NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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Brooks Koepka has been busy trying to regain his form playing DP World Tour events, contending in the Open de France and finishing T15 in the Dunhill Links Championship.
While he was in St Andrews two weeks ago, he had an interesting conversation about equipment with Lewis Daff of Today’s Golfer about his setup and why he can’t let go of a couple of clubs he’s used throughout his five major wins – a 16.5-degree TaylorMade M2 HL 3-wood and the increasingly rare Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron.
The 3-wood, Koepka contends, is the most difficult club to get just right, so he hasn’t changed the head out and instead just swaps in new shafts when the old ones occasionally wear out.
“I think the 3-wood is the toughest club to even get fitted for. I haven’t really ever found anything where it sits down quite right in the fairway or off the tee,” Koepka said. “The flight that I see with this one – I haven’t found just anything where it’s better. I think this one is going on maybe 10, 11, maybe 12 years now. But it’s crazy. Like I said I don’t tinker so when I find something that works I’ll keep going with it.”
As for that Nike Vapor Pro 3-iron that he calls “old faithful,” he keeps using it as long as he can keep it in stock.
“I’ve got this one [his current gamer] and maybe one more is what I’ve got,” he said. “I’m not a tinkerer, I don’t play around with different options. I’ve tried throwing a 5-wood in, but the ball flight doesn’t look right to me. I don’t know why. I’m not at the age where I need a little extra help with extra woods, which is lucky, but probably in five or six years I’ll take all the help I can get.
“As of right now, that 3-iron has been my old faithful. I know the flight it should be. The original one actually caved in on 18 (during the Open Championship) at Portrush this year. Luckily, I wasn’t playing Saturday or Sunday so I didn’t have to go without a club. But it’s been crazy, I’ve been carrying the backup around for a couple of months, sort of knowing it was at the end and it just happened to now make its way to the front of the bag.”
Koepka also discussed his unusual process for testing and choosing his golf ball – a Srixon Z-Star Diamond. He starts out on the putting green.
“The first thing we do is go putt with it,” he said. “I know that sounds crazy, but you’ll get an idea putting. If you have five or six different golf balls, you’ve got to have the right feel and immediately you can kind of eliminate one and we can just work our way out [from there].
“We go 20 yards, 40 yards, then you just go through the wedges, and I think all you’re looking for is flight and spin. It’s obviously so important with us, as pros, being able to control your distances from there. If you can do that, especially when it’s in the wind, you’re going to have lower scores, I don’t care who you are, controlling the golf ball from those distances.”
The driver – a Titleist GT3 – and an array of new Cleveland RTZ wedges are the most up-to-date clubs in Koepka’s bag. He also carries Srixon ZX7 Mk II irons (4-9) that first sold him on signing with the company after being an equipment free agent when Nike got out of the equipment game. As discussed a couple of weeks ago, he’s been trying out new putters, but the Scotty Cameron Teryllium Tour Newport 2 keeps finding its way back into his bag.
Scott Michaux