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. 

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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.

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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 Tommy Fleetwood’s hat isn’t his only new addition this week | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Tommy Fleetwood’s hat isn’t his only new addition this week | 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.

Tommy Fleetwood’s days of rotating his lids from iconic courses like Pebble Beach, Riviera and TPC Sawgrass have come to an end with the announcement of his new hat sponsor, Blackstone, this week.

But so too have the days of TaylorMade Tour Rep James Holley having to sharpie 11 individual lines on the top of his Spider Tour Black every other week.

Fleetwood showed up at the Valero Texas Open, with a new TaylorMade Spider Tour Black putter, but without the unique Sharpie lines on the top. Instead, Fleetwood’s new wand has a “Pilot’s Eye” alignment aid consisting of a sight dot surrounded by two perpendicular lines that frame the golf ball.

The model and specs are the exact same. The only difference is the alignment aid.

The reigning FedEx Cup champion first went to the one-off Spider Tour putter last spring, and it was part of his hot summer run that culminated with his first PGA Tour victory at the Tour Championship, the DP World India Championship title and the world’s No. 3 ranking.

He finished 2025 ranked 20th on the PGA Tour in SG: Putting, but has fallen off in his first four events this season, despite three top-10 finishes. He’s losing more than three-tenths of a stroke on the greens this season and is 122nd in the category.

“Look, I actually haven’t putted very well this year. It’s been one of the sort of more disappointing ways that I’ve started the year,” Fleetwood said Tuesday when asked about the new alignment aid. “I haven’t played how I wanted to and sometimes it’s nothing more into it than you just need something different to look at, like a slightly different visual or something, just to change up your mindset a little bit. So that’s why I changed the sightlines.”

The new alignment aid clicked on Thursday as Fleetwood opened with a five-under 67, gaining nearly two strokes on the greens, 10th in the field at TPC San Antonio. He was two strokes off the lead after the opening round.

His sharpie lines on the old gamer were initially born out of Holley’s idea to mimic the milled lines on TaylorMade’s Spider ZT (then a prototype), to better frame the golf ball. TaylorMade produced a milled version, but Fleetwood actually liked the sharpie lines better so he kept on using it.

The tough thing was that Holley had to redraw the lines every few weeks.

But that’s a thing of the past, at least for now, with the milled “Pilot’s Eye” mark on Fleetwood’s new putter. The perpendicular lines actually accomplish a similar effect of framing the golf ball, as they are the same width as a ball. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Holley said Fleetwood has been drawn to the alignment aid before.

“Tommy has always liked the ‘Pilot’s Eye’ and always picked up putters on the green with that alignment,” Holley said. “He started off the year a little slower than he would have liked. So he reached out to test a couple of options to change up the visual when looking down. Much like sharpie lines, the Pilot’s Eye brings attention to the front of the putter and helps him with his alignment.

TaylorMade 2025 Spider Tour Black Custom Putter

BLACK PVD FINISH The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish with sole plate, back badge and copper accents. TRUE PATH™ ALIGNMENT The patented alignment system provides visual clarity and helps golfers better envision the line to the hole. WHITE TPU PURE ROLL™ INSERTMade from a combination of Surlyn and aluminum, the white TPU Pure Roll™ insert creates a softer feel.Grooves are angled at 45° to encourage optimal forward roll as well as better sound, feel and overall roll characteristics. The white insert also creates better symmetry with the white True Path alignment. THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance. HYBRAR ECHO®DAMPENER HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feelon every putt with the best possible sensation. TSS WEIGHTING TSS weights provide balanced weighting and help optimize performance for all various putter lengths. STEEL WIREFRAME Allows engineers to better control weight distribution and CG location.

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, TaylorMade

“The parallel lines to the face are a nice visual for a square face angle at setup. And the dot is a good reference point to the center of the face and ball.”

The new Spider Tour wasn’t the only putter Fleetwood was toying with on the practice green this week. He was also spotted with a new prototype TaylorMade Spider F that appeared to be a new take on a winged mallet.

Fleetwood said he wasn’t going to be gaming the prototype this week, but who knows down the road.

“That new Spider, beautiful putter,” he said on Tuesday. “So I used to try the hundreds of different putters, but I used like the same putter for about eight years. I tried less putters over the last year, but I still enjoy just tinkering because you never know what you’re going to find, even if it just makes you feel better about your putter. I just like hitting different putters. Who knows, it might be something that I put in at some point.

“Yeah, it’s always good to test stuff.”

MacIntyre, Kim lead next wave of GTS converts

Titleist’s GTS drivers have quickly become the hottest new drivers on the PGA Tour, with 15 more converts this week after 24 adoptions last week in Houston.

One of the bigger and perhaps more surprising adoptions was Robert MacIntyre, who switched out of his longtime TSR2 gamer and promptly fired a 66 Thursday at TPC San Antonio to sit one off the first-round lead.

Switching clubs is extremely notable for MacIntyre, who rarely changes clubs, like his now-11-year-old TaylorMade AeroBurner 3-wood. He was still playing the four-year-old Titleist TSR2 driver when he made the switch this week, but ranks 11th on Tour in this season in SG: Off-the-Tee. However, he didn’t divulge much after his first round as to what went into the switch.

“Felt like I drove the ball really well. Got a new driver in the bag, so yeah,” he said.

Indeed, he did drive the ball well on Thursday, ranking 16th in SG: Off-the-Tee while averaging 318 yards and finding 10 of 14 fairways.

The 15 new conversions this week meant Titleist had 34 of the new GTS drivers in play at the Valero Texas Open and 59 drivers overall, leading the driver count with 44 percent of the field.

Some other big names to add the driver this week included Tom Kim (GTS3), J.T. Poston (GTS3), Peter Malnati (GTS3), Lanto Griffin (GTS2) and Bud Cauley (GTS2). Brandt Snedeker (GTS2), Kevin Streelman (GTS3) and Matt Kuchar (GTS3) all added the new big stick this week, non-contracted.

We still have yet to see Titleist’s most notable staffers like Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Cameron Young put the new driver in play. Spieth is in the field this week, but like MacIntyre was, is still in the older TSR2 version. Thomas and Young have yet to tee it up since the new driver debuted last week, but Titleist did just put out a video of a testing session with Young with the GTS3.

Drivers

Will Young put in the driver for the first time at the Masters next week? Only time will tell, but he certainly won’t be the only name worth watching to see if he games GTS.

Titleist made a concerted effort to move up the launch of the GTS driver from summer to spring, likely to capture golfers better as they make equipment purchases at the beginning of the season.

But, this will be one of the first times an OEM has a brand new driver that some pros will see for the first time at the Masters.

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 Tony Finau’s Ping Blueprint T irons loaded with lead tape. We featured Finau in Bag Spy last month and you can view the whole article here as he chases a win this week for a Masters berth.

Odds and Ends

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

First round co-leader Mark Hubbard has a new Callaway Quantum Max driver in play this week with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6-X with Velo+ … Adam Schenk switched to a TaylorMade Qi4D core driver, but is also playing his Ping G400 driver … Fleetwood also switched to wearing Sun Day Red golf shoes as he remains non-contracted for clothes and footwear … Jimmy Walker, in his first start this season has a Callaway Quantum TD Max driver with an AutoFlex shaft, two new Quantum TD Max fairway woods with Ventus Black 7-S and a Paradym 4-iron with a Fujikura Axiom 75-R shaft. … Rico Hoey has a new TaylorMade MG5 LV-Grind lob wedge.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Is this Charles Howell’s FAVORITE WEDGE!? – In the latest episode of Tour Validated, Charles Howell III tests out TaylorMade’s MG5 wedges.

I was terrified of this blade 5-iron. But 1 swing changed everything | Fully Fit 2026 — In the latest entry for Fully Fit 2026, I dive into my fitting and playing experience with the Cobra 3DP MB irons and why my favorite club is quickly becoming the 5-iron, something I never could have expected.

Cobra 3DP MB Custom Irons

The 3DP MB iron combines the looks and feel of a traditional forged muscle back with the forgiveness of a cavity back iron. The most forgiving blade on the market, the MB has captivated Tour players by checking all the boxes and exceeding expectations with its exceptional stability and feel. FORGIVING MUSCLE BACK BLADE SHAPE A slightly revised shape from the KING MB inspired by feedback from PGA Tour player Max Homa, the MB features a thinned topline and enhanced offset. The internal 3D printed lattice and heel, toe and hosel tungsten increases MOI for stability, and positions the CG perfectly centered and lower than the KING MB to promote higher launch. EXTREME FORGIVENESS MEETS SOFT FEEL The 3D printed internal lattice structure not only optimizes weight savings, but also provides the stiffness and strength to support the face and fine-tune the acoustics of each iron to produce the most appealing impact sound and feel. TUNGSTEN WEIGHTING The discretionary weight savings from the 3D printed lattice allowed for up to 55g of tungsten to be positioned low in the heel, toe and hosel resulting in the perfect blend of a compact blade shape with a low CG and high MOI that mirrors a game improvement iron.

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Cobra

Behind Gary Woodland’s unique Cobra driver build — Take a deep dive into Gary Woodland’s unique Cobra OPTM Prototype driver build after the Tour’s longest driver this season just broke through for his first win in seven years.

Cobra OPTM Max-K Custom Driver

$599.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Cobra

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 Tommy Fleetwood’s hat isn’t his only new addition this week | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Titleist GTS drivers make big splash with this surprising model | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Titleist GTS drivers make big splash with this surprising model | 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.

Titleist’s GTS drivers are here — and they’ve already made a huge splash on Tour.

At this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open, 24 players switched into the new GTS2 or GTS3 driver, which is nearly double the 13 players who immediately adopted the predecessor GT drivers at their launch two years ago at the Memorial. Albeit that was a limited Signature Event field.

It’s especially notable that Titleist has moved up its driver launch two months from previous years, as these drivers will be in play for the Masters. Titleist has gradually moved its driver launches up from the early fall to summer — and now to spring. They teased the GTS launch with social media posts earlier this month proclaiming “Finally, a driver faster than GT.”

The most notable number from the 24 early adopters of the GTS is that 18 of them were the presumably more forgiving GTS2 model. At the GT launch in 2024, the splits were 2 GT2s, 10 GT3s and 1 GT4 in the 73-man field.

Titleist’s “3” head used to dominate Tour usage, but that’s changed over the most recent releases, and especially with the GT release, with the GT2 and GT3 looking almost indistinguishable at address. Much of the split between GTS2 and GTS3 this week can be attributed to 14 GT2 players happening to make the switch this week.

There was one cross-model switcher this week in Tom Hoge, who went from a GT3 to a GTS2. Free agent Kevin Roy also went from a Ping G440 LST to a GTS2, one of six free agents to play the new driver this week.

