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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Custom Putter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taylor Moore speeds up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Check this out

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

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

Odds and Ends

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

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

3 things you should read/watch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The post Golf’s rarest club is making a PGA Championship appearance | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Golf’s rarest club is making a PGA Championship appearance | 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.

After one round, Aronimink is proving more difficult off the tee than originally anticipated, and one of the early leaders is navigating that challenge with golf’s rarest club.

Yes, Aldrich Potgieter is gaming a 1-iron this week, and it’s helped him contend at the PGA Championship (tied for the lead after the first round and the solo leader at the time of this writing on Friday).

Off-the-tee play wasn’t much of a story in the lead-up at Aronimink, which is hosting a PGA for the first time in 64 years. The Donald Ross gem measures just 7,394 yards, short by modern major championship standards, and players contemplated bomb-and-gouge strategies for the layout.

“Strategy off the tee is pretty nonexistent,” Rory McIlroy said in his pre-tournament press conference. “It’s basically bash driver down there and then figure it out from there. … When these traditional golf courses take a lot of trees out, it makes strategy not as much of a concern off the tee.”

That comment came back to bite McIlroy, as he hit just 5 of 14 fairways and lost nearly a half shot to the field off the tee in an opening-round 74. Turns out the wild undulations and firm conditions of Aronimink’s fairways made them difficult to hold. Missing the fairway also proved unexpectedly penal, as the average proximity difference between the fairway and not on Thursday morning was nearly six feet worse than the average PGA Tour host course, according to Justin Ray.

While many players opted to keep their typical top-of-bag setups, Potgieter took the interesting approach of adding a 1-iron in addition to his regular PXG 2-iron. The slightly longer build checked in at just over 15 degrees of loft, which gave the club a touch of right bias.

Now, like many of the 1-irons you see on the PGA Tour from time to time, this isn’t your grandfather’s 1-iron. This is a hollow-bodied club with a graphite shaft designed to get the ball in the air. I wouldn’t advise anyone to hold Potgieter’s 1-iron (which he referred to as a 3-wood in a press conference) up during a lightning storm.

The club is rare by PGA Tour standards and if ever seen, it’s usually during the Open Championship or Scottish Open.

But Potgeiter’s 1-iron has some unique abilities even among other butter knives. As PXG’s Justin Shepherd told GOLF, the new Gen 8 driving iron’s weight adjustability allowed Potgieter to add the club in place of his fairway wood because they could straighten out his ball flight more easily.

“Playing with the weight and lie angle, as I went a little more upright … he actually was losing some ball speed, so he obviously wasn’t hitting it as well,” Shepherd said. “We moved back to the lie angle fit, then we could work on the ball flight without changing the two things.”

Potgieter’s 1-iron features a 12g weight in the heel and a 7g weight in the toe to help him turn it over. His 2-iron is more neutral.

With the 1-iron, which is 5/8 of an inch longer than the 2-iron with the same Nippon Modus GOST shaft, Potgieter carries the ball only a few yards farther than the 2-iron, but its runs out nearly 30 yards farther while reaching 170-172 mph ball speeds.

While Potgieter hit driver off the tee 11 times on Thursday, his driving irons came in handy on three tee shots and his approach to the par-5 9th. It all added up to a share of the first-round lead.

Flatstick swaps

One thing that has rung true about the challenge of Aronimink has been the difficulty of its signature Donald Ross domed greens. Was that the reason a number of players chose to make putter changes when tweaks during major weeks are usually more subtle?

The most notable move was Brooks Koepka, who moved into a new TaylorMade 2026 Spider Tour V from his previous 2025 Spider Tour X. Koepka reportedly broke his previous putter at the One Flight Myrtle Beach Classic last week, necessitating the change. He spent several hours working through various mallet putters on Monday before settling on the new Spider Tour V.

We still don’t know much on the new Spider Tour V, which appears to have been redesigned from the previous version that’s in Shane Lowry’s bag. The previous Spider Tour V was the most forward CG mallet in the TaylorMade lineup, making it feel like a blade.

Koepka’s new Tour V appears more compact and the weight ports are forward in the head, which seems to indicate a similar goal. Koepka is likely looking to find something that feels like his previous Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Teryllium putters.

But more surprising was that Alex Fitzpatrick, fresh off a Cinderella three-week run after winning the Zurich Classic team event, swapped putters.

The young Fitzpatrick went from his silver Odyssey Ai-ONE No. 7 S to a Navy Ai-ONE No. 7 CH.

