NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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It’s been seven years since Nike exited the hard-goods business and left several notable players searching for new equipment. Because of that, Nike golf clubs are almost completely phased out of the professional game, but there are a few significant exceptions.
Brooks Koepka continues to use a Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron that has been in the bag for all five of his major victories, including the recent PGA Championship. He has stockpiled several backups of the all-black 3-iron and, although he has sometimes gamed other 3-irons, such as the TaylorMade P790, it doesn’t sound as if he will ever abandon the Vapor Fly Pro for good.
"I remember having that thing from basically the moment I signed with Nike (in 2016),” Koepka told Golf.com last year. “It’s not coming out of the bag, and I got plenty of backups … the shaft is starting to wear right where the club rubs against the bag. I’ve had to reglue the ferrule because that’s come loose. But yeah, I mean, once I get equipment that I like and I stick with it – I’m not a tinkerer. I don’t change. I keep it just how it is.”
And Koepka isn’t the only top player who has kept the same club. Tony Finau continues to use a Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron – his club includes some lead tape on the back of the clubhead.
Finau does not have as many backups as Koepka, but that shouldn’t be a problem.
“The one I’m using is actually one of my two backups,” Finau said recently. “My original lasted me about six years. So with my math, if this one lasts me six years, and my other backup lasts me another six years, I’ll be about 50 years old by the time I’m done using both. It’s a great club. It’s one I’ve had in the bag since 2015, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon. I hit it great.”
There was another important gear note from Koepka’s PGA Championship victory at Oak Hill.
If you remember back at the end of 2021, Koepka signed a deal with Cleveland/Srixon to end his long stint as an equipment free agent.
From the outside, that partnership looked to be in peril when Koepka opted for a TaylorMade M5 driver and a Titleist Pro V1x ball at the 2022 U.S. Open. Cleveland/Srixon said it was working with Koepka to get on the same page with him, but it was “not a perfect fit yet.” Koepka struggled in the majors last year, not contending for victory in a single one.
Fast forward to this past week when Koepka had a Srixon ZX5 Mk II driver and a Srixon Z-Star Diamond ball. He also has Srixon ZX7 Mk II irons (4-9) and Cleveland RTX ZipCore wedges. His Vapor Fly Pro, TaylorMade M2 fairway wood and Scotty Cameron T10 Select Newport 2 prototype were the only non-Cleveland/Srixon clubs in his bag.
That is a huge win for Cleveland/Srixon. What could have been a disastrous relationship has turned into exactly what it was hoping for when Koepka signed with the company in 2021.
Sean Fairholm