That’s a trend for a while we’ve been seeing where companies are blurring the lines between the forgiving driver model and the faster low-spin model, and more and more players are seeking out additional forgiveness. While the GTS4 model — the “4” model has recently been the sub-460 cc niche model for ultra-high spin players — didn’t see action on the PGA Tour, two Korn Ferry players and one LPGA pro put it in play this week.

Across all three Tours, there were 53 GTS drivers in play with GTS2 the overwhelming winner, putting 31 in play. In fact, the GTS2 was tied as the most played driver model in Houston this week as Titleist again led the driver count with 27 additional drivers for a total of 51.

One of the six free agents making the switch at Memorial Park, Jeff Kang, was last on Tour in driving accuracy entering the week. But, armed with a new GTS2, Kang led the field Thursday with 11-of-13 fairways hit.

While he don’t have any individual performance gains or technical information yet from Titleist, it seems like the major changes involve customizable weighting. The GTS3 gained an adjustable back weight, while the GTS2 gained an adjustable front weight and GTS4 (3 went in play on LPGA and KFT) gained the GTS3’s adjustable front weight track.

Adding the plus to Red and Black

Fujikura launched its new Ventus TR Black and TR Red with VeloCore+ shafts, adding to the TR Blue with VeloCore+ launched at the beginning of the year, and saw two of the new shafts go into play immediately on the PGA Tour.

But what was more unique about this launch is that Fujikura launched the new shafts simultaneously on the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour Champions in the same week.

Fujikura 2026 Ventus TR Black Wood Shaft (Velocore+)

Built for speed and control, the Fujikura VENTUS TR Black Shaft is engineered for players who generate powerful swings and demand maximum stability through impact. The shaft is powered by VeloCore+ technology, Fujikura’s advanced multi-material core structure designed to reduce twist and increase energy transfer throughout the swing. The result is a more stable delivery that helps aggressive players maintain tighter dispersion and consistent ball speed.

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“It’s something we’ve never done before, really, because anytime we launch a product, it’s primarily just on the PGA Tour,” Fujikura Tour Rep Marshall Thompson told GOLF. “So it was amazing to be able to hit multiple tours at the same time. We were able to cover more ground, and we had a lot of success.”

On the PGA Tour, both Aldrich Potgieter and Neal Shipley added the new Ventus TR Black with VeloCore+, while Min Woo Lee, a longtime OG Ventus Blue player switched to the previously released TR Blue+ in his Quantum TD driver after moving to a Ventus Black with VeloCore+ earlier this season.

On the Korn Ferry Tour, where Thompson was deployed this week at the Club Car Championship in Savannah, Georgia, five players tested the new TR+ shafts with three players adding the new TR Blue and two more players trying out the new TR Black.

Fujikura 2026 Ventus TR Red Wood Shaft (Velocore+)

Designed for golfers who need help generating launch and spin, the Fujikura VENTUS TR Red Shaft combines advanced materials and motion-capture driven design to promote a higher, more playable ball flight without sacrificing stability. At the core of the shaft is VeloCore+ technology, Fujikura’s latest multi-material bias core construction engineered to improve energy transfer and minimize shaft twist throughout the swing. This added stability helps maintain clubface control at impact while maximizing consistency from swing to swing.

$350.00 from Fairway Jockey

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“Usually when we build stuff up, I expect it to go in bags in maybe a month, maybe a month and a half. But to have instant success and to have them go in bags immediately was very rewarding. It just shows the hard work that went into designing the shaft,” Thompson said. “It’s a good start, and we’ll see if we can get a few more in next week. But man, I will take any of them that go in play the first week. We’re smiling from ear to ear over here.”

Another handful of players, including Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh with TR Black, tested the new shafts on the PGA Tour Champions.

Woodland has A-game with C-Taper

Gary Woodland is finally seeing all the parts of his game come together as he’s opened up a four-shot lead heading into the weekend in Houston and it coincides with his second iron shaft change already this season.

It’s actually a change back to the KBS C-Taper 130 X iron shaft he’s used previously, including last year, but last summer, he switched to the Dynamic Gold X100 to get more feel as he was trying to neutralize his hard left swing path.

“So he was trying to neutralize his delivery a little more and not swing so left,” Cobra Tour Rep Ben Schomin told GOLF. “Some dynamics changing in there, and as his swing is becoming more neutral, the X100 was really good. He felt like he could hit a little draw, felt like he could hit a little cut.”

Woodland’s delivery dynamics impart a ton of spin on the ball, which is why he was in the C-Taper, but he felt that the shaft was too boardy last year. After some more testing late last year, one shaft that presented itself was the Nippon Modus 130 X and he fell in love with the softer feel.

He used that toward the end of the fall and early this year, but Schomin never thought it was his best option. The problem was Woodland had started swinging faster, as he now leads the PGA Tour in driving distance and clubhead speed at 41 years old.

Drivers

That led him back to X100s because of that increase in speed in February. But then he still noticed some shots, especially into the wind, were coming up short because of too much spin.

“He’s like, ‘Man, I hit like four shots that I thought I hit really, really good. Like I flushed them, and I come up way short.’ So typically like into the wind, and his tendency is to spin it more,” Schomin said. “So X100 just is starting to feel a little bit too soft. And again, going back to C-Taper 130X is something he’s played with for a long time. Immediately, we knew at some point he was probably going back into them.”

Schomin was so sure Woodland was going back to the C-Taper that he kept a set of King MBs with the shafts on the Cobra Tour Truck for Woodland. But as fate would have it, Cobra Tour tech James Posey just sent those irons back to Cobra’s HQ earlier this month, so Schomin had to shaft up a new set this week.

While C-Taper typically has a harsher feel, with Woodland’s added speed, they feel a lot better than before.

“Now he’s like, no, they actually feel good,” Schomin said. “They don’t feel quite the same as X100, don’t get me wrong, but they definitely feel like I’ve got the speed now moving those things.”

KBS C-Taper Iron Shaft

The KBS C-Taper is packed with signature KBS technology that maximizes energy transfer for a crisp feel, while optimizing shaft diameters in the taper and tip areas for low trajectory and spin control. You can purchase the KBS Taper in the following flexes: regular, r-plus, stiff, s-plus, and x-stiff. You can buy the KBS C-Taper built to your required specifications. JOCKEY TIP: The KBS C-Taper is ideal for the player looking for a low launch, low spin shaft with a stiff tip section. This will be the lowest launching shaft in the KBS shaft family. 

$49.95 from Fairway Jockey

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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 Gary Woodland’s OPTM Max LS-K “Living Prototype” driver. Woodland leads the PGA Tour in driving distance this season.

Odds and Ends

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

Wyndham Clark continues to play putter roulette, this time adding a new Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset … Lydia Ko’s LPGA Tour career-low 60 came after a switch to a Scotty Cameron T12 prototype mallet … While not officially out on Tour yet, Johnny Keefer added Titleist’s GTS2 and GTS3 fairway woods to the bag … Adam Scott has switched again to a brownish/grey L.A.B. OZ.1i Broomstick, the putter he helped design … Aldrich Potgieter and Denny McCarthy became the latest players to adopt a TaylorMade Spider Tour X.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Connection at the Core: True Temper’s bold leap with the ICON golf grip – Jake Morrow takes you inside True Temper’s, the company known for being the No. 1 iron shaft model on Tour, first golf grips.

What’s it like building clubs for PING’s top players? – In the first episode of our new podcast, Tour Validated, Johnny Wunder sits down with Ping Tour Rep Kenton Oates and club technician Adam Harding on the new Ping Tour Truck.

Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks 2026: New SM11 grinds will dial in your short game – Vokey has added all six of the WedgeWorks exclusive grinds to the SM11 lineup to dial in your short game.

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 Titleist GTS drivers make big splash with this surprising model | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Sungjae Im finally switched to Titleist’s ‘Faster Player’s Iron’ | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Sungjae Im finally switched to Titleist’s ‘Faster Player’s Iron’ | 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.

Sungjae Im is back on the PGA Tour and for the first time since his rookie season, he’s breaking in a new set of irons.

Im made his first start since last October (wrist injury) at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, and did so with a new set of Titleist T150 irons. That represents his first iron chance since he moved to his first-generation T100 irons shortly after their release in 2019.

“Sungjae really loved that first-gen T100,” Titleist Tour Rep Nick Geyer told GOLF. “It was probably a combination of things, a little bit of size and the profile. It was a little longer heel to toe than the current generation, and it had a slightly wider sole, so a little more bounce. And to be fair, he just hit them great and probably didn’t see a reason to change.”

Not only did Im make the move while at home in Korea rehabbing from injury, but he also made the switch to Titleist’s larger T150 platform at the same time.

After all this time with the original T100s — Russell Henley still plays the same model — what made Im finally switch?

Im, a notably hard switcher of gear who is still playing Titleist’s TSi2 driver from 2020, also famously never takes time off. He’s played 26 or more events in each of his first seven seasons on the PGA Tour, including 35 in both 2019 and 2021. So with the forced time off to rehab his wrist, Geyer said Im took some time to evaluate where his game was at and reached out to Titleist’s Korea team once he was able to make full swings this winter.

“The Korean team and all of our worldwide teams do a great job of communicating,” Geyer said. “Any time a player is spending time at home or somewhere else, we’re always kind of up to date with each other, and we got great reports and feedback from Sungjae when it came to all his testing during that time.”

The winner for the fitting was clearly a set of T150, the larger of Titleist’s two tour cavity-back irons, bent one degree weak.

PGA Tour players using a full set of T150s, an iron many would consider in the players distance category, isn’t unheard of, but it’s rare. Will Zalatoris also uses a full set of T150s and Geyer has said more pros have “dabbled” in this generation of the T150 than the previous one. Titleist actually lengthened the blade of the T150 to make it more similar to the proportions of the T100.

But the larger profile, specifically the wider sole, is actually most similar to Im’s original T100s.

Titleist 2025 T150 Custom Irons

T150 Irons are crafted for added distance with unwavering accuracy. Forged into a player’s shape with progressive blade lengths, T150 offers a precise blend of speed, stability, and consistency—providing the confidence to hit and hold greens from anywhere.   Confidence-Inspiring Forged Design  Forged into a player’s shape with a slightly larger head size for pure feel with extra stability. Elevated Ball Speed 1° stronger lofts (vs. T100) combine with an improved muscle channel through 7-iron and lower long-iron CG to help improve speed, launch, and carry. 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 provide consistent spin and speed across the face in variable conditions. 

$215.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Titleist

“The blade length and a little bit more overall size just looked very familiar to him right away. That familiarity was the first positive, and then the performance gains kind of stacked on top of that,” Geyer said. “The numbers were really good — a little higher, a little faster, and with a steeper descent angle. Especially in the long irons, being able to launch it and send it higher was a big benefit. Pair that with turf interaction that felt like his old iron and it made a lot of sense.”

With the additional loft, the irons actually play to a same stock loft as the T100, just in the larger shape.