While the change from silver to navy is interesting, it turns out the change from a slant neck to a crank hosel is the key switch.

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Odyssey reps Harry Shih and Cody Hale handled the change because Fitzpatrick, a gear-free agent, said he felt like he was leaving the face open at impact. In his first two events as a PGA Tour member, Fitzpatrick lost nearly a half-shot per round on the greens.

“Just gave him more face awareness,” Shih told GOLF. “He felt like the face was hanging open so we went to the crank so he could square the face up easier. Quintic data confirmed it.”

Hale added that the Crank Hosel matched his stroke rotation better.

“We also went 1 degree more upright to better match the shaft plane to his forearms, which he and his putting coach Andy Paisley like to see in his arm structure,” Hale said.

Sahith Theegala also went back to his Anser 2 gamer after a one-week trial with an Ally Blue H mallet.

And continuing a trend of what might become the PGA Tour’s next hot putter, Tom Hoge added a new Phantom 9.5R, the same model putter Cameron Young uses and Justin Thomas recently added.

Spieth goes longer; Fowler goes shorter

Thursday was a bit of a trip back in time for Jordan Spieth as he chases the career Grand Slam, but it was the driver that was dialed for Spieth, unlike how it was 10 years ago.

Spieth gained 1.93 strokes off the tee on the field in Round 1, ranked second in the field. He missed just two fairways.

Turns out he made a tweak to his GTS2 driver last week after putting it in play at Doral, going to a longer, 46″ Fujikura Ventus Black shaft.

Thanks to the increased stability of the GTS2 head he found he was able to go longer and down in loft (from 10 to 9) to get more speed. Spieth also has his GTS2 front weighted with 9g in the front and 3g in the back to get even more speed.

He gained .663 strokes a round off the tee at the Cadillac but then picked up more than a stroke a day at the Truist with the longer build. Since adding the GTS2, he’s gone from 113th in SG: Off the Tee to 77th in just two weeks.

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But on the flip side, Rickie Fowler shortened his driver this week.

After using a 45″ driver for the last few weeks, Fowler is back again using a shorter build, but this time at 43.25″, almost certainly the shortest driver on the PGA Tour. In fact, it’s the same length as his mini driver.

Fowler is having one of his most accurate seasons on the PGA Tour in terms of driving accuracy and has used a 44.125″ driver for much of the season. He opened with an even-par 70 on Thursday.

Golf Pride again dominates grip count

As is typical, the overwhelming No. 1 grip at the PGA Championship was Golf Pride.

All but 11 of the 156 players in the field at Aronimink played Golf Pride grips this week, continuing the most dominant run in golf equipment.

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 Christiaan Bezuidenhout’s new PXG 0317 Tour prototype irons.

Odds and Ends

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

Christiaan Bezuidenhout added PXG’s 0317 Tour Proto irons (above) with KBS Tour 125 S+ shafts … Lucas Glover switched to the GTS2 driver after adding the fairway woods last week … Max Greyserman added Callaway’s Quantum TD TD driver with Ventus Blue 6-X … Viktor Hovland added a Ping G440 Max 3-wood and G440 3-hybrid to his bag … Greyserman and Ryo Hisastune switched to Vokey’s A+ grind to get faster through the turf … Haotong Li is following in the footsteps of Fowler and Gary Woodland by adding a Scotty Cameron GOLO 7 CS … Denny McCarthy (GTS2 9.0) and Luke Donald (GTS3 9.0) added new Titleist GTS drivers non-contracted … Fujikura lead the driver shaft count with 46.2% of the field … Maverick McNealy switched to the new Fujikura Ventus TR Black+ 6-X in his driver.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Hideki Matsuyama is golf’s most notorious tester. Here’s what makes his bag | Bag Spy – Take a deep dive into the bag of Hideki Matsuyama and see why, even as he tests more than anyone, he continues to play mostly the same stuff.

This Aronimink feature has pros re-thinking their wedge setup at the PGA – Aronimink is the first chance for PGA Tour players to see bent grass this season. See what Vokey’s Aaron Dill says is the key to handling northeastern turf.

Cameron Young reportedly playing golf ball that would conform under rollback – Cameron Young revealed on Wednesday that his Titleist Pro V1x Double Dot golf ball passed the new rolled back conformance test. See what that means and what it’s a big deal.

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 Golf’s rarest club is making a PGA Championship appearance | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

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

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

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

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

Specifically, putters catch fire more often than other clubs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not an uncommon request.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rory McIlroy returns to Qi4D 3-wood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Fairway Wood

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

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

Check this out

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

Odds and Ends

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

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

3 things you should read/watch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The post Why Jordan Spieth made ‘extremely rare’ changes to his gear | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Jordan Spieth made ‘extremely rare’ changes to his gear | 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.

