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Equipment
Golf Equipment

Seen On Tour

By Mike Johnson
Photos by J.D. Cuban

The host of the Arnold Palmer Invitational is well known for his love of club tinkering -- his collection of more than 10,000 clubs in his Latrobe, Pa., office, including over 2,000 putters, being one of golf’s most fascinating equipment closets. With The King in mind, it was appropriate those playing at Bay Hill last week had some interesting equipment items in their own bags.

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Photo by J.D. Cuban
Arnold Palmer Invitational
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.
Arnold Palmer Invitational
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.
Arnold Palmer Invitational
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.
Arnold Palmer Invitational
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.
WGC-Cadillac Championship
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.
WGC-Cadillac Championship
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.
WGC-Cadillac Championship
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.
WGC-Cadillac Championship
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.
Honda Classic
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.
Honda Classic
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.
Honda Classic
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.
Honda Classic
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.
Northern Trust Open
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.
Northern Trust Open
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.
Northern Trust Open
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.
Northern Trust Open
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.
Northern Trust Open
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.
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