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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
A pair of quirky equipment notes emerged from Dustin Johnson’s recent victory at the Travelers Championship.
The first is that Johnson won with two hybrids in the bag – 19- and 22-degree TaylorMade SIM Max rescues – making for consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour in which a player used multiple hybrids on his way to the title. At the RBC Heritage, Webb Simpson used a 21-degree Titleist 913Hd and a 23.5-degree Titleist 915Hd, showing that hybrids have value for precision players like Simpson and bombers like Johnson.
About 85 percent of LPGA Tour players use hybrids, but that popularity has been slower to translate to the PGA Tour. Mark Wilson won the 2011 Sony Open in Hawaii using a 17-degree Ping i15 and a 20-degree Callaway Prototype, but it’s a strategy that hasn’t otherwise been used widely on the game’s top tour.
However, there seems to be a shift toward using hybrids that fit certain yardage gaps better than fairway woods or long irons. They are even being used off the tee for placement on par-4s, which has an odd look to it. Regardless, Johnson says the hybrids are staying in his bag.
“'I’ve been hitting hybrid off the tee on No. 9, and today I hit hybrid and a pitching wedge to about two inches,” Johnson said after the third round at the Travelers. “Yesterday I did the same thing, hybrid and a pitching wedge to about 5 feet, and made it.”
The other item of interest from Johnson’s win at TPC River Highlands is that he used his third putter in as many weeks since the restart.
Putting had been a source of frustration recently for the 21-time PGA Tour winner as he lost ground to the field on the greens at the Charles Schwab Challenge and the RBC Heritage. That changed at the Travelers as he picked up 1.49 strokes on the field using his TaylorMade Truss TB1 putter.
Why go through three putters in three weeks?
Johnson is known for testing at least five different putters before each tournament, regardless of how he finished the previous event. He has gone back and forth between a blade and mallet style putter recently because he enjoys the look of the blade but prefers the stability of the mallet on shorter putts.
He may have found a good marriage of the two with the TB1, which is a heel-shafted blade with additional weight in the toe that counterbalances the hosel. It allows for an attractive look but enhanced stability.
Sean Fairholm