fleetwood, Max Greyserman and Min Woo Lee who game one every week on the PGA Tour, other players like Justin Rose, Harris English and Tom McKibbin had them built in the weeks prior specifically for this course.

“I think it’s all about predictability when it comes to a mini driver,” Callaway Tour Representative Kellen Watson told GOLF. “You have a driver where you know it’s going to carry this bunker, but you don’t know how much it’s going to roll out. With this, you want to know the carry number and have the total be very tight — like nine yards or so — which is perfect.”

Even as the Masters tees have been lengthened over 500 yards in the last 20 years, the bends in the fairways — and the firmness of those fairways — make several holes ideal for players to use a mini driver.

The most obvious case is the long downhill dogleg left par-4 10th, where a drive down the left benefits from the steeper slope. But because a mini driver is easier to work right-to-left, it’s also favored on Nos. 5, 7, which have awkward run-outs and slants in the fairways.

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.

$479.99 from Fairway Jockey

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For many longer players, there’s also only one hole where a 3-wood off the deck comes into play: The uphill par-5 8th. But No. 8 allows players to hit a low approach and chase it up, a shot well-suited to a mini driver.

“If you’re a longer player, there are basically no 3-woods off the ground here,” said Oates. “So now the mini driver fills that gap, especially when you combine that with the number of tee shots where you have to work it right-to-left. That combination makes it really valuable.”

Oates said English, who primarily plays a fade with his driver, was hitting his mini driver on 6-7 different holes during practice rounds.

Max Homa also tested out a Cobra King Tec mini that Ben Schomin said was to give him an option off the tee to move the ball right to left.

“The idea was to be able to make a stock swing and have the ball turn over without having to do anything differently with setup or alignment,” Schomin said. “But also have the ability to really swing it around when you need to, like on 10. He felt very comfortable doing both.”

Schomin and Homa had the club dialed for an 8˚-10˚ launch and 2800-3100 spin, but Homa ultimately decided on a 3-wood instead.

Quiet week on the trucks

One common theme with all of these new clubs players have in their bags this week is that the vast majority weren’t built this week.

In fact, Masters week, like most major weeks, is a fairly quiet one on the Tour Trucks.

“There’s really not much going on. I mean, there’s really not much we can do,” Watson said. “At this point, if you haven’t done your job already, then you probably shouldn’t be here.”

Much of the work is validating or re-validating clubs that were built for this week, or minor maintenance jobs like re-grippings and loft and lie checks.

Justin Rose is a perfect example as he had clubs, like his Callaway Quantum Mini Driver and prototype Cleveland RTZ wedge, built for him weeks ago specifically to get ready for the Masters.

The Ping Tour Truck built 109 clubs this week, but the majority of those were players like Vijay Singh, who doesn’t get serviced regularly, or guys like Sandy Lyle, who aren’t even playing this week.

“A lot of the stuff you’re seeing built this week is for past champions or guys we don’t see as much,” Oates said. “The Conners and the Hovlands, they’re already dialed. There’s really not much for us to do.”

Harry Hall goes nuclear on the bag after Round 1

Harry Hall started his Masters with a brand new driver, a Ping G440 LST, one that helped Ping tie Titleist for the lead in driver count for the week, a first in roughly two seasons for Ping.

He also had Ping’s prototype mini in the bag as he continues his torrid pace of gear switches throughout this season.

Already this year, Hall has switched between no fewer than four different drivers, two sets of irons, three sets of wedges, two putters and a golf ball change just for this week.

After Round 1 at Augusta, where he shot 77, he seemed ready to do all of that between then and his Friday morning tee time.

“I’m going to change my driver. I’m going to put two drivers in play tomorrow, different ones. I’m putting a new putter in play and going to figure out on the range,” Hall said Thursday. “I don’t think I spin my irons enough either. I went into a spinnier ball this week, but I still, you know, can’t stop it on a dime like I need to. So I probably need to add off to my irons or do something to compete in these majors.”

Hall appeared to only use the TaylorMade Qi4D driver he was playing most recently before this week and he did switch from his longtime Odyssey O-Works putter to a TaylorMade Spider that he started using at Bay Hill.

After all of that, Hall had a wild Round 2 of five birdies, five bogeys and eight pars for an even-par 72 that puts him at five over for the week and likely to miss the cut.

Golf Pride continues major dominance

No surprise here as Golf Pride continues to dominate grip counts at majors.

Of the top 10 betting favorites heading into the week, eight of them used Golf Pride grips with multiple models represented, including the Tour Velvet, MCC and Align Max families.

Overall, 80 of the 91 players in the field are using a Golf Pride grip.

Check this out

This section is dedicated to cool photos we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. For this week, check out some more of the Cleveland prototype RTZ offset wedges that are sneaking into multiple bags on the PGA Tour. Take a guess who this one is for. Check out the full story behind them.

Odds and Ends

Some other gear changes and notes we’re tracking this week.