Im uses the same Dynamic Gold X100 shafts as his previous set, but he personally made the addition of a strip of Titleist-branded lead tape to the head of each iron. That was a choice he made on his own.

“That’s just Sungjae being Sungjae,” Geye said. “My notes don’t have anything about lead tape so that’s just him fine-tuning.”

Im was shaking off the rust with an MC at Bay Hill but gained strokes on approach in his second round and each of his first two rounds at the Players this week.

A ‘Mini’ tune-up for Augusta

Justin Rose added a new mini driver to the bag this week, but it wasn’t just for the tight confines of TPC Sawgrass.

Rose approached Callaway Tour Rep Kellen Watson at the Genesis Invitational last month, looking to get the top of his bag set for the Masters.

That meant making sure everything with Rose’s now two-year-old Paradym Ai-Smoke driver was as dialed as can be and making sure he had a secondary tee option. Rose played a mini driver at times last season, including his win in Memphis, and Watson had just gotten some validation on the new prototype Quantum Mini driver from Min Woo Lee.

Rose wanted to make sure he had an option well beforehand, as opposed to getting a new club built once he got to Georgia.

“These days most players already have the things they might take to Augusta in the travel bag somewhere,” Watson said. “It’s less about building something new at the last minute and more about having everything tested ahead of time.”

Rose tested 11.5˚ prototype Mini at 11˚ with a Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73TX shaft and liked what he saw immediately.

“We probably only hit it about ten times in L.A., but the numbers were really good and the pattern was exactly what he wanted to see,” Watson said. “That was enough for him to keep testing it.”

With 172-173 mph ball speed out of the mini, it represents more of a second driver than a 3-wood replacement, which is exactly what Rose was looking for at TPC Sawgrass, where accuracy is at a premium. It’s also advantageous at a place like Augusta National, where accuracy is important, but you don’t want to necessarily give up distance to do it.

That’s a reason Watson said more players than you might expect opt for an 11-degree mini as opposed to a 13-degree mini. The 11-degree is a true second driver while the 13-degree still retains the ability to hit the ball from the deck.

“You’re not losing much in ball speed, but you’re gaining a club that’s easier to control and place where you want it. For guys who want something they can lean on off the tee, pushing the loft down like that tends to make more sense,” Watson said. “Gone are the days where the 3-wood absolutely needs to be in the bag. Guys are hitting 5-woods 250 to 265 now, so you start asking where the 3-wood really fits. At that point, it can make more sense to give yourself another tee option instead.”

Justin Rose’s Quantum Mini Prototype specs

Actual Loft: 11˚
Lie: 57˚
OptiFit4 Setting: ++ Lie
Weights: 9 g front, 7 g back
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73TX
Length: 43.25″
Tipping: 1.25″
Swingweight: D3
Grip: Superstroke Revel Blk/Grey

Wyndham Clark’s golf shop visit results in a new putter

Newly minted equipment free-agent Wyndham Clark is just like us.

When he’s struggling with his putting, he goes to his local golf shop and buys a new putter.

The difference is that Clark is a major championship winner who really doesn’t ever need to buy any golf clubs.

But as GolfWRX reported this week, that’s exactly what Clark did as he showed up with a new Bettinardi Antidote SB1 with a slap of lead tape caked on the sole.

“I hadn’t been putting my best, so I wanted to try some different putters, and I kind of narrowed it down to two or three, and I went to go put lead tape on one of them at the pro shop at Whisper Rock,” Clark told GolfWRX. “As I was kind of waiting there and looking, they had this putter and I said, ‘You know, can I try this?’”

Bettinardi 2025 Antidote SB1 Custom Putter

SIMPLY BALANCED™ TECHNOLOGY G With a precisely engineered pocket and 6061 Aluminum insert, the SB1’s Center of Gravity (CoG) lies perfectly at the center of the putter, creating a zero-torque head that stays naturally on path and square from start to finish. F.I.T. FACE™ (FEEL IMPACT TECHNOLOGY) FACE MILLING G Milled from 303 Stainless Steel. This exclusive Bettinardi face milling removes 55% of the face material, resulting in a soft, responsive feel. DIAMOND BLAST AND SAPPHIRE BLUE FINISH G The Antidote SB1 has a Diamond Blast finish which reduces glare at address and features a Sapphire Blue T-Alignment and Anodized 6061 Aluminum pocket insert.

$450.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Clark has been using a L.A.B. putter this season and recently switched the orientation of the grip to play upside down.

The Bettinardi, which still had the price tag of $399.99 on the shaft has a regular SuperStroke grip. Clark goes into the weekend at 1-under par and 71st in putting through two rounds.

Putters aren’t the only thing he’s been switching around this season as he used four different drivers in four weeks earlier this year. This week he entered with the same Qi4D driver he played with at the Genesis Invitational.

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 Maverick McNealy’s custom P7CB irons.

Odds and Ends

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

Aldrich Potgieter became the first player to game L.A.B.’s new Link 2.1 HS blade … Maverick McNealy went back to an Odyssey Toulon blade putter after a one-week trial with the TaylorMade Spider … Ben Griffin switched back to Ping G440 K driver after switching back to his 430 Max at Pebble … Marco Penge is gaming the Ping Prototype Mini driver and switched his iron shafts to the KBS C-Taper 130 X from the VTen to lower his ball flight … Denny McCarthy switched to a Ping G440 LST with Project X Titan … Gary Woodland switched out of his Scotty Cameron Phantom 9 OC prototype to a prototype GoLo center-shaft … Justin Thomas switched back to a Titleist GT2 after debuting last week with an old TS3. He was in GT3 toward the end of last season … Sepp Straka went back to his Odyssey Tuttle … Max Greyserman switched to a shorter-build Quantum TD 5-wood … TaylorMade had 103 of the 220 fairway woods in play and every winner so far this season has played at least one.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Could Charles Howell play Quantum irons!? – In the latest edition of Tour Validated, Charles Howell tests the Callaway Quantum game-improvement irons to see if they’re up to snuff for a Tour Pro.

Callaway Quantum Max Custom Irons

$164.28 from Fairway Jockey

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Akshay Bhatia’s not-so-secret weapon? A 50-inch putter – After Akshay Bhatia’s big win at Bay Hill, we look deeper at his Odyssey Jailbird DB Broomstick.

Odyssey Ai-DUAL 1/2 Ball Square 2 Square Max Broomstick Cruiser Putter

$449.99 from Fairway Jockey

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Your wedge selection is all wrong… – Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill walks Johnny through the process pros use to select the right wedge around the green.

Titleist Vokey SM11 Tour Chrome Wedge

Titleist Vokey Design’s new SM11 wedges feature a new precise CG position across each grind in a loft, meaning every wedge will now perform the same way with the same strike.

$199.99 from PGA Tour Superstore

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 Why Sungjae Im finally switched to Titleist’s ‘Faster Player’s Iron’ | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Looking at the stats behind Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Qi4D debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Looking at the stats behind Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Qi4D debut | 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.

For the first time in two years, Scottie Scheffler is playing a PGA Tour event without his venerable TaylorMade Qi10 driver.

After months of testing and an initial run last December at the Hero World Challenge, Scheffler has finally put TaylorMade’s latest Qi4D driver in the bag at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week.

On Thursday at Bay Hill, Scheffler snapped his not-breaking-par-in-an-opening-round streak at three with a 2-under 70. Off the tee, his stats were somewhat middling at first glance as he gained .522 shots on the field (T22), hit 8 of 14 fairways and averaged 303.4 yards on all tee shots.

Those are quite pedestrian for the guy who has been top-two on the PGA Tour in SG: OTT the last four seasons (including 2026) and led the category in 2023.

But looking closer at Scheffler’s radar stats from the 11 times he actually used his new Qi4D driver on Thursday reveals one of his more efficient outings in recent memory.

In terms of accuracy, he hit 6 of 11 fairways with the driver, but four of those five misses were just barely off doglegs in the fairway after the ball landed in the short stuff. Not all misses are necessarily equal.

On No. 6, he obliterated his ball 351 yards just through the fairway on the famous 90-degree dogleg par-5 and left himself just 209 yards to the green. That shot still gained him .02 shots OTT despite finishing in the rough. The other three lost him .28 shots to the field.

When we look at his radar statistics, that’s where things really start to show the improvement.

His clubhead speed was 119.67 mph, actually a touch slower than his season average of 120.5, 34th on the PGA Tour. Despite that, his ball speed was up 180.895 mph, more than 2.6 mph faster than his season average.

Scheffler’s ball speed is faster this season, 178.32, than last year and 2024 at the same point in the year, but a 2.6 mph jump is huge. While there could be many factors at play here, including temperature and other conditions, the fact that this jump came in the first round of using a new driver can’t be overlooked.

His carry efficiency in Round 1 (his carry distance divided by his club head speed) was 2.53, which would be fifth on Tour so far this season. Scheffler was T126 in the stat heading into this week, and he was T110 and T135 the last two years.

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

His total distance efficiency (total distance divided by club head speed) was 2.62, which would be 63rd on Tour and up from his season average of 2.572.

What does this all mean? 

We’ve known this year’s drivers were fast, but now we can see evidence of it. 

The fact that Scheffler wasn’t swinging as fast in Round 1, likely a little gun-shy in his first round using the new big stick, yet still increasing his average ball speed by 2.6 mph, is a massive gain. If Scottie Scheffler is picking up 2.6 mph of ball speed, that can’t be good for the rest of the field.

It will be interesting to track as he logs more rounds with the new driver and gets more comfortable with it. With that comfort will probably come more fairways as well. 

But there’s a reason Scheffler seemed pleased with his results off the tee with the new driver on Thursday. He specifically called out the spin retention of the new driver on Thursday, which owes to the new, tighter roll radius of the Qi4D face.

“I feel like what we have seen is more consistent spin numbers,” he said. “So that will help it be a little bit more accurate off the tee. Directionally, I struggled a little bit with it at the start of the year, but I got to what I thought was a really good spot last week, and I liked what I saw today.”

Scottie Scheffler’s Qi4D driver specs

Qi4D 9.0° driver
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7-X
Front weights: 8g heel, 13g toe
Back weights: 8g heel, 8g toe
FCT Sleeve: 1 Toward Higher

Drivers are still unsettled

Scheffler wasn’t the only big name to make a driver switch this week.

Cameron Young switched out of his Titleist GT2 driver for an 11.0-degree GT3 with the same Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX shaft he had in his GT2. The higher loft of the lower-spinning GT3 head helped him further optimize his numbers as switching to the Pro V1x Double Dot Prototype last summer.

The prototype Double Dot flies lower than his previous Pro V1x, so Young worked with the Titleist team to see what he needed to do to optimize carry with his driver, Titleist Director of Player Promotion J.J. Van Wezenbeeck said.

