NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
After shoulder surgery in January 2019 it’s been a long road back for Wesley Bryan.
The 2017 RBC Heritage winner has made seven cuts in 10 events since going under the knife, but he’s been looking for a spark off the tee. Bryan played with Jon Rahm before the Genesis Invitational and decided he liked Rahm’s ability to drive the ball so much that he also wanted a Callaway Epic Speed driver – built to the exact specs Rahm has.
Bryan asked Rahm for permission to use the same Aldila Tour Green 75TX he uses because the shaft is not produced anymore and a limited number of them exist. Rahm had no issues with it, and Bryan finished T43 at Riviera.
Rory McIlroy also worked in new shafts recently. You would have to go back to 2007 to find the last time the Ulsterman played something other than Project X shafts in his irons, but a switch to the new TaylorMade TP5X golf ball had a meaningful impact on his spin rates.
That gave McIlroy enough reason to switch into True Temper Dynamic Golf X7 shafts. The heaviest and stiffest steel product among the Dynamic Gold family is meant for only a handful of tour players given the incredibly low launch and spin it offers. Jason Day and Cameron Champ are two other players using the shafts.
McIlroy struggled at the Genesis Invitational, his first tournament with the new shafts, missing the cut for the first time since the 2019 Open Championship. He looked far more comfortable at the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession when he ranked fourth in strokes gained tee to green in his first round.
Xander Schauffele is another top-10 player with a recent gear shift. He switched to a set of Callaway Apex TCB irons with a raw finish, preferring the unplated look that resembled his original set of Apex Pro prototypes.
Schauffele has added ball speed recently, reaching 122 mph. The Callaway tour rep working with Schauffele added weight to his club in anticipation of warmer weather on the Florida Swing, believing the Californian will be swinging faster than at any point in his career. The swing weight went from a D1.5 to D3.
It takes a lot for Kevin Na to change equipment. He had gone nearly four years using the same Callaway GBB Epic driver, but recent testing of a 9-degree Callaway Epic Speed Sub Zero Triple Diamond driver convinced him to switch. Na saw a tighter dispersion on off-center hits, a more consistent ball flight and less spin.
At the Concession event, FootJoy led with 50 percent of the shoe count and 38 percent of the glove count. At the Puerto Rico Open, FootJoy had 77 percent of the shoe count and 47 percent of the glove count.
Sean Fairholm