Justin Thomas (GTS2), was among three players to add a new Titleist GTS driver this week. The others were Dustin Johnson (GTS2) and Cam Smith (GTS3) … Cameron Young added a Titleist GTS3 7-wood in place of his GT1 hybrid … Thomas also gamed a Vokey WedgeWorks 60L lob wedge, a grind that sits between his normal 60T and 60K* gamers … Vokey had 114 gap, sand and lob wedges … Ping and Titleist tied for the driver count lead with 25 and the G440 LST was the most played model… Vijay Singh had a new Ping G440 K … Keegan Bradley tested a TaylorMade Qi4D LS driver but stuck with his G430 LST … Wyndham Clark has a new TaylorMade Qi4D Tour 3-wood, replacing his G440 Max … Justin Rose has one of Cleveland’s prototype RTZ wedges with a 588 Wide sole … Aldrich Potgieter has a new TaylorMade Spider, one of 16 in the field … as he continues a search for a new putter … U.S. Mid-Am champ Brandon Holtz asked the USGA to send him his Callaway Paradym Ai-Smoke TD that he won the Mid-Am with an donated to the USGA Museum, but chose not to use it … TaylorMade had 79 fairways in play, including two from Rory McIlroy, who switched back to his Qi10 3-wood … Odyssey led the putter count with 28 … Fujikura swept the counts for driver (36/39.6% of field), woods (116/41.3%) and hybrid shafts (10/62.5%)

3 things you should read/watch

A selection of GOLF content from the past week that may interest you.

Cameron Young’s bag is constantly evolving. Dive into how he got here | Bag Spy – In the latest edition of Bag Spy, take a deep dive into Players champion Cam Young’s golf bag, with his high-lofted driver, game improvement wood and hybrid and prototype golf ball.

Titleist GT3 Custom Driver

GT3 – Speed-Tuned Distance & Control GT3 offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization. With a speed-tuned design that allows you to precisely match performance to your most frequent contact location, you can make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping. For players with a relatively consistent impact location, GT3 offers a precisely adjustable CG Track to max out distance and directional control. Seamless Thermoform Crown A reimagined ultra-lightweight design, born from a new Proprietary Matrix Polymer. The tunable acoustic properties of this unique composite allow Titleist engineers to realize new material gains while maintaining our signature sound and feel. All wrapped in a clean look that inspires total confidence. Split Mass Construction A breakthrough in internal weighting unlocks longer drives and enhanced directional control in GT3. The Adjustable CG Track now sits closer to the face for more dynamic CG control, while additional discretionary mass is pushed to the back of the club to maintain optimal stability through impact. Advanced Aerodynamics GT3 features a new raised tail contour that represents a dramatic shift in driver aerodynamics. Previously impossible to execute due to design constraints, this advanced shaping results in a driver that swings faster while still providing optimal CG control.

$649.00 $449.99 from Fairway Jockey

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Why Rory McIlroy decided on these clubs – Take a deep dive in Rory McIlroy’s bag as he defends his Masters title with his fitter, Adrian Rietveld.

‘Failure’s not an option’: Augusta National chairman reaffirms club’s rollback stance – At his annual Masters press conference, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley called for action to end the uncertainty around golf’s rollback.

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

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

The post These clubs were built just for Augusta National | Masters Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post A Ping G Le4 fitting introduced a brand new club to my bag | I Tried It appeared first on Golf.

The post A Ping G Le4 fitting introduced a brand new club to my bag | I Tried It appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to I Tried It, a GOLF.com series about golf items — apparel, gear, accessories and more — that we’ve recently taken out for a spin. We’re here to give our honest, no-frills takes on the latest and greatest golf or golf-adjacent items. So, scroll down to read about what we love about golf’s newest (or new to us) products.

Two-and-a-half years ago, I visited Ping’s Proving Grounds in Phoenix, Ariz., to test the new G Le3 family of clubs as a part of GOLF’s 2024 ClubTest. The women’s-specific line was specially engineered to be both forgiving, lightweight, and distance-enhancing.

At the time, I was still gaming clubs I had been fit for in 2015, so needless to say, the new gear was a revelation. Not only did I gain more carry distance with every club, I also radically improved my dispersion on solid shots and mis-hits alike. I was thrilled!

Those G Le3s have been in my bag ever since. So when Ping introduced the next generation, the G Le4s, I wondered how much my numbers could possibly improve in the span of just two years. To put it bluntly: I haven’t been practicing, my playing days are sporadic, and my physical conditioning certainly hasn’t made any gains. Is it possible that technology alone could bridge that gap and deliver better numbers anyway?

I was excited to find out. So in March, I ventured back to Ping’s Proving Grounds to give the G Le4s a go.

My Ping G Le4 fitting experience

My fitter for this test day was Ping’s James Lee, who is not only talented, but a fun hang as well. He made me feel comfortable right away, and had me warm-up with my current set before turning on the launch monitor to make some comparisons.

The new G Le4s offer a number of additional enhancements when compared to the G Le3s, but the most relevant to my fitting was new loft options in the longer clubs, and the addition of Carbonfly Wrap crowns — a first for a Ping women’s driver. Carbonfly Wrap enables Ping engineers to move the CG closer to the force line for higher-launching, longer results. Not only can you go all the way to 8 in a hybrid (!), new lofts in the fairway woods (5-wood at 23 degrees, 7-wood at 28 and 9-wood at 33) also help improve playability and gapping.