Working together with Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, Fordie Pitts, the team determined Young needed a touch more launch. The 11-degree GT3 (lofted down .75˚ in the D1 setting) succeeded in getting launch up from 9 degrees to 11 while only going from 2400 to 2500 rpm spin.

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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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Titleist

The reason for going to a higher lofted, but more forward CG head was so they could increase the launch without increasing spin. Young led the field and gained 2.277 strokes off the tee in Round 1.

Lucas Glover also added a new Qi4D driver, which is at least his third driver change of the year. That’s similar to Wyndham Clark, who is also most recently in a Qi4D and has played four different drivers this year. And Harry Hall, who earlier this season played a Qi4D LS before switching to Titleist driver, is now playing the core model this week.

Meanwhile, Denny McCarthy added a G440K.

Normally, some of these trivial week-to-week changes would go down in Odds and Ends, but it seems like more players, especially gear free agents, are swapping drivers this season. That’s likely a testament to how good the offerings are; players have taken notice.

“What I’m seeing… heads are a close battle this year,” Fujikura Tour Rep Marshall Thompson told GOLF this week. “It’s very competitive in terms of club speed, dispersion, center-face contact, start direction. There’s not one clear-cut winner from what I’ve seen.

“Even on the Tour side of it, these non-contract guys that I continue to work with on a weekly basis, they still have four or five headcovers in the bag and they’re still trying different options, and we’re already to the Florida Swing.”

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 Sahith Theegala’s new G440K driver. Sahith played his way into the field at Bay Hill after a down 2025 by ranking 24th in the FedEx Cup race so far this year.

Odds and Ends

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

Ryan Gerard is playing putter whack-a-mole. Used three different putters at last week’s Cognizant and then two different putters so far at the API … Harry Hall added 13 new TaylorMade clubs to his bag this week, including becoming the newest member of the Spider-mafia … That gave TaylorMade 18 Spider putters in play at the 80-man field at Bay Hill … Chris Gotterup swapped his Qi35 5-wood for a Qi4D 7-wood … Ludvig Aberg switched back to his previous Odyssey Ai-One No. 1, which has more loft on it … Jhonny Vegas added a GT2 to optimize his ball flight with the Pro V1x Double Dot as well … Sahith Theegala is using a Ping G440 Max 9-wood this week … Chris Kirk switched back from Quantum TD Max to the standard TD … Daniel Berger added a Vokey SM11 60.04T lob wedge to the bag.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Si Woo Kim’s golf bag is one-of-a-kind. Just like him | Bag Spy – Dive deep into the bag of one of the best hangs on the PGA Tour, who carries a blade 3-iron, just three wedges and has to be barred from working on his own clubs.

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Callaway

PING went ALL OUT with their NEW truck – Go behind the scenes of Ping’s brand new Tour Truck.

The key gear switch that led to Nico Echavarria’s Cognizant victory – Nico Echavarria had played Srixon’s Z-Star XV ball since joining their Tour staff last year, but right before his victory at PGA National, he made a switch.

Srixon Z-STAR DIAMOND Golf Balls

Z-STAR SeriesWhether you’re chasing major championships or your next personal best, the all-new Z-STAR series is the choice for serious players everywhere. Featuring reformulated cores and covers across the line, this generation of Z-STAR golf balls delivers greater distance, optimized spin, and tour-level stopping power around the green. It’s a formula designed to give you one thing: pure performance when it matters most. With a blend of greenside control and long-game distance, the new Z-STAR ♦ DIAMOND also delivers the unique benefit of increased spin on long and mid Iron shots.

$49.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, Srixon

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 Looking at the stats behind Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Qi4D debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Prototype putters galore at the Cognizant Classic | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Prototype putters galore at the Cognizant Classic | 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.

As the PGA Tour’s Florida Swing kicked off at PGA National, many of the game’s top pros were taking a week off before next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. But that didn’t stop companies from bombarding us with putter prototypes.

If you’re a fan of low-torque (also known as zero-torque) putters, this week was sure to get you excited.

First up is the Tour launch of the new L.A.B. Link 2.1 and 2.2, the next generation of the Link 1, currently L.A.B.’s only blade in their matrix.

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The 2.1 is a more traditional modern blade shape, while the 2.2 is a shorter heel-to-toe wide-body blade. But the interesting thing is that both putters have L.A.B.’s new HS riser hosel introduced on the OZ.1i HS last summer.

Additionally, they have a new deep-flymilled face. I would be super interested in this, as all the L.A.B. faces thus far have been either too soft or too firm for me.

But L.A.B. wasn’t the only company offering up new heel-shafted, low-torque options. Bettinardi launched a few new “Hexpiramental” Prototypes at the Cogninzant Classic, and each appeared to have a new low-torque hosel from the company.

Bettinardi currently has four shapes in its Antidote low-torque line, and all are center-shafted. But it seems like the company has come up with a new hosel that looks more like a traditional long plumber’s neck, but with the shaft oriented toward the center of the putter.

It seems like a very similar concept to L.A.B.’s riser hosel or Odyssey’s S2S Tri-Hot SB that Max Greyserman is using, where the axis point of the shaft is raised so it aligns with the CG of the putter to give it toe-up properties.

Bettinardi’s take on it looks about as traditional as an attempt as we’ve seen yet.

So far, we’ve seen only two shapes: a high-toe wide-body blade SS9 and a new mid-mallet option similar to an Odyssey Jailbird or Scotty Cameron Fastback with a window in the back.

But it also looks like there are tons of options for face milling already, with photos showing Bettinardi’s new VFT milling pattern and the FIT face currently on their Antidote line.

Lastly, Scotty Cameron also unveiled a new prototype to pros this week with a new T12 mallet.

We don’t know much about this one, and you’ll have to check out the photos on GolfWRX for yourself, but we’ll address the elephant in the room and acknowledge it’s pretty clear what kind of look and performance Cameron is going after here. But before anyone starts throwing accusations around, know that pretty much every OEM has putters and tech that look exactly like another’s. People like what does well, so there’s no sense in trying to make things that are radically different from what is working.

What’s interesting here is that the last time we saw a Scotty “12” mallet in the Phantom X line, it too had gaps between the wings and the center of the putter. But that putter seemed larger and more focused on delivering ultra-high MOI.

We have no idea when this could be coming out because we still haven’t heard any details about the T3 mallets (the one Ryan Gerard is gaming) that have been out since last summer! I wouldn’t expect anything soon, as the T12 we saw on GolfWRX doesn’t appear to have the new SCS insert or chain-link face milling that the rest of the 2026 Phantom line has.

Two works of art go into play

While all those new prototypes look awesome, the only new prototype putters that actually went into play this week were two Odyssey Damascus Milled No. 7s.

Yes, you read that right! Damascus!

Damascus steel is one of those materials that’s typically used in high-end boutique putters to give them a one-of-one look. The material is usually based on carbon steel and then welded, folded or forged together to create a unique look only that piece has.

It’s more considered art than a piece of performance material, but both Chris Kirk and Kevin Yu put the new Odyssey Damascus wands in the bag this week at the Cognizant. Kirk played a single-bend version, while Yu had one with a Crank Hosel.

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 Joel Dahmen’s Ping Anser hybrid, still kicking in his bag more than 14 years after its release.

Odds and Ends

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

Keith Mitchell added a new Scotty Cameron Kombi S (yes, new!) after testing against an original Kombi he brought from home … Matthieu Pavon has a Scottsdale Tec Ketsch Onset, the same platform as Tony Finau’s new wand and in the same configuration, just with a different headshape … Emiliano Grillo added a TaylorMade Qi4D 3-wood and TaylorMade led the fairway count with 84 … Danny Walker and Hoatong Li both added the TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini driver … Chandler Phillips added a 10.5 Qi4D driver, the 16th Qi4D driver in play this week and 17th TaylorMade driver … Brandt Snedeker, Davis Thompson and Li all got Spidered this week … Brooks Koepka is still in a Spider Tour X L-Neck, but has reportedly switched to a Titleist Pro V1x golf ball … Alejandro Totsti added a 25˚ Qi4D Rescue… Garrick Higgo added a split set of TaylorMade P7CB (4-5) and P7MB (6-PW) irons … Chris Kirk and Rasmus Hojgaard both moved into the Quantum TD Max driver.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Tony Finau’s new putter isn’t his only equipment tweak | Bag Spy – Take a deep dive into the bag of Tony Finau, who has made a few more tweaks than normal this season, including a brand new Ping prototype Scottsdale Tec putter.

PING G440 LST Custom Driver

The G440 driver family (MAX, LST, SFT) is optimized to deliver more ball speed through multiple advancements, including PING’s deepest CG in a driver to date and a shallower, thinner face, while continuing to ensure the game-changing forgiveness expected from a PING driver. The G440 LST (Low Spin) design appeals to players with faster swing speeds, providing lower spin and more control in 9° and 10.5° lofts with the three-position back weight. HIGHLY FORGIVING Lighter head weight allows for heavier back weight.  FASTER FACE  Shallow, thinner, face increases ball speed for more distance, higher launch.  SOUND DESIGN New shaping, carbon crown and internal ribs produce muted impact experience.  FREE-HOSEL DESIGN Saves weight to lower CG, increase forgiveness. Allows for more heel-side face flexing for consistent ball speed across face. 

$619.00 from Fairway Jockey

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TaylorMade Qi4D fitting with one of the best in the world – Check out Johnny’s TaylorMade Qi4D fitting with Adrian Rietveld, the fitter for Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.

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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Bryson DeChambeau and LA Golf have split. Here’s why it didn’t work out – GOLF’s Michael Bamberger looks into where things went sour between one of the most marketable stars and one of the trendiest equipment companies.

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 Prototype putters galore at the Cognizant Classic | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post This unique Riviera feature had Vokey’s Tour reps busy | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post This unique Riviera feature had Vokey’s Tour reps busy | 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.

A second straight Signature Event on the PGA Tour, at one of the great cathedrals of the game, led to another quiet week for gear changes this week, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to talk about in this space.

This week in California, there was actually plenty of discourse over grass.

OK, get your heads out of the gutters. We’re talking about the Kikuyu grass that’s dominant around Riviera’s fairways, approaches and rough.

If you’re unfamiliar with Kikuyu grass, that’s OK because this week is one of just two weeks a year on the PGA Tour when we see it — the other being Torrey Pines.

But with the heavy rains this week that have left Riviera soaked and soft, the approaches will present a unique challenge with a rare grass and added moisture. Especially when it comes to wedge play.

“Kikuyu grass and a little bit of added moisture can make golf really tricky,” Vokey Tour rep Aaron Dill said in a video posted to Vokey’s social media pages. “You’re not only adding this water in this poor weather that will influence spin, but you’re also moving strikes around the face because of that added moisture.”

Kikuyu grass is a stiff and hearty grass strain that, when tightly mown, nearly makes the golf ball sit up like it’s on a tee, not unlike Zoysia grass.

But it differs in the direction in which it grows.

“It doesn’t grow straight up like most grass does,” Vokey Tour rep Shane Dyel told GOLF via email. “It crosses and weaves on top of each other, which is a very unique way of the grass growing.”

Giving more cushion underneath the ball might sound like a good thing for those playing to fast greens who want to slide their wedge underneath the ball and pop it into the air to land high and soft, but on the PGA Tour, the goal is to launch it lower with more spin.

To do that, you need to hit the ball on the bottom-most grooves of the wedge — Vokey reps say Nos. 2-5, ideally. With the teed up lies and the moisture, all of that is going to move a player’s strike point above that zone.

“If it’s sitting higher and you find that higher strike point, the ball comes off with less speed, the spin decreases and your ball launches higher,” Dyel said. “If that’s happening, we need to be able to identify what type of sole is going to get you back to that optimal strike location.”

On a typical PGA Tour setup, ultratight lies lead to the narrow-soled and low-bounce T- and L-grinds dominating usage week-to-week. That makes the Genesis Invitational one of the busiest of the year for the Vokey Tour team in working with players to determine if they need to make a change.

Titleist Vokey SM11 Tour Chrome Wedge

Titleist Vokey Design’s new SM11 wedges feature a new precise CG position across each grind in a loft, meaning every wedge will now perform the same way with the same strike.

$199.99 from PGA Tour Superstore

The adjustments they make are usually subtle. Unlike fitting a driver, where you might go from one polar opposite setting or shaft to another, wedges are more delicate and calculated.

“If you have a player who has typically used thinner soles, you generally want to gravitate more towards that unless you start to see height becoming an issue. So if you’ve got a T grind or an L grind player, you want to try something like an M,” Dyel said. “But if we add bounce and the ball starts coming out a little bit flatter and hotter, and we need to produce a higher, softer launch, but with the same spin, that’s when we might start looking at a wider sole, like .06K or K*.”

Despite lots of players testing different lob wedges, Marco Penge was the only player to switch his Vokey SM11 lob wedge, going from a narrow-soled .04T-grind to a wider, but still versatile K*-grind.

Penge isn’t alone with traveling with multiple Vokey lob wedges as others like Justin Thomas (T/K*), Ludvig Aberg (L/V) and others do as well.

The blades that refuse to die

Another member of the blade mafia fell this week as Maverick McNealy joined the growing number of PGA Tour members playing a Spider Tour X mallet. McNealy had played Toulon blades for his entire career and the one he was using most recently goes back at least to his time at Stanford.

With McNealy’s switch, there are just four players in the OWGR top 25 (Hideki Matsuyama, Alex Noren, Patrick Reed and Ludvig Aberg) who use a blade putter.

Aberg was asked why he still uses a blade this week and claimed, “it’s all I’ve ever known.”

Aberg, who was 86th in SG: Putting last season, revealed this week he switched Odyssey Ai-ONE No. 1 putter heads this year to one with less loft in an effort to get more forward roll.

He added he’s always preferred blades with soft inserts, but he’s open to change. He just hasn’t.

In some ways, that explains the difference between blade and mallet players. Aberg doesn’t refuse to play a mallet; he just simply sees keeping what he’s known as his best bet.

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy have made some of the highest-profile mallet switches over the last few years and both did so because they acknowledged it helped their games.

But McIlroy explained this week that he still likes to practice with blades.

“I’ve made enough bad strokes with the Spider where the ball still went in the hole from inside six feet that, yeah, it’s a lot more forgiving,” he said Wednesday. “I practice with a blade at home because I think when you practice with a blade a little bit and then you go back to the Spider, it feels just that little bit easier.”

Aberg may have caught on to the idea. He was spotted testing a new prototype Scotty Cameron mallet this week.

Talking putter grips with the GOAT

Something about Tiger Woods roaming around a PGA Tour event just feels right, and he’s been front and center this week as the Genesis Invitational’s host.

And something we’ve seen constantly from Woods this year at the TGL, while he recovers from back and ankle surgeries, is he seems thoroughly fascinated by other players’ gear.

On Wednesday, he dropped in to Collin Morikawa’s practice round to talk shop with last week’s winner and check out what he has in the bag.

It shouldn’t be surprising that Woods was drawn to Morikawa’s MG5 lob wedge because the World No. 5 plays Woods’ TW-grind, something Woods hasn’t yet had the chance to do in competition with the MG5.

But the more interesting banter came when Morikawa was talking about his new TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter with a flow neck. Morikawa was explaining how the toe hang of the putter allowed him to feel a release through the stroke, something Woods has always been an advocate of.

“So this putter actually feels good because it swings,” Morikawa said. “A little toe hang, but it’s a mallet so it doesn’t open as much for me going back, but then it closes, which is what I need.”

“I love that,” Woods replied.

Morikawa continued explaining that if a putter opens too much, then he struggles to square the face back at impact.

That’s when Woods chimed in with a thought on-brand with his ethos of putting.

TaylorMade Spider Tour X Custom Putter

  THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance. STEEL WIREFRAME Allows engineers to better control weight distribution and CG location. HYBRAR ECHO® DAMPENER HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feel on every putt with the best possible sensation. DIFFERENT CG LOCATION Each Spider Tour model features different CG locations for optimal putter fitting. TSS WEIGHTING TSS weights provide balanced weighting and help optimize performance for all various putter lengths. GUNMETAL PVD FINISH The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish. TRUE PATH™ ALIGNMENT The patented alignment system provides visual clarity and helps golfers better envision the line to the hole. WHITE TPU PURE ROLL™ INSERT Made from a combination of Surlyn and aluminum, the white TPU Pure Roll™ insert creates a softer feel. Grooves are angled at 45° to encourage optimal forward roll as well as better sound, feel and overall roll characteristics. The white insert also creates better symmetry with the white True Path alignment. REFINED HOSEL DESIGNS Spider Tour Series includes two different hosel shapes and designs. The small slant produces toe hang, and the double bend produces a face balanced design.

$349.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, TaylorMade

“It’s hard to shut it with that big of a grip, though,” Woods said.

On almost all of his putters, Morikawa had been using an oversized SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0 putter grip, seemingly to take more of his hands out of the stroke.

Woods has always been adamant about keeping the right-hand release active through the stroke. On his putter, he almost always played a slim Ping PP58 putter grip. When he felt he was getting too handsy in the stroke, he would switch to a slightly larger Lamkin pistol grip, but it would still be considered small by modern standards.

It’s counterintuitive to a lot of modern conventions about putting, but it’s also hard to argue with Woods’ results.

But with Morikawa’s new putter, he uses a Golf Pride Tour Tradition, more traditional slim pistol grip. That earned the 15-time major champ’s approval.

“There ya go,” Woods said, smiling and nodding.

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 Aldrich Potgieter’s Scotty Cameron 009M putter as he gets in contention this weekend at Riviera.

Odds and Ends

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

Both Min Woo Lee and Max Greyserman traded in their Elyte Mini drivers for the new Quantum Mini driver, which launched last week on the PGA Tour. … Wyndham Clark is enjoying free agency because he just made a change to his fourth different driver of the season with a new TaylorMade Qi4D 10.5 and Project X’s new Titan 70 TX shaft. … Max Homa moved from Cobra OPTM LS-K driver to the OPTM X with a lighter Fujikura Ventus Blue+ 6-X shaft . … While Aaron Rai recently went back to his M6 driver, Jason Day and Justin Rose are ditching their M6 3-woods. Day is now in a Titleist GT1 3Tour 14.5 3-wood and Rose added two new Qi4D Tour 3- and 5-woods this week. Rose was in a Qi4D (core) 7-wood previously. … Lucas Glover added a new Ping G440 K 9.0 driver with a Graphite Design Tour AD-UB 6-TX shaft. Glover previously used a 440 Max 10.5 head, but it’s been an ongoing trend for 440 K players to loft down. … Jhonattan Vegas added a set of Mizuno JPX 923 Tour irons. … Tommy Fleetwood (24.0!!!), Jacob Bridgeman (16.5, 21.0), Pierceson Coody (15.0), Robert MacIntyre (21.0) and J.T. Poston (21.0) added new Qi4D core fairway woods.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Rickie Fowler changed nearly every club this year. He told us why | Bag Spy — In our newly relaunched Bag Spy series, we take a deep dive into the bag of Rickie Fowler, from his Scotty Cameron GoLo putter to his custom 3D-printed irons and a mini driver designed for him.

Cobra 3DP Tour Custom Irons

The KING 3D Printed TOUR irons utilize 3D printing technology to unlock a new realm of performance. Their one of a kind design features the most forgiving blade shape on the market, delivering the forgiveness that aspirational players need, and the sleek looks and soft feel that better players desire. 3D PRINTED STEEL CONSTRUCTION Each iron is fully 3D printed from 316 stainless steel. 3D printing provides significant advantages over traditional methods of casting and forging, unlocking more design freedom and significant performance improvements. FORGIVING PLAYERS BLADE SHAPE 3D printing has unlocked new design possibilities, enabling COBRA engineers to create a compact blade shape with the mass properties (high MOI, low CG) of a game improvement iron without sacrificing looks and soft feel that better players demand. INTERNAL LATTICE STRUCTURE COBRA took a muscle-back blade shape (similar in size and shape to the KING TOUR iron), and transformed the inside of the blade into a complex internal lattice structure to reduce the weight of the club by 33%. That discretionary weight was repositioned to optimize feel, CG position, and MOI.

$329.99 from Fairway Jockey

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A RAW looking into Jake’s FIRST Vokey fitting – We give you an inside look into Jake Morrow’s first Vokey fitting at the Titleist Performance Institute.

This pro is going the gear free agent route, except for this one piece – Ben Griffin didn’t renew any of his club sponsorship deals this season, but he did sign an extension with Maxfli to play their golf balls. He’s the only player on the PGA Tour to do so. Read why he’s valuing his flexibility over anything else, but locking in on the golf ball.

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 This unique Riviera feature had Vokey’s Tour reps busy | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Callaway’s protoype Quantum TD-TD driver makes a big debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Callaway’s protoype Quantum TD-TD driver makes a big debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

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

Callaway’s Quantum Mini driver and Ti fairway wood weren’t the company’s only prototype heads to make noise on the PGA Tour this week.

While the presumed next iterations of Callaway’s mini driver and titanium fairway woods surfaced on Tour, it was the Quantum TD-TD driver head that actually went in play, getting conversions from both Min Woo Lee and Kevin Yu.

Lee raised eyebrows last year when the long-hitting Aussie switched into the Elyte Triple Diamond Tour Draw head and immediately saw an uptick in driving accuracy, finishing tied for first in the category at the FedEx Open de France. This year, in two starts, his driving accuracy percentage is six points higher than in 2025.

