NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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A week after Rory McIlroy completed his career Grand Slam in dramatic fashion at the Masters using his TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter, similar versions showed up in the hands of a couple more top-ranked players at the RBC Heritage.
Collin Morikawa and Tommy Fleetwood both switched from their blade-style TaylorMade putters into the mallet-style Spider at Harbour Town Golf Links.
After conducting some early-week testing after the Masters, Morikawa switched from his TaylorMade TP Soto into a Spider Tour V putter, which is designed to allow for more face rotation and mimic the functionality of a blade with the forgiveness across the face of a mallet.
“Collin being in that blade putter, he prefers forward CG (center of gravity),” TaylorMade putter rep James Holley told GolfWRX.com. “So … I think he’s going to play Spider V – that’s our most forward CG Spider.”
Fleetwood opted to trade his TaylorMade Truss for a custom Spider Tour putter with some Sharpie alignment lines drawn across the crown.
“Have you ever seen the leading edge on the Zero Torque? It’s got a little milling on the edge as well as the top line,” Fleetwood told GolfWRX at the RBC Heritage. “When I put it down, I enjoyed lining it up. So then we tried some Spider versions trying to get the same effect, basically. Do you remember Scottie (Scheffler) had it with the Logan Olson putter on the top edge? It’s like the same concept really. It’s just like making the alignment really thick with the stripes. Literally just sit the putter down and line up the ball, and then go at it.”
GolfWRX.com took a recent look at the bags of identical Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard to see if the equipment they use is as identical as they are. It’s similar, but it’s not exactly the same
Considering each player generates 123-plus mph in clubhead speed, both Højgaards play with many similar Callaway clubs in the bag – Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond 10.5 degree drivers, X-Forged ’24 irons, Opus Raw wedges and Chrome Tour X balls.
They also each deploy 21-degree 7-woods – Nicolai a TaylorMade Stealth 2 and Rasmus a Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond. Nicolai adds a little extra loft in his 16.5-degree Callaway Elyte HL 3-wood, while Rasmus uses a 15-degree Elyte Triple Diamond model.
As for their putters, both Højgaards use a variation of the Odyssey mallets with double-bend style hosels – Nicolai an Ai One Jailbird Mini and Rasmus an Ai-One Milled 8T DB.
The differences in their setups, according to Callaway fitter Johnny Thompson, are due to Nicolai’s flatter swing compared to Rasmus’ steeper plane and higher hands, which require a little custom-tuning with shafts and sole grinds to suit each player. Basically, Nicolai aims to maximize launch and spin while Rasmus aims to minimize it.
“I would say it’s more probably our golf swings creating different flights, so therefore we have to fit it for whatever flight and whatever spin we put on the ball,” Nicolai told PGATour.com. “Our swings are completely different. [The clubs] have to be so perfect for whoever’s going to play them. It’s so important to get fitted correctly.”
Scott Michaux