Jordan Spieth doesn’t change equipment often and when he does, it’s rarely during the season, which makes his moves before this week’s Cadillac Championship all the more intriguing.

After a first-round 65 Thursday — his best score of the season that left him one off Cameron Young’s first-round lead — Spieth was asked why he hit nearly 200 balls on the range on Tuesday. Turns out he has good reason.

Not only did Spieth switch to a new Titleist GTS2 driver and 3-wood, but he’s also playing a new golf ball, a Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash. Throughout his career, Spieth has played a version of the Titleist Pro V1x, which is usually the spinnier of the two golf balls, especially with irons and around the greens. But this season Spieth said he’s noticed times where his spin seems a little too high.

“I’ve been spinning a lot the last year and a half on the range,” he said Thursday. “I just thought it was a driving range thing. And I’ve been taking my [launch] monitor on to the golf course and trying to see. Then I had, I don’t know, maybe a dozen shots I could tell you in the last year or so that came off just odd for an iron, spinny, ended up short.”

Spieth wanted to test this at the Masters, but since Augusta National does not allow launch monitors on the golf course, it had to wait until the following week at the RBC Heritage for him to test the lower-spinning Pro V1x Left Dash. That’s when he approached the Titleist Tour team about making a switch.

“I just saw it happen, and I had a couple shots cost me what I thought were perfect shots kind of, you know, occasionally the first few you’re going to think, oh, it’s coincidental, there’s a wind or something like that,” he said. “But it was enough of a sample size to say let me explore other options.”

Titleist ProV1x Left Dash 2026 Golf Balls

The Pro V1 With High Flight And Less Spin The modern mix of high speed and low spin, new Pro V1x Left Dash is faster, longer, and more penetrating in the wind. Why Play Pro V1x Left Dash? Pro V1x Left Dash is recommended for players who may benefit from high-trajectory flight, extremely low long game spin with tour-validated short game spin, and firmer feel. Comparison to Pro V1 Due to its unique dimple pattern, Pro V1x Left Dash has a higher flight than Pro V1. A smart-spin casing layer with added thickness produces lower long game spin than Pro V1. What’s New? New Pro V1x Left Dash now delivers even more speed and optimized flight for more distance. Not available for purchase or shipment to Australia.

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He stuck with his standard Pro V1x at Harbour Town and kept testing at home in the off week. By the time he got to Doral this week, he was prepared to move into Left Dash.

Spieth worked with Titleist Tour Rep JJ Van Wezenbeeck and Director of Tour Validation and Research Fordie Pitts on the range to confirm the move to Left Dash was the right one. They found the Left Dash was spinning roughly 300-500 RPMs less than his Pro V1x, depending on the club.

Spieth called a ball change “extremely rare” for him mid-season. He’ll usually wait until the offseason to test new gear, like he did this past winter with Titleist’s new 2025 T100 irons and the Vokey SM11 wedges.

He said he did switch from the 2021 to the 2025 model of the Pro V1x last spring in-season, but that was a much simpler move.

“And those balls weren’t super different. This is a little bit bigger jump. But I hit enough shots to feel confident that it was better for me than what I was playing,” Spieth said. “I’ve always played the highest-spinning ball because I thought I needed it in the long irons. Now with this, whatever my makeup is, and then just kind of added speed; my spin rates have been fine if not too high. So it’s actually kind of nice to be able to drop it down a little bit.”

After the ball was dialed in, Spieth was already liking what he saw with the GTS2 driver and said he needed a new 3-wood after his TSR3 gamer caved in on him. He and Van Wezenbeeck worked on the range to dial in the new driver and 3-wood to match his lower-spinning golf ball.

He also changed to the Fujikura Ventus Black OG shaft in the 3-wood to match his driver, but after the round he wasn’t sure if the GTS2 was the perfect one for him yet.

“It’s kind of a trial run,” Spieth said. “I didn’t hit it great today so I’m going to go hit a few on the range and continue to fall in love with it.”

He gained nearly a half stroke off the tee in Round 1 and had been losing strokes all season.

Inside Justin Rose’s McLaren iron testing | Q & A

Easily the biggest gear story of the week was Justin Rose joining McLaren Golf and debuting their Series 1 and Series 3 irons at Doral. You can check out the inside stories of why Rose decided to team up with McLaren, how the brand was built from scratch and the details of the new irons here, but we wanted to dive deeper into the testing process that led Rose to game a split set of the Series 1 and Series 3.

