Seen On Tour

Photo By: J.D. Cuban
One of Ping’s latest club introductions is its G Crossover iron—a cross between a game-improvement iron and a hybrid. Hunter Mahan had the number of each club painted in orange, in homage to his college, Oklahoma State.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Tour pros often bend the loft on their wedges in order to further dial in distance gaps. Count Peter Malnati among them as his 56-degree Titleist Vokey SM6 was delofted by 1 degree to 55 degrees.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
William McGirt became a dad for the second time in November of last year, and decided to keep his thoughts of his baby daughter, Caroline, close to him on the course by stamping her name on his Cleveland wedge.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
The koala bear is native to Australia, so it’s only natural that Aussie Aaron Baddeley uses a headcover with a likeness of the furry creature.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
For several years Justin Rose has used a split set of irons. This year, however, Rose is using the same model throughout, and it’s one of the less forgiving models as he has TaylorMade's Tour Preferred MB irons in the bag.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Although a small putter company, several pros have used Piretti putters over the past couple of years. This putter cover from the company shows Piretti is willing to provide whatever it takes to tour pros.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Charl Schwartzel’s Nike VR Forged wedges not only have the 2011 Masters champion’s initial stamped on them, but judging from the dirt caked on the clubs they’ve been working a little overtime.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Odyssey’s Milled Collection RSX putter has been out on tour for a few weeks. The putter, which previously was only available in Japan, was brought to the tour in order to provide an option with a bit more feedback in a milled-face design. It also has a sound chamber in the sole for unique sound and feel.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Ping’s Glide wedges come in three sole grinds—thin sole, wide sole and standard sole. Former Honda champ Mark Wilson opts for the latter. Interestingly, while most players have, at most, a five-degree gap between their wedges, Wilson has an eight-degree gap, using just a 52- and 60-degree.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Blayne Barber is an intriguing guy, having been born on Christmas and disqualifying himself from the PGA Tour’s 2012 Qualifying School. So it stands to reason that Barber wouldn’t have typical wedges, having them stamped to remind him of daughter, Emma, who was born last May.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
The Honma Tour World 3-utility iron used by Hiroshi Iwata is designed like a driving iron to produce a penetrating ball flight, while the 10-gram weight screw in the back enhances feel at impact as well as assists designers with center of gravity location.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Scott Stallings uses a true split set of Titleist irons, utilizing the company’s 716 CB (a model that features the use of tungsten in the toe area) in his 4- through 6-irons and Titleist 716 MB irons for the rest of his set.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Practice-putting greens can be a good place, not just to see what’s in the pros’ bags -- but also for clubs not yet ready for prime time. Such was the case at Riviera as TaylorMade showed its tour staff prototype versions of a new Spider putter (inspired by the putter Jason Day uses) with a black clubhead with a touch of crimson red.
Photo By: Photo by J.D. Cuban
Although not quite known on a one-name basis such as Madonna, Prince or even Tiger, Morgan Hoffmann goes the one-letter stamping route on his Titleist T-MB 3-iron.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Ricky Barnes uses a split set of Wilson irons. Barnes, the 2002 U.S. Amateur champion, has the company’s FG Tour F5 model for his well-worn 4- and 5-irons and the new FG Tour V4 version for the rest of his iron set.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
No, these Titleist Vokey wedges don’t belong to Maxwell the Pig from the Geico commercials. Instead they’re in the bag of Whee Kim, who ranks ninth on tour in scrambling from outside 30 yards.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban
Tour reps build a lot of clubs during the week, so to help them keep track of which club goes to which player, sometimes a little added reminder, such as this identifying sticker for Scott Brown, isn’t a bad idea.
Photo By: J.D. Cuban