He loved the smaller profile of the Triple Diamond TD head, and the reduced face progression (more offset) helped him get a more neutral start line than the standard Triple Diamond, making it easier for him to hit his favored pull cut off the tee.

But he still didn’t feel like he had his “bomb it” swing and was living at the higher end of spin windows, between 2,400 and 3,000 RPMs, according to Callaway Tour Rep Kellen Watson.

Drivers

But in testing the new Quantum TD-TD — which hit the USGA conforming list last fall with some of the other Quantum heads — this week, Watson and Lee found a shaft change from the OG Fujikura Ventus Blue 7-X to the new Ventus Black 7-X with VeloCore+ not only brought that high spin threshold down about 300 rpms, but also tightened his delta to 2,300 to 2,700.

“Shape suited his eye very well and all the numbers were similar, but mainly the ‘all-out’ drive had a much better start line, spin rate and down-range pattern. Allowing Min to take full advantage of his length is a huge boost for his chances every week.” Watson told GOLF. “About 12 shots on the range and nine holes of practice on a very windy day at Pebble were enough to get his stamp of approval.”

Lee gained .648 strokes off the tee in Round 1 at Spyglass Hill in a round of 67 and had hit 19 of his first 25 fairways as he finished up his second round on Friday.

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Callaway

Min Woo Lee’s new driver specs

Callaway Quantum TD-TD
Loft: 10.5 degrees @ 10.6 degrees
OptiFit Setting: N/S
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black VeloCore+ 7-X
Length: 45″ EOG
Tipping: 1/2″
Grip: Gripmaster Leather (3 Double Sided wraps + 1 DS on RH)

Meanwhile, Yu, who prefers a push draw to Lee’s fade, also found success with the Quantum TD-TD. Yu previously played the Elyte Triple Diamond Max and the Paradym Ai-Smoke Triple Diamond Max.

But the new Quantum Triple Diamond Max is a little different than the previous iterations, Watson said.

“He was trying to change swing mechanics to compensate for the small differences,” Watson explained. “In the load of testing we had done with all of our staff, we were quick to find out that the TD-TD was a great option for previous TD Max users who wanted to work the ball both ways.”

Thanks to the more neutral start line, Yu actually found he could work in a slight fade to his arsenal, a valuable weapon around a tight track like Pebble Beach.

“In the grand scheme of things, the footprint difference between the TD-TD and TD Max is minute,” Watson said. “Kevin didn’t have any apprehension between the two shapes, especially after the first few shots with TD-TD. Ball speed, spin rates and launch dynamics were unchanged after the previous models, allowing Kevin to seamlessly transition with a new shot shape to take advantage of.”

Yu hit 11 of 14 fairways at Pebble Beach in Round 1 and gained nearly .8 strokes off the tee.

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Max Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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Kevin Yu’s new driver specs

Callaway Quantum TD-TD
Loft: 9.0 degrees @ 9.9 degrees
OptiFit Setting: N/S
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD-VF 6-X
Length: 45.5″ EOG
Tipping: 1″

Overall, it was a big week for Quantum as Lee’s switch meant eight of the 10 Callaway staffers in the field — and 10 percent of the field — were playing a Quantum driver at Pebble.

Lee adds a versatile weapon

For someone who has 170 mph ball speed with a 2-iron, Pebble Beach would seem like an obvious track to gear back with iron off the tee, but Lee actually took the club he once called his “secret weapon” out of the bag this week.

Last week at the WM Phoenix Open, Lee added a new 21 degree Apex Utility Wood to the bag and he’s kept this week despite the windy conditions at Pebble Beach.

“The problem in the past for me is I spun the hybrid way too much,” Lee told Callaway’s Johnny Thompson. “This one keeps the spin down, which is nice, but it still has the height, which is what you want into par-5s and into tee shots.”

The club could actually be a more long-term replacement for Lee as Watson said the club was the best option at three windows: a stinger, stock and high ball. The stinger had the same ball speed and carry that Lee gets with his utility iron, but he also got the best landing angle when he tried to hit a high ball.

Callaway 2025 Apex Custom Utility Wood

The Apex UW is designed for serious, avid golfers seeking the perfect blend of a fairway wood’s power and a hybrid’s versatility. Engineered with Tour feedback and loaded with performance technologies, it delivers a higher, more neutral ball flight with the control all players demand.  TUNGSTEN SPEED WAVE A dynamic, 41g+ tungsten wave structure positions mass low and forward, enhancing ball speed and launch—particularly on low-face strikes where players tend to lose distance. STEP SOLE DESIGN A redesigned sole with a stepped geometry reduces turf interaction, helping to maintain swing speed through impact and promoting more consistent contact across different lies. TRIAXIAL CARBON CROWN The lightweight carbon construction allows for strategic weight redistribution, creating a more forgiving clubhead while refining launch and spin for greater shot-making control. TOUR-INSPIRED SHAPING Designed with input from the world’s best, the compact, refined shape and neutral face angle inspire confidence at address and deliver workability from tee to turf.

$369.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Callaway

Three major Odyssey swaps

In more Callaway news, in what was otherwise a quiet week with a smaller field and a huge purse at stake, Lee wasn’t done with gear changes, making a swap at putter, too.

He had been using a prototype black and white Odyssey S2S Jailbird, but this week, he’s switched to a new Odyssey prototype putter.

From photos, we can tell the putter has four movable weights on the sole, presumably to dial in CG. Odyssey’s Cody Hale said Lee was seeking a change to something that better matches his in-to-out stroke path and had a touch more face rotation.

Sepp Straka moved away from his Odyssey Stroke Lab Tuttle for a similar reason, picking up a White Hot OG Rossie with a slant neck to add some face rotation, too.

Meanwhile, Keegan Bradley also moved into an Ai-Dual 1/2 Ball Jailbird Cruiser that matched the specs of his previous Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser, but with three dots milled into the 1/2 ball.

Odyssey Ai-DUAL 1/2 Ball Jailbird DB Cruiser Custom Putter

$399.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Odyssey

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 Neal Shipley’s Ping Mini Driver Prototype.

1/4

2/4

3/4

4/4

Odds and Ends

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

Rory McIlroy returned to his RORS PROTO blades. … Marco Penge switched into PXG’s Tour-only Lightning Tour Max driver, the same driver Eric Cole is using, highlighting a trend we started tracking a few weeks ago with Max Homa’s switch to the Cobra OPTM LS-K prototype driver. … Wyndham Clark went back to a Titleist TSR3 driver after using a Ping G430 LST his past few starts. … Ryo Hisatsune switched from a Vokey SM11 K*-grind to a .08M in his 60-degree. … Harry Hall switched from a TaylorMade Qi4D LS driver to a Titleist GT3 and upgraded his wedges from Vokey’s SM10 to SM11. … Robert MacIntyre added a TaylorMade Qi4D 5-wood in place of his Stealth 2 Rescue. … Sepp Straka and Michael Thorbjornsen both added 21 degree Qi4D 7-woods, with Straka replacing a three-year-old Callaway Paradym 7-wood. … There were 71 TaylorMade fairway woods in play with 21 Qi4Ds out of the 80-player field.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Rory McIlroy makes surprising gear switch before PGA Tour season debut. The biggest gear news of the week was that Rory McIlroy’s experiment with P7CB cavity-backs was over. But was that really the end or just the beginning?

TaylorMade P7CB Custom Irons

BEST-IN CLASS FEEL Using Tour feedback and modal analysis we’ve strategically designed mass placement for best in class feel. Crafted using Compact Grain Forging and 2000 tons of pressure to deliver the purest feeling 1025 soft carbon steel possible. PRECISE CONTROL Precise milled face and grooves combined with a constant CG the P•7CB is designed to deliver an optimal launch and spin combination for the ultimate control and precision. CONSISTENCY Created to maximize accuracy and consistency. The P•7CB optimized perimeter weighting and co-forged tungsten designed to deliver a beautiful blend of stability and workability. COMPACT TOUR SHAPING Every aspect of shaping in this iron was intended to meet the needs of discerning ball strikers. A compact blade length and thin topline create a confident, clean look in the playing position while the sole camber and progressive bounce profile provide consistent turf interaction.

$200.00 from Fairway Jockey

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Wedge gapping EXPLAINED with Vokey Wedge Rep Aaron Dill. In Part 2 of our wedge fitting series with Vokey’s Aaron Dill, Johnny Wunder gets his new SM11 wedge set gapped out by Vokey’s resident Tour fitter.

How 5 days of club fittings changed my mind on golf equipment | Fully Fit 2026. Senior writer Sean Zak explains what is was like to be embedded with us gear degenerates for a week and a half, getting fit for more golf clubs than he could imagine during Fully Fit 2026.

Titleist 2025 T150 Custom Irons

T150 Irons are crafted for added distance with unwavering accuracy. Forged into a player’s shape with progressive blade lengths, T150 offers a precise blend of speed, stability, and consistency—providing the confidence to hit and hold greens from anywhere.   Confidence-Inspiring Forged Design  Forged into a player’s shape with a slightly larger head size for pure feel with extra stability. Elevated Ball Speed 1° stronger lofts (vs. T100) combine with an improved muscle channel through 7-iron and lower long-iron CG to help improve speed, launch, and carry. 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 provide consistent spin and speed across the face in variable conditions. 

$215.00 from Fairway Jockey

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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 Callaway’s protoype Quantum TD-TD driver makes a big debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Ping’s G440 K just got two major conversions | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Ping’s G440 K just got two major conversions | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

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

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ping’s G440 K just earned perhaps its toughest conversion yet.

Viktor Hovland has a boatload of golf clubs still in his bag from 2019-2020, the years of his first two wins on the PGA Tour. But he has one less this week as his venerable G425 LST driver took a back seat to Ping’s new G440 K driver.

Hovland is a notoriously hard switcher when it comes to his gear, still playing Ping’s i210 irons and a Ping Glide 2.0 60˚ wedge. When it comes to the driver, he’s been close to switching to one of Ping’s new G440 line of drivers before. He made a surprise switch to G440 LST at the Masters last year before returning to the 425 before his next event.

But he was really impressed with the new 440 K in his initial testing.

“The spin consistency off the face is a joke,” he said on Tuesday. “If I hit it off the heel or the toe with a 425, the spin discrepancy is very large. Like if I hit it off the toe, I can spin it under 2000. If I hit it off the heel, I can maybe get up to 3000. Versus the 440, it’s very tight. It goes from maybe 2000 to 2600, so a huge gap. And it’s also faster.

“However, the problem is it launches a little bit higher for me. And for some reason, just with the setup that I’ve tested with, it tends to go a bit more to the right. Right now, with my golf swing, when I get stuck, my miss is already a high-right miss.”

Hovland would have been content to stick with the G425 this week, had it not been for poor performance off the tee on Monday, leading to an evening text to Ping Tour Rep Kenton Oates.

“Monday night, he wanted to try some shorter drivers, 45 inches,” Oates told GOLF. “And I was like, ‘Well, this is a perfect time to keep trying the K because the shorter length will take off some height and should help reduce the right miss.”

PING G440 K Custom Driver

$649.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore

What’s interesting is that the unique properties of the K driver, a large profile driver with an extremely deep and low CG, should help players square the club face. In early testing, it didn’t go as far right as the 440 LST did, but it was still far enough right for Hovland to start the season in Dubai with his trusty G425.

But this week, Oates decided not only to have Hovland test the K with a shorter build, but also with a different shaft, the Mitsubishi Whiteboard 73 TX.

“The one thing that we’ve always noticed and seen is very good start line tendencies. It’ll start where you’re swinging it and kind of just stay with you really well,” Oates said. “That WB did exactly kind of what Viktor needs this K to do: go a little bit lower and go a little bit more left.”

That was the final build Hovland went with. Despite the .75″ shorter shaft than his previous driver, Hovland was still retaining a 173-175 mph ball speed with more consistentcy and hitting his optimal 9˚-10˚ launch window with 2300 rpm of spin.

If you look closely at the shaft, you’ll see the shaft graphics are actually facing up, the opposite side on what they previously are. That’s because the shaft was actually built earlier this week for Ben Griffin, who also tested it in a G440 K.

Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana WB Wood Shaft

  The board is back. After a few years away, the vintage surfboard always associated with Diamana™ makes its return with Diamana WB. Built on an extraordinarily popular and tour-proven platform, WB brings classic low-low performance and the legendary stability and control you’ve come to expect after two decades. The first in the 6th Generation Diamana™ family, WB is designed with all the traditional branding that made Diamana™ so beloved, including flowers in the handle section, a surfboard behind the Diamana logo, and return to the original 53/63/73/83 weight class designations. But rest assured, the only thing throwback about Diamana™ WB is its appearance. Indeed, super high-modulus 80-ton Dialead Pitch Fiber is used in the butt section to deliver maximum stability and increased energy transfer and high modulus 46-ton fiber is used in the shaft’s angle plies to reduce torque without increasing weight for improved control and stability. Carbon fiber orientation at the tip section is optimized to further lower torque. The classic feel of this Diamana™ profile is achieved through the use of our proprietary Xlink Tech™ Resin System and MR70 technologies. Our Xlink Tech™ Resin System increases the strength and durability of the shaft while driving carbon fiber volume up for better feel. Feel and strength is further increased through the use of our aerospace-grade MR70 fiber – our strongest fiber to date.

$360.00 from Fairway Jockey

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“The shaft that Victor’s played for 5 years was a James Hahn backup driver because Hovland broke his driver in Mexico,” Oates joked. “So maybe that’s our key to getting Viktor into new product is just build stuff for other players and then work for him.”

Griffin plays his drivers at 44.75″ and neutral but Hovland uses his driver Ping’s flat setting, the opposite side of the adaptor. So the shaft ended up at 45″ when installed in Hovland’s preferred setting.

Griffin also ended up making the move to the 440 K from his G430 Max 10K this week because he was actually seeing the driver reduce his miss.

New Ping G440 K driver officially in play for Ben Griffin at WM.

Watching him crank this thing on the range on Monday was fun, but he actually seemed like he was gonna stick with his G430 Max 10k.

Ben has loved to test new gear lately, but he says he rarely likes to switch.… pic.twitter.com/0ZYyT8tJhy

— Jack Hirsh (@JR_HIRSHey) February 5, 2026

Ping built him several drivers to test at home while he took last week off but he didn’t end up trying them until he got to TPC Scottsdale on Monday. During a Monday afternoon session, Griffin dialed in both a 440 K build and new 430 Max 10K build that could potentially go in, but after playing with it during the week, Griffin went with the new K and his gamer UST Lin-Q Powercore White 7TX shaft.

The three-time winner in 2025 is also using a new Maxfli Tour X-LS golf ball, which he said allows him to swing hard at the ball with his driver and not worry about the ball spinning too much.

Maxfli announced a three-year extension with Ben Griffin, which is now the only equipment partnership the three-time PGA Tour winner has for this season.

Had a really fun chat with Ben on Monday on going going the free agent route for his clubs, and he said Maxfli was the gear… pic.twitter.com/KGKf9fwd0l

— Jack Hirsh (@JR_HIRSHey) February 4, 2026

“I’m a pretty high ball flight player. I’m able to put a lot of spin on the ball,” Griffin told GOLF this week. “So this new golf ball that’s come out, the Tour X-LS, is able to keep the same profile ball that I’m playing, yet knock down the spin numbers a little bit and knock down the trajectory height for me and it’s going to be a perfect golf ball.”

Why a game improvement hybrid is trending on Tour

Last week, Cam Young did something very strange with his bag.

Young, who had been playing a GT2 hybrid, switched to to a 20-degree GT1 hybrid with a Mitsubishi Diamana PD 80TX fairway wood shaft last week for Torrey Pines’ deep rough. It’s stayed in his bag for this week at TPC Scottsdale too. Tom Kim is doing the same with one in a hybrid shaft.

Really cool story going on with @Titleist right now with both Cam Young and Tom Kim adding the GT1 hybrid to the bag last week and keeping it for this week.

Young's (pictured) especially because it was built with a fairway wood shaft to play as a 5-wood.

The GT1 has a really… pic.twitter.com/2uyUSopeuV

— Jack Hirsh (@JR_HIRSHey) February 6, 2026

The GT1 is a unique club in the Titleist lineup with an oversized, almost fairway wood-like profile and the unique ability to accept both fairway wood and hybrid shafts. Unlike the other two GT hybrids which have left-to-right CG adjustability, the GT1 has fore-and-aft adjustability.

While the GT1 fairway wood, with a large and shallow profile, has gained traction on the PGA Tour, Titleist Senior Director of Player Promotions JJ Van Wezenbeeck said last week at Torrey Pines offered an opportunity to reintroduce the GT1 hybrid to players looking for versatility.

“When we look at GT1, we’re not looking at it solely for slower speed players,” Van Wezenbeeck told GOLF. “We’re looking for trajectory reasons. This is an opportunity for us to do kind of these unique builds on this in-between club.”

The GT1 has a sharp leading edge that allows it to sit close to the turf, making it easy to launch. That high ball flight was great for the rough at Torrey Pines or the firm desert greens this week at TPC Scottsdale.

Titleist GT1 Custom Hybrid

$329.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Titleist

But it’s the ability of the GT1 to take a fairway wood shaft, which will play softer than a larger tip diameter hybrid shaft, that makes the club so versitile for fitting.

“For Cam Young, we were trying to create more of a 5-wood type golf club, so we were able to build it with a 5-wood shaft and use a .335 tip on the interior diameter, but a hybrid outside diameter [on the hosel]. We get kind of the best of both,” Van Wezenbeeck said.

Big Tone goes low torque

Tony Finau made an under-the-radar switch to a new Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset putter last week during his T11 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Finau hasn’t gained strokes putting for a PGA Tour season since 2022 and had lost more than a stroke in each of the first two events of the season. So he showed up at Torrey Pines looking to try a mallet from his PLD Milled Anser 2D.

This isn’t the first time Finau has used a mallet as he tried an PLD Milled Ally Blue Onset previously at last summer’s FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Ping Tour rep Dylan Goodwin told GOLF they started with the new and unreleased Scottsdale Tec mallet putters since they just arrived on Tour at the end of last season at the RSM Classic.

“Tony gravitated towards the Ally Blue Onset again and the Ketsch 4, which has a hosel he had used in the past on a blade putter,” Goodwin said. “After going back and forth between the putters, the Ally Blue Onset ultimately matched better to his stroke and delivered the face at impact more consistently. As a result, his start line improved, and he liked the contrast between the white finish of the head and the black sight line, which he found easier to line up with.”

While the Scottsdale Tec version and the PLD Milled version of the Ally Blue Onset are the same shape, they have different optics, alignment features and perhaps most importantly, feels. This new Scottsdale Tec marks the first time Finau hasn’t used a milled putter face.

However, the putters sounded the same to him, so he didn’t mind the softer feel of the insert.

In his opening round Thursday, Finau gained .611 strokes on the greens, despite shooting a two-over 73.

Check this out

This section is dedicated to one cool photo we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. For this week, check out Tony Finau’s Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron.

Odds and Ends

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

Brooks Koepka led all gear news this week with his switch to a TaylorMade Spider Tour X L-neck putter. He missed the cut and lost more than 3.3 strokes putting. He did improve to gain nearly .3 strokes putting in the second round … Collin Morikawa also changed to a Spider Tour X, but with a flow neck … Jordan Spieth switched to the new Titleist SM11 wedges and a GT2 hybrid, replacing his longtime TSi2 … Marco Penge moved back to a Scotty Cameron Newport Tour Prototype and switched to SM11s … Sam Burns also added SM11s along with Tony Finau (just 60), Michael Kim, Bud Cauley, and Eric Cole … Aldrich Potgieter traded his Scotty Cameron 009M gamer for a new Fastback 2 Tour prototype … Chris Kirk added a Quantum Triple Diamond, keeping up momentum for Callaway staff conversions … Justin Rose’s putter last week at the Farmers was actually a backup after his gamer was damaged beyond repair.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Here’s why we’re ‘testing’ golf clubs differently this year | Fully Fit 2026 – Johnny Wunder introduces you to Fully Fit 2026, our new hope for all of our 2026 golf club review coverage and why we’re changing things up.

TaylorMade’s 2026 TP5, TP5x golf balls show why paint matters – TaylorMade launched their new TP5 and TP5x golf balls which feature a new microcoating technique aimed at making each golf ball fly exactly the same as the last.

TaylorMade 2026 TP5 Golf Balls

The best players in the world, like 2025 champion in Augusta and career Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa have already made the switch to the fastest ever TP5. It’s time for you to make the switch, too. Microcoating No two golf balls are the same, but the all-new TP5 sets out to solve an invisible problem through our revolutionary microcoating finish process. Uneven paint and excess pooling in the dimples can compromise distance and accuracy. Microcoating uses precision application technology to ensure uniform coverage across the ball’s entire surface. Click on the video for a deep dive. Thinner Than a Human Hair Microcoating is thinner than a human hair and delivers measurable performance advantages: more consistent ball flight, optimized distance, and tight left-to-right dispersion. The Fastest TP5 Ever  TP5 has long been our softest five-layer Tour ball, but now it’s faster than ever. Employing our largest Tour core to date, the TP5 retains more energy at impact, which results in faster ball speeds and more distance at the top of your bag. Tour Flight The reengineered Tour Flight Dimple Pattern features new dimples that when combined with microcoating, promote a more predictable, penetrating ball flight with optimized peak height performance and increased accuracy.

$57.99 from Fairway Jockey

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6 full-bag club fittings with 6 different clubmakers?! Here’s how that went | Fully Fit 2026 – Take a peek behind the curtain of Fully Fit 2026 and see what the greatest golf gear nerd trip ever was really like.