Below is a Q and A with McLaren Head of Design-Irons and Wedges, JP Herrington, on Rose’s testing process with the club. Herrington personally built the irons Rose is using. (Eds. note: This Q and A has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.)

Jack Hirsh: What does the fitting process look like for someone who had a hand in designing these irons?

JP Herrington: One of the first things we want to do is really establish that address profile — what it looks like looking down at the golf club, the face profile, toe height, par height, that transition in between that leading edge and all those offset and those things. Justin said early on that the first thing you do is set it down at address, right? So if you feel that confidence or just that the look that fits your eye, that starts those positive vibrations.

What comes after you lock in the look?

Once you establish that face profile, then you can start on the next phase, which would be ultimately the sole and CG. We created a lot of prototypes and just kind of had a competition of the soles based on his performance and feel. If there were adjustments, you go back, you make adjustments, you retest, you just keep repeating that process until you get it right.

How do you test and refine CG?

You want to hold one variable constant — let’s say the CGX — and do a variable on CGY, and then vice versa. So now you’re identifying those variables. Then you want to hold all those things that we prototyped and tested into what that design is going to ultimately end up being.

What was he looking for in this set that he wasn’t getting with what he was playing previously?

The sole that he was using felt a bit clunky through the turf, right? And that also created some knuckleballs type of thing, flyers and things like that, not generating that consistent spin. Consistency in those spin rates and launch angles is very high priority for Justin. He’s like a human launch monitor at the end of the day.

McLaren Golf Series 1 Custom Irons

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What kind of sole is on his irons right now?

So currently right now we’ve got him into a lower bounce than that. One big bounce step down from the stock set with a real crisp leading edge. He has both sets and and will be going back and forth depending on turf conditions and softness and things like that. So if he needs a little bit more resistance to digging through impact, based on turf conditions, then he has that option.

How does his delivery influence those decisions on what you do to avoid that with these irons?

He has that kind of moderate attack into the golf ball. He’s not picking it every time and he’s not digging trenches out there. It’s just a real smooth delivery. He hits that ball first and then that thing is going to cut into the turf, and then get out of the divot and maintain that speed through the divot, which is important to finish the swing.

Where do the Series 3 irons fit in? He mentioned he wasn’t sure whether he was putting in a Series 3 4- or 5-iron to his set.

He played the 4- and the 5-iron Thursday in the Series 3. One of the main things was that it was really holding its line very nicely, that face stability. That club has a higher MOI than the Series 1. It got a little bit more peak height and a little bit more ball speed, and that trajectory that he’s looking for as well.

What kind of ball speed is he seeing with, let’s say a 6-iron

He was in the realm of about 135 mph 6-iron, and he’s been approaching 140 mph very comfortably. But it’s not just about that ball speed. It’s coupled with the spin, and that spin combination at that number was really performing.

Any other key fitting elements?

That progressive offset that we’re carrying forward into the retail Series 1. With more offset in those long irons, he can square the face easier, and then into the mid irons it reduces and then reduces further into the short iron. And there was never a question about the shaft. He loves his KBS C-Tapers. It’s super stable, and we didn’t want to change too many variables.

McLaren Golf Series 3 Custom Irons

An engineering powerhouse providing distance and forgiveness. Featuring a powerful engine built around its Metal Injection Molded frame, Series3 is a complete performance system. Internal weighting and carbon fiber elements work in unison, positioning the center of gravity with precision and stabilizing the club through impact. The result is scintillating speed, responsive control and vibration-dampening feel.

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Fleetwood loads up the top of the bag

Doral’s Blue Monster features not one, not two, but three beefy par-3s that are listed over 215 yards on the scorecard. That means you better have clubs that will specifically be ready to cover those yardages.

Tommy Fleetwood prepared exactly for those extra long shots.

Fleetwood dropped his 56˚ wedge this week (going 52-60 instead) and added a TaylorMade P770 4-iron in between his 9-wood and 5-iron.

According to TaylorMade Tour Rep Adrian Rietveld, Fleetwood’s P7TW 5-iron carries 220 while his 9-wood carries 240, so the goal was to find something to fit that 230 carry window.

The pair tested both this weak 4-iron (24˚) and a stronger P770 5-iron to try and fill the gap. Rietveld said both clubs have their advantages for roll out and different distances, but ultimately they went with the weak 4-iron, which he said might also get use on layups for the par-5s. All of the par-5s measure 570 or longer and two are over 600.