One detail about the clubs that must be mentioned before I go on: They’re so pretty! Photos can’t really do them justice. In person, they have a beautiful iridescent sheen. Ping’s name for the color: Galactic Lilac. It fits!

Even though I generally always play from the forward tees, my hybrids and fairway woods see a lot of action. And my naturally flat swing means I tend to prefer hitting those clubs more than my short irons — weird, I know! But that made me an ideal candidate for the new short-iron hybrid options — especially the 7 and 8. And the launch monitor results spoke for themselves.

My misses tend to be to the left in the form of snipe-hooks, pulls or drop-kicks — even with my short and mid-irons. But with the G Le4s, the snipe basically disappeared. Instead, if anything, I was a little right on misses. Not only did I launch the ball with ease, I also improved my shot dispersion — and gained 10 yards!

I should also mention that the G Le4s are designed for women with swing speeds of 80 mph or lower, which turns out to be an ideal wheelhouse for me. James clocked my mid-iron swing speed at 67 mph. The G Le4s are designed to work with speeds like mine to maximize distance and launch. I was amazed. Each swing I made felt great, well-balanced and launched like crazy. I was even able to achieve great trajectory with the G Le4 irons, which isn’t as common with my current set.

I was impressed with every club in the lineup, but the true star for me was the hybrid selection. What a joy it was to step up to the ball, looking down at that confidence-inspiring hybrid head shape — all the way up to an 8-iron loft! That’s a club I’ve never hit before, and a first for Ping too. I loved it. Also, that extra launch — which, as I mentioned above, I could rarely achieve with my irons — means softer landings on the green, which in theory should mean shorter putts and more scoring opportunities.

Another standout feature of the G Le4s: forgiveness. I caught a few shots a little thin, and they still launched nicely and delivered great distance.

On the fairway wood front, thanks to above-mentioned newly increased lofts, I actually fit into a 3-wood, which I haven’t had in the bag for years.

The only club we ended up adjusting at all was the driver in order to bring down the launch a touch. James manipulated the 11.5-degree default setting down to 10.5. That small change resulted in an increase of 2 mph of ball speed and 10+ yards of gain. My carry distance improved, and my dispersion was better. Incredible!

The G Le4 line includes three putter styles too — Oslo, Louise and Anser 2D. At my last fitting, a stroke assessment revealed that the Louise, a mid-mallet, was the best fit for my strong-arc stroke, and James said that wasn’t likely to change. The updated G Le4 Louise has a slightly bigger face and a new, softer face insert.

Ultimately, having a full-bag fitting is a great reminder of just how much the latest technology can benefit our games. I came away from Proving Grounds fit into a set that was longer, higher-launching and more accurate than what I arrived with, all with the same swing. That’s simply amazing — and supremely rewarding.

You can check out the full configuration of my Ping G Le4 fitting below, as well as links to buy the clubs for yourself! To see the full Proving Grounds fitting experience, check out the video below.

My Ping G Le 4 specs

G Le4 Driver
10.5-degrees

PING Women’s G Le4 Driver

G Le4 is our longest and most forgiving women’s driver to date. The Carbonfly Wrap crown, a first in PING’s women’s driver, reallocates weight to position the CG lower and deeper, generating faster ball speed and more distance from swing speeds of 80 mph or less. Higher, longer, straighter results off the tee are generated by a lighter overall club build that makes the powerful 460cc, 11.5° driver easy to swing and square the face at impact.

$599.00 from Fairway Jockey

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G Le4 Fairway Woods
3-wood
7-wood

PING Women’s G Le4 Fairway Wood

In the multi-material G Le4 women’s fairway woods, four lofts are optimized to the target swing speeds to maximize distance through more ball speed and consistent spin. A Carbonfly Wrap crown on the G Le4 fairway woods saves weight to lower the CG and increase the MOI for longer, straighter, higher-launching results.

$329.00 from Fairway Jockey

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G Le4 Hybrids
5-hybrid
6-hybrid
7-hybrid
8-hybrid

PING Women’s G Le4 Hybrid

G Le4 women’s hybrids, now deeper and re-shaped, are engineered to be easy to swing and easy to launch, fitting slower swing speeds and delivering consistency and accuracy that lead to lower scores. 

$186.00 from Fairway Jockey

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G Le4 irons
9-iron
PW
AW
SW

PING Women’s G Le4 Irons

Continuing the success of previous generations of our women’s line, the G Le4 is designed as an iron/hybrid combo solution, allowing golfers to create the ideal set make-up with optimal gapping to help ensure success with every swing.

$1,300.25 from Fairway Jockey

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G Le4 Putter
Louise

PING Women’s G Le4 Louise Putter

The G Le4 Louise putter, a mid-mallet design named in honor of PING co-founder Louise Solheim, borrows its weight and shaping properties from the DS72 but differs with a flared hosel and parallel-tip shaft to best fit a strong stroke type.  

$299.00 from Fairway Jockey

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The post A Ping G Le4 fitting introduced a brand new club to my bag | I Tried It appeared first on Golf.