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 Ping’s G440 K just got two major conversions | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Xander Schauffele’s driver switch mirrors this fellow major winner | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Xander Schauffele’s driver switch mirrors this fellow major winner | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

Xander Schauffele put Callaway’s new Quantum Triple Diamond driver in play at the TGL, but for his PGA Tour season debut, he’s making a not-so-subtle tweak.

While Schauffele is sticking with the new Quantum TD, he’s making a switch from the Mitsubishi Diamana PD 70 TX shaft he’s played for three seasons — winning his first two majors in 2024 — to a newer Diamana Whiteboard (WB) 73 TX. It’s a move very similar to what Callaway stablemate Jon Rahm did just over a year ago.

As Callaway Tour Content Manager Johnny Thompson told GOLF this week, with the work Schauffele has been doing to gain speed, he “outgrew” the PD shaft and actually had been working on the change for several months.

Schauffele initially reached out to Callaway Tour Rep Kellen Watson about wanting to test new shafts in September, before the Ryder Cup and his later win at the Zozo Championship.

“He felt like he was getting a little faster, a little stronger and he was starting to feel like the PD had a little bit of looseness to it that he wanted to address,” Thompson said.

Watson built up some shafts with stiffer handle sections, but he never ended up doing much testing with them. His schedule got busy with the Ryder Cup and trip to Japan and he and his wife Maya welcomed their first child in October.

Then it was November and Watson and Schuaffele started to test the new Quantum drivers with new shafts and they started to narrow it down to the Whiteboard and a Ventus Black 7-TX.

“He played both at home and he had some matches with some pretty good players and he just found that WB kind of lined up for him on shot shape,” Thompson said. “It had the right feel. He said that it definitely felt tighter — not in a bad way — but he could feel the difference that he wanted to feel.”

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Callaway

But strangely, that wasn’t the driver Schauffele put in play at the TGL in late December. It was the new Quantum TD head, but with the old PD shaft. It confused Callaway, too.

“Kellen was kind of surprised that he did that as well,” Thompson said. “And I don’t know if in Xander’s mind it was, ‘Okay, I know, like what PD feels like, and I got this new head, if it kind of took one step back to go too forward.’ But it seems like the feels were reconfirmed.”

The reason the WB worked for Schauffele comes down to the difference in profile. Compared to the PD, the WB is stiffer in the handle, slightly stiffer in the mid section and a touch softer at the tip. The handle stiffness took away the “looseness” Schauffele was describing while the slightly softer tip allowed him to retain a little feel as the shaft loads in the downswing, Thompson said.

Schauffele’s new Driver Specs:

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond
Loft: 10.5
OptiFit Setting: D/-1
Weights: Fade
Shaft: Mitsubishi WB 73 TX
Length: 45 7/16″ EOG
Swingweight: D1.7
Grip: Golf Pride MCC Align (1 + two RH wraps)

What’s really interesting about this move is that it mirrors work Watson did last in late 2024 with another Callaway superstar, Rahm. Rahm had used the Aldila Tour Green 75TX shaft in his driver dating back to his college days, but finally made the move to a Fujikura Ventus Black.

Drivers

“For a long time, Jon’s Aldila Tour Green worked well for his timing and swing tempo, but as he’s gotten stronger and faster he was finding it more difficult to time up his delivery into the ball and find his feels,” GOLF’s Johnny Wunder, then Callaway’s Tour content manager, told GOLF at the time. “The Ventus Black profile helped Jon feel the clubhead better and allowed him to swing with his natural tempo without manipulation. This has led to a much better dispersion off the tee and helped to eliminate the left miss. It was never about raising Jon’s ceiling or adding distance since he is already such a good driver of the ball, but instead, lifting his floor.”

Schauffele made one other change to begin his season, switching to the new 2025 version of Callaway’s popular Apex Utility Wood.

Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana WB Wood Shaft

  The board is back. After a few years away, the vintage surfboard always associated with Diamana™ makes its return with Diamana WB. Built on an extraordinarily popular and tour-proven platform, WB brings classic low-low performance and the legendary stability and control you’ve come to expect after two decades. The first in the 6th Generation Diamana™ family, WB is designed with all the traditional branding that made Diamana™ so beloved, including flowers in the handle section, a surfboard behind the Diamana logo, and return to the original 53/63/73/83 weight class designations. But rest assured, the only thing throwback about Diamana™ WB is its appearance. Indeed, super high-modulus 80-ton Dialead Pitch Fiber is used in the butt section to deliver maximum stability and increased energy transfer and high modulus 46-ton fiber is used in the shaft’s angle plies to reduce torque without increasing weight for improved control and stability. Carbon fiber orientation at the tip section is optimized to further lower torque. The classic feel of this Diamana™ profile is achieved through the use of our proprietary Xlink Tech™ Resin System and MR70 technologies. Our Xlink Tech™ Resin System increases the strength and durability of the shaft while driving carbon fiber volume up for better feel. Feel and strength is further increased through the use of our aerospace-grade MR70 fiber – our strongest fiber to date.

$360.00 from Fairway Jockey

View Product

Uncompensated praise

In a world where contracts and money make up so much of what goes in players’ bags week in and week out, it’s extraordinarily rare to hear a player talk about a piece of gear they aren’t paid to play.

But when it comes to gear-free agents, nothing is stopping them from heaping praise on their clubs.

That’s exactly what LPGA Hall-of-Famer Lydia Ko did this week in talking about two new pieces of gear she added to the bag this season.

Ko, who’s not sponsored by any equipment company this year after her last endorsement contract with Protoconcept expired at the end of 2025, is starting the season with a new Ping G440 K driver and brand new Vokey SM11 wedges.

Titleist Vokey SM11 Tour Chrome Custom Wedge

$199.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Titleist

The three-time major winner has played Vokey wedges since 2022 and had no qualms calling the brand “the best” on Wednesday at the LPGA’s season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

“I have the new SM11 wedges, which I got last week,” Ko said. “I’m not endorsed. I truly believe the Vokey wedges are the best, so I just have those.”

She also lauded her new Ping G440 K driver, replacing the G430 Max 10K she used to to win her last major at the 2024 AIG Women’s Open. That change was a little tougher for her to make.

“Changed into my 440 K driver versus the 430 10k,” she said. “It was a big move, which this too I’m not endorsed. I have no club deals. The 430 10k my coach said I almost have like an emotional attachment to this driver, so it was hard decision to make, but the numbers and the shot shapes that I’ve been seeing on the golf course with my new 440K has been great. Those two are probably the biggest changes I made.”

PING G440 K Custom Driver

$649.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore

Even some of the best players in the world get emotional about their golf clubs. Collin Morikawa did the same two weeks ago when he retired his TaylorMade SIM Ti 3-wood.

Clearly, the switches are paying off as Ko opened with a 69 in Round 1 at Lake Nona and moved into a share of the 36-hole lead at eight under with a 67 on Friday.

Same ole Brooks

In case you haven’t heard, Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour this week, and so too are some of the oldest clubs in pro golf in his 2017 M2 3-wood and Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron.

In his press conference this week at the Farmers Insurance Open, GOLF’s Jake Morrow asked Koepka if he was testing anything to replace those clubs and in classic Brooks form, he said he wasn’t.

“I haven’t really tested anything,” Koepka said. “I’m not a tinkerer. If something works, something works and I don’t really switch up. I like everything that I’ve got in the bag. I feel like I have a good understanding of the control, where the misses are. Yeah, I haven’t really tinkered with anything, man. I like my bag setup right now.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Koepka hangs onto those clubs specifically.

News

Most fitters would agree that 3-woods and long irons are the toughest clubs for players to switch simply because they’re probably two of the hardest clubs to hit. So when players find one that does exactly what they want it to do, they hang on until they break.

We saw the same with Henrik Stenson and his legendary Callaway Diablo Octane 3-wood. Koepka isn’t even the only owner of a Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron on the PGA Tour as Tony Finau still uses one too.

1/2

2/2

Those clubs were also in Koepka’s bag when he became the Brooks Koepka we know today. Both clubs have been in the bag for all five of Koepka’s major titles and were released just before Koepka began of his run of dominance at the 2017 U.S. Open. The 3-iron was released in 2016, one of the last Nike golf club releases before the company exited the hard goods business later that year. The M2 3-wood is widely regarded as one of the greatest fairway woods of all time and was released the following year.

When you hit it as far as Brooks Koepka, what exactly are you looking for in a 3-wood? He doesn’t need more ball speed, it spins the way he wants it to and the ball always flies through the window he expects it to? Why would he want to try something else?

The same applies to the 3-iron.

Check this out

This section is dedicated to one cool photo we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. For this week, check out Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill hard at work getting players into the new SM11 wedges.

Odds and Ends

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

Marco Penge debuted as a PXG staffer with the company’s Lightning Tour Mid driver, Secret Weapon Mini Driver, Gen8 0311 X Driving iron, 0317 CB 4-iron, 0317 ST 5-9 iron and a prototype PXG putter … Max Greyserman has been playing an Odyssey Prototype S2S Tri-Hot with a single-bend shaft … Cameron Young and Tom Kim added 20-degree GT1 hybrids to their bags with 80-gram fairway wood shafts … Young also moved into a full set of SM11 wedges along with Sami Valimaki … 165 SM11s were in play, 16 more than a week ago, and 234 of the gap, sand and lob wedges in the field were Vokeys … Wyndham Clark has a new Ping G440 K driver after starting the season with a G430 LST … Former TaylorMade staffers Jason Day and Justin Rose added new Qi4D fairway woods. Day added the 3-wood and Rose a 7-wood. Both were gaming the M6 from 2019 … TaylorMade had 110 fairways in play, including 33 Qi4Ds and 3 Qi4D Tours … Eric Cole added Project X’s new Titan shaft to his TaylorMade Qi4D 3-wood and PXG Lightning 7-wood … Alex Noren upgraded to the Quantum Max D driver … Hideki Matsuyama switched to a Graphite Design Tour AD-FI 8-X driver shaft … Gary Woodland added an OPTM-X 7-wood.

3 things you should read/watch

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

We put Callaway’s new wedges in the hands of a Tour veteran – Johnny Wunder has LIV Golf pro Charles Howell III test Callaway’s Opus SP wedges and figure out if they can make his bag.

Why Wilson’s Dynapwr Max+ driver might be the bargain of 2026 – Wilson just launched their new Dynapwr Max driver, which might be the best value of any 2026 driver.

Wilson 2026 Dynapwr Max+ Custom Driver

$499.99 from Fairway Jockey

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They took stock shafts one step further – Jake Morrow breaks down TaylorMade’s new REAX stock shaft program with TaylorMade’s Matt Simone.

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 Xander Schauffele’s driver switch mirrors this fellow major winner | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.