TaylorMade P770 Custom Irons

SOLID FORGED FEEL Improved for a more solid feel like never before. The 2024 P•770 has been strategically tuned using a player’s forged construction and modal analysis to create a notable improvement and the best feeling P•770 to date. MODERN PLAYERS IRON TaylorMade’s FLTD CG™ coupled with precision milled face and grooves, deliver the launch and spin modern players demand. Designed with forgiving, high launching long irons and lower launching, high spinning scoring irons for accuracy and control. CONSISTENCY Consistent ball striking and accurate shot making from a forged iron construction designed with meticulous mass optimization and an updated tungsten weight design for more forgiving long irons. REFINED SHAPING Refined shaping for a cleaner look and improved turf interaction. The 2024 P•770 has a thinner topline visual balanced with a confidence inspiring, compact head shape. A newly modified leading edge design helps deliver consistent shot making and crisp turf interaction.

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Fleetwood and Rietveld were sold when the former flushed the 4-iron on the par-3 9th during practice rounds and produced 151 mph ball speed, 108-foot apex height, 4683 RPMs of spin and a carry of 229 yards. A perfect gap filler.

This is an awesome example of building golf clubs specifically for the course, and many amateurs would be wise to do the same for their home course.

Most weeks, Fleetwood can live with the 20-yard gap between his 9-wood and 5-iron, but when he is presented with so many shots between 220 and 240 yards, why not add another option there to avoid having to hit half shots with a fairway wood or long iron?

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 Jordan Spieth’s T.P. Mills Trad II Forged putter.

Odds and Ends

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

Nicolai Hojgaard is gaming a new Odyssey Damascus Milled Jailbird DB Prototype putter … Justin Thomas is still using his Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS that he switched to mid-way through the RBC Heritage … Rickie Fowler signed a Name, Image and Likeness deal with UST Mamiya golf shafts … Brooks Koepka is a free agent again after dissolving his partnership with Cleveland/Srixon … The Titleist GTS driver picked up free agent converts of Maverick McNealy (GTS3) and Nick Taylor (GTS4), while staffer Michael Kim (GTS2) and Patrick Rodgers (GTS3) also added the new driver … Ricky Castillo also added a GTS3 5-wood … Keith Mitchell added a Qi4D LS driver … Chris Gotterup and Shane Lowry upgraded their Qi35 fairways to the Qi4D, with Gotterup switching 5-woods and Lowery going to a 16.5˚ 4-wood while keeping his previously added Qi4D 7-wood … Denny McCarthy also added a Qi4D 3-wood … Tommy Fleetwood went back to a black-finished Spider Tour

3 things you should read/watch

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

Justin Rose’s shocking McLaren move was years in the making — Dylan Dethier takes you behind the scenes of Justin Rose’s decision to join McLaren Golf.

Brooks Koepka, Cleveland/Srixon dissolve equipment partnership — After Brooks Koepka and Cleveland Srixon announced they are parting ways, what might be the next move for the five-time major winner.

This pro bomber uses a rare equipment combination for the LPGA — Jake Morrow dives into why Auston Kim is one of the few LPGA players to use Fujikura’s Ventus Black shaft in her driver.

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 Jordan Spieth made ‘extremely rare’ changes to his gear | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post This model is becoming the most intriguing Titleist GTS driver | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post This model is becoming the most intriguing Titleist GTS driver | 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.

In what’s a typically quiet week for gear changes this week at the unique team format Zurich Classic, one of Titleist’s new drivers is starting to raise eyebrows — and it’s not the model you’d think.

With a tough spot in the schedule and a different format, the Zurich Classic usually offers a window into the world of gear for some of the PGA Tour’s grinders as they try to take advantage of a rare start. You can check out some of the cool things we spotted last year here.

This year is more of the same, with only a few players making major gear switches. However, there’s one trend involving Titleist’s GTS drivers, which have now been on the Tour for five weeks. It appears the GTS4 will be a bit more than a niche driver in the GTS lineup.

This week, three players put the new “4” model into play, which already outpaces GT4 usage for the entire season. Two different players used the GT4 in one event each this past season, Vince Whaley at the WM Phoenix Open and Thomas Rosenmueller at the Farmers Insurance Open.

For the last several generations, the “4” model has been the most compact driver in the Titleist family, usually clocking in under the maximum 460 cc USGA legal limit at 430 cc or 440 cc. It served a unique purpose as a low-spin option for a player with a negative-angle-of-attack delivery with a driver and presumably very high speed.

