Equipment
Details behind the new putter Dustin Johnson used at the RBC Heritage
The RBC Heritage is a welcome respite from the pressure-cooker of Masters week, not to mention a pretty easy drive over to Hilton Head Island from Augusta. Even a laid-back week, however, brings with it some intensity as the competition kicks into high gear, and the players come armed for the battle. Here are some of the more intriguing equipment nuggets from Harbour Town.
(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Though he ranks a very respectable 43rd in strokes gained/putting, Dustin Johnson has tinkered with his putter a fair amount this year. At the RBC Heritage that meant a switch to a TaylorMade Spider Tour Platinum model with three dots on the crown as a sightline. "Different color. Same putter, though," Johnson said of the color scheme that is indeed a change in look from the Spider Tour Black with a T-line he has used for most of the year.
Tyler Lecka
Si Woo Kim switched to Callaway at the start of 2018 and has the company’s Rogue Sub Zero driver in the bag. The move made sense for the reigning Players champ, who fights too much spin off the tee. However even the low-spinning Rogue can’t prevent Kim from hitting one of his favorite shots: driver off the deck. “I have a lot of confidence with that shot,” Kim told Golf Digest. “I grew up playing that shot in amateur tournaments. The grass in Korea is much higher than here, so the ball sat up on the fairways and it was an easier shot. But I still hit it here.”
Tyler Lecka
The RBC Heritage is played at Harbour Town Golf Links, a course with a lot of doglegs that often requires players to use less than driver off the tee. Chesson Hadley’s Titleist 917F2 3-wood is a handy weapon in that regard. Earlier this year Hadley changed from a 15-degree model to a 16.5-degree, saying, “It was just going too far. I’d hit it and it would just stay up in the air. This thing’s a monster.”
Streeter Lecka
Conventional wisdom is that the longer the club, the less control you have with it. Of course, Bryson DeChambeau is anything but conventional, and that includes his Cobra King wedges. Like his irons, DeChambeau’s wedges are cut to the same length—37.5 inches, or about two to two-and-a-half inches longer than standard. DeChambeau uses the company’s V grind on his 50- and 60-degree wedges and the WideLow grind on his 55-degree. All have Nippon Modus 130x steel shafts.
Click on the following links to shop the clubs of the pros at Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy.