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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
It’s well-documented how Bryson DeChambeau is influencing players to increase their clubhead speed, but it’s not the only trend he is pushing.
PGA Tour players have long used steel shafts in their irons, almost exclusively. DeChambeau’s overwhelming success with graphite iron shafts – he’s worked with LA Golf to put Rebar Prototype shafts in his Cobra King Utility Prototype irons (4-5) and Cobra King Forged Tour One Length (6-PW) – is causing many to reconsider what once was no decision at all.
Abraham Ancer is using graphite Mitsubishi MMT shafts in his Miura TC-201 irons, and now Kevin Kisner is doing the same for his Callaway Apex Pro irons. More than anything, graphite iron shafts are being talked about openly in locker rooms and practice ranges on tour.
Another trend making noise is the new Scotty Cameron Phantom X line. It started when Max Homa switched to a Phantom X 11.5 mallet from his Futura T5W and quickly won the Genesis Invitational. Charles Howell III (Phantom X 11.5 Tour Prototype) and Bernd Wiesberger (Phantom X 11 Tour Prototype) added putters at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, while Sergio García came out with a Phantom X to shoot an opening-round, 7-under 65 at the Players Championship.
For monster drivers like DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy, making small adjustments can have a large impact on how far they can push the limits off the tee. DeChambeau has dropped 8 grams of weight from his LA Golf Axis Blue 60X shaft and gone back to an older driver, a Cobra King LTD Black, that he’s been using on and off for years. In McIlroy’s case, he previously played a 10.5-degree TaylorMade SIM2 driver with the loft sleeve set to the lower setting, which means 8.75 degrees of actual loft. Now he’s gone to a 9-degree SIM2 without altering the loft setting. The end result was adding a quarter of a degree of loft – it may sound like a minuscule difference, but these guys can tell.
DeChambeau also continues to tinker with his putter, which is a Sik Pro C Armlock. He’s added a longer neck that is closer to the centerline of the head and reduces toe hang by 20 degrees. The launch numbers did not differ with the adjustments, but he thought the longer neck provided greater stability. DeChambeau ranked No. 21 in strokes gained putting in his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“We changed the hosel a couple weeks ago and when I put it in place it felt incredibly stable and it was a better iteration than the previous model,” DeChambeau said. “From my perspective it was like, ‘OK, it’s great, let’s test it.’ So I tested it at Concession and I putted really good, and (at) Arnold Palmer I putted really well, too. It’s one of those things that’s immediately made an improvement in my game.”
At the Players Championship, FootJoy led the shoe count at 53 percent of the field compared to 17 percent for their closest competitor. The company also led the glove count at 36 percent.
Sean Fairholm