Drivers

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

By: Jack Hirsh

In recent years, pros have moved away from more compact low-spin models in favor of more forgiving heads. Slowly and slowly, Titleist’s “4” model has fallen out of favor on the PGA Tour.

That doesn’t make it a bad driver, and it fills a unique niche that simply not many players have needed, similar to the company’s CPO golf ball offerings.

But since the launch five weeks ago, already four players have put the new GTS4 into play, double the usage of the GT3. Zac Blair, Davis Riley and Frankie Capan III all added the driver this week, joining Patrick Cantlay, who debuted it last week at Harbour Town.

We’re still don’t have official details on the new driver from Titleist, but thanks to an interview Riley did with GolfWRX at the Zurich Classic, we know the GTS4 “isn’t quite as small” as the GT4. Whether that means it’s up to 460 cc like the GTS2 and GTS3 remains to be confirmed.

But what is clear is that the GTS4 is now a legitimate option within the Titleist lineup and potentially one that could capture a lot more usage than it has previously. We’ll await the official details for more!

What to watch for the next three weeks

With the addition of next week’s Cadillac Championship, the PGA Tour schedule now has a back-to-back Signature Event in the lead-up to the year’s second major, which is why many bigger names took this week off at the Zurich.

After we saw loads of clubs built specifically for Augusta National in the weeks leading up to the Masters, what might players go for at Aronimink for the PGA Championship?

That work is taking place right now, with many pros taking the week off from New Orleans and several taking next week’s Cadillac Championship in Miami off as well.

As a classic Donald Ross design, Aronimink will challenge players off the tee with numerous well-placed bunkers and likely heavy rough.

Fairway Woods

These clubs were built just for Augusta National | Masters Tour Report

By: Jack Hirsh

Last year’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow saw a craze of 7-woods and 9-woods to deal with the heavy rough. Is it possible we see a similar setup? I would bet so. At Augusta, players used those clubs to create height going into the greens, but in Philadelphia, they’ll need them for versatility.

If the PGA chooses not to grow the rough up, then I could foresee some driving irons being built for the next major, especially with some of the shorter and well-bunkered tee shots on the front nine.

Either way, pros and reps aren’t leaving anything to chance. Those clubs are getting built during this time, so whatever situation arises at Aronimink, a player doesn’t have to vet a new club the week of a major championship.

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 Austin Eckroat’s rare Golf Pride Victory Cord grips. Eckroat is T2 heading into the weekend at the Zurich with partner Davis Thompson.

Odds and Ends

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

PXG launched its new 0317 Tour irons, which will presumably replace the current 0317 STs. They feature what looks like a forged shallow-cavity design, but have the adjustable heel-toe-weighting of the 0311 Gen. 8 irons. Chad Ramey and David Lipsky put them in the bag … Brooke Henderson switched to the new 2026 Spider Tour X with the torched PVD finish at the Chevron while Will Gordon, Patton Kizzire and Keita Nakajima did so at Zurich … Ben Martin added a 2026 Spider Tour while Kyle Stanley and Nick Watney switched to Spiders this week, all for the first time, bringing the field total to 32 … Blades Brown opted for a Callaway Qunatum Triple Diamond 7-wood in place of his 19˚ UT … Callaway won the driver count at the Chevron with 32, five more than the next most … Greyson Sigg and Erik van Rooyen are the latest to add Callaway’s trendy Apex MB ’26 prototype … Alex Fitzpatrick has a Qi4D 3-wood and 7-wood, giving the Fitzpatrick brothers five TaylorMade fairways between them … Michael Thorbjornsen switched to a set of TaylorMade P7MBs from 5-PW while his P7MC 4-iron remains … Marty Dou, Jacob Scov Olsen, Vince Whaley and Camilo Villegas all added the Titleist GTS3 for the first time this week, making for 56 players to put one in play since it launched … Dou, A.J. Ewart, Doug Ghim, Tom Kim and Mac Meissner all added at least one GTS fairway wood … Johnny Keefer and Tom Hoge both added a variation of Scotty Cameron’s Phantom 3 prototype with Keefer going with the 3 and Hoge chosing the 3.2

3 things you should read/watch

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

Can a golf ball ‘private club’ work? Inside The Underground – Johnny Wunder dives into the most exclusive golf ball in the game.

What I learned hitting Cobra’s secret 3D-printed Tour prototypes – Jake Morrow gets a chance to dive into Cobra’s 3DP Tour program by testing some of the prototypes made for specific Tour players like Rickie Fowler and Lexi Thompson.

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.

