Golf Equipment – Page 91 – Syndication Server

Wilson Staff Model wedges

Designed with input from players like 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, Wilson’s new wedges for 2020 blend classic loos and extra spin.

Gear: Wilson Staff Model wedges
Price: $129.99 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold S200 shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grip
Specs: Forged 8620 carbon steel (Standard) and cast 431 stainless steel (High Toe). Available in 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58 and 60 degrees (Standard); 56, 60 and 64 degrees (High Toe).
Available: Feb. 3

As with previously released Staff Model blade irons and Staff Model utility irons, Wilson’s new Staff Model wedges were designed with input and feedback from the company’s tour players, including 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. The wedges are intended to have a look that elite golfers demand and the game-enhancing features they expect.

The standard Staff Model wedges are forged from 8620 carbon steel for an exceptionally soft feel at impact. The 16 grooves milled into the face are packed together more tightly, which Wilson said helps improve performance on softly struck shots because more grooves come into contact with the ball to generate spin.

The sole has a moderate amount of heel and toe relief to give players versatility both from the fairway and around the green.

The Wilson Staff Model HT wedge. (Wilson)

Complimenting the standard Staff Model wedge is a High Toe version developed with the help of three-time major winner Padraig Harrington. Cast from 431 stainless steel, the High Toe has a wider sole and, as the name implies, its toe section rises significantly higher than the toe in the standard club.

High toe wedges have gained popularity on the PGA Tour over the past few seasons. When golfers open the face to hit greenside shots from sand and rough, the High Toe models present a larger hitting area to the ball. Wilson’s Staff Model High Toe wedges have 18 grooves placed across the entirety of the face to generate more ball-controlling spin, and their wide soles help golfers avoid digging into the turf.

TaylorMade SIM drivers added to USGA and R&A conforming driver lists

While not currently available at retail, TaylorMade’s newest drivers can be played by Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Matthew Wolff at Kapalua.

Three yet-to-be-released TaylorMade drivers were added to the USGA and R&A’s conforming driver head lists on Sunday night, the SIM, SIM Max and SIM Max D.

While the drivers are not currently available at retail, being added to the conforming driver head lists is noteworthy because the first PGA Tour event of 2020 starts on Thursday, and only clubs that are on the list are permitted to be used in official competitions. TaylorMade staff pros like Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa can now use one of the three drivers in this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Kapalua Resort in Hawaii.

TaylorMade has not officially released any information about the new drivers, but based on previously released clubs and the photos taken by the USGA, here are some things we already know:

TaylorMade SIM driver