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, Cobra

Matt Fitzpatrick’s win proves blade putters aren’t extinct just yet – Matt Fitzpatrick won again after switching back to his Bettinardi BB1 Flow prototype blade. The blade putter is not dead yet on the PGA Tour.

Bettinardi 2026 BB1 Savannah Blue PVD Putter

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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 This model is becoming the most intriguing Titleist GTS driver | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Rickie Fowler’s 3rd driver of the year isn’t cause for alarm | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Rickie Fowler’s 3rd driver of the year isn’t cause for alarm | 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.

Rickie Fowler is using his third different Cobra OPTM driver of the season this week at the RBC Heritage — but his driver switches are not because of poor performance.

Coming into the week, the 37-year-old ranks 17th in accuracy, 18th in total driving and 18th in total driving efficiency, a combined measure of how far he is carrying it and his total yardage compared to his clubhead speed. He’s positive in SG: Off-the-Tee at just under three-tenths of a shot.

So why is Fowler continuing to cycle through drivers? This week, he’s using the OPTM MAX LS-K prototype driver, which his good friend Gary Woodland won with last month, but for most of the season, it’s been the OPTM X, the driver most of Cobra’s Tour players use. But he’s also used the OPTM LS earlier this year at the Players.

Turns out, Fowler and Ben Schomin had confident fits in all three of Cobra’s OPTM heads used on Tour.

“This is an interesting and good story,” Schomin told GOLF. “By mid-December last year, we had him fit very well into OPTM LS, X, and Max K. I think that’s a strong testament to our new lineup.

“He had three distinct drivers and the biggest decision was trying to decide which worked best at that time. He’s played the majority of the season with OPTM X, but has also played a couple of tourneys with OPTM LS. His overall driving stats have been good.

“So it’s not that he’s lost and searching, but rather has confidence in all three and wants to test drive their performance on the track.”

Fowler also made a change in shaft length recently, going from a 44.125″ — one of the shortest on Tour — shaft UST LinQ Powercore White to 45″. The added length is potentially one of the reasons he wanted to consider the more forgiving Max-K head.

So far, that’s working well for Fowler as he opened with rounds of 65 and 69. He ranks 35th in SG: OTT, picking up nearly sevent-tenths of a stroke and has missed just seven of 28 fairways.

It shouldn’t be surprising either that Fowler is taking after Woodland. Woodland’s Cleveland RTZ offset lob wedge and Scotty Cameron center-shafted GoLo putter only ended up in his bag after Fowler started the year with them.

Cobra OPTM Max-K Custom Driver

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, Cobra

Michael Kim broke his 3-wood. Then he stole’ Max Homa’s

Perhaps the worst time at a PGA Tour event to have an equipment issue is Wednesday afternoon, but that’s exactly the situation Michael Kim found himself in this week.

Kim took to Twitter Wednesday evening, as he so often does, as one of golf’s best personalities on the platform, to reveal he discovered a crack in his TaylorMade Qi10 3-wood.

“I was getting ready to hit my tee shot on 18 with my 3 wd and noticed a decent-sized crack on the face,” he wrote. “All the trucks are gone so the rep is trying to get it shipped overnight. My head pro from home is also shipping my backup from my locker.”

Earlier in the week, this would have been a non-issue as the Tour trucks from each OEM that follow the PGA Tour week-to-week could have easily built him a new one. But the Tour trucks typically leave events on Wednesdays around noon each week to have enough time to make it to the next event.

With the trucks already bound for New Orleans and next week’s Zurich Classic, Kim found an interesting solution. He intended to play with a borrowed Qi4D 3HL-wood from Max Homa.

In fact, Kim later wrote that several other pros offered their backup 3-woods to him, but Homa’s seemed to work the best, despite having a wildly different shaft, a Ventus Black 8-X with Velocore+ compared to his usual Graphite Design Tour AD UB-7 X.

“Def different profile, but it worked pretty well on the range,” Kim later told GOLF. He also added that he was expecting to get his backup 3-wood from his home course in time for his 11:00 a.m. tee time Thursday.

Luckily, it did arrive in time, but Kim said he remembered that he had flattened his gamer earlier this year, but not his backup, which has been sitting in his locker at his home course. Every shot overdrew on the range, he wrote. Again, no trucks around capable of making the lie adjustment to a fairway wood.

So Kim ended up gaming Homa’s 4-wood and despite the difference in shaft, he said he really liked it, enough to even ask TaylorMade to build him one. He hit 3/4 fairways with the club and gained .32 shots when playing it off the tee.

Titleist, TaylorMade begin seeding new lines

The week after the Masters was a big one for seeding of new products as both TaylorMade and Titleist launched new gear at Harbour Town.

TaylorMade had three players using its new 2026 Spider putters, including Tommy Fleetwood and Jacob Bridgeman, who are both using new versions of the Spider Tour.

It’s the second putter change in three weeks for Fleetwood, who changed the alignment aid on his Spider Tour Black the week before the Masters. TaylorMade Tour Rep James Holley said the new model is identical to his old putter but with a different finish and wider “Pilot’s Eye” alignment aid.

Pierceson Coody is using the Spider Tour F he first put into play four weeks ago at the Valspar Championship. TaylorMade

TaylorMade also tied for the overall putter count after the first round with 21, but then pushed ahead in the second round after Ryo Hisatsune switched to a TaylorMade blade. Last year, TaylorMade had just 12 putters in play at this same event.

Elsewhere, Titleist officially launched its GTS fairway woods at the RBC Heritage.

Cameron Young and Johnny Keefer both previously added the GTS3 7-wood at the Valero and the Masters, respectively, but four more GTS fairway metals were in play as well.

Bud Cauley (GTS3 15.0), Joe Highsmith (GTS2 13.5) and Jordan Smith (GTS2 13.5, GTS3 18.0) all added new GTS fairway metals for Harbour Town.

As with the drivers, there are few technical details out there right now, but from images, we do know both the GTS2 and GTS3 feature adjustable heel-toe weighting in addition to a silver face that was seen as a prototype on Young’s GT1 3-wood.

GTS2 also appears significantly shallower than the GTS3.

There was, however, no mention of the GTS fairway wood that GolfWRX spotted Michael Brennan testing at the Houston Open three weeks ago at the GTS driver launch.

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 Harris English’s 15-year-old Ping Scottsdale Hohum mallet.

Odds and Ends

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

Karl Vilips is playing without a driver this week, going with an R7 Quad Mini, 3-wood and a 7-wood … Patrick Cantlay became the first player to add Titleist’s GTS4 driver and three others also added a GTS driver this week … Jhonattan Vegas is the latest player to move into Callaway’s *still* unreleased Apex MB ’26s … Jason Day added Ping’s prototype mini driver … TaylorMade had 72 fairway woods in play with the next competitor at 24 … Denny McCarthy added an R7 Quad 11.5 … Chris Gotterup is playing his TaylorMade P770 3-iron … Jordan Smith is the latest player to get ‘Spidered’, adding Spider tour X … J.T. Poston has a new Qi4D 7-wood … Tommy Fleetwood switched to a Titleist SM11 T-Grind lob wedge … Garrick Higgo switched from a 9.0 to 10.5 Ping G440 K.

3 things you should read/watch

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

Meet the man behind Rory McIlroy’s Masters-winning Spider putter. The PGA Tour’s Spider-fever got another shot of momentum with Rory McIlroy’s second green jacket. Meet the man who is responsible for building and fitting all of the new ones out there.

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

Cobra’s R&D was asked to think outside the box. Now they’re 3D printing golf clubs. Jake Morrow takes you inside the process of bringing Cobra’s first 3DP irons to market and what the technology enables for the future.

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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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, Cobra

This rising star has a golf bag built for the modern bomber | Bag Spy. For this week’s Bag Spy, we dive into the bag of Michael Thorbjornsen and what he’s changed to adapt to PGA Tour golf.

TaylorMade R7 Quad Custom Mini Driver

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

$479.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, TaylorMade

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 Rickie Fowler’s 3rd driver of the year isn’t cause for alarm | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PING G440 Max Custom Fairway Wood

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

$369.00 from Fairway Jockey

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mini Mania at Augusta National

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

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

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

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

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

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

TaylorMade R7 Quad Custom Mini Driver

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

$479.99 from Fairway Jockey

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quiet week on the trucks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harry Hall goes nuclear on the bag after Round 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Golf Pride continues major dominance

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

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

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

Check this out

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

Odds and Ends

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

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

3 things you should read/watch

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

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

Titleist GT3 Custom Driver

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

$649.00 $449.99 from Fairway Jockey

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

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

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

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

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

The post 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.

$349.99 from Fairway Jockey

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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

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

By: Jack Hirsh

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.

$329.99 from Fairway Jockey

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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.

$350.00 from Fairway Jockey

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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

Why Max Homa is playing Cobra's 'working prototype' driver | Tour Report

By: Jack Hirsh

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. 

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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

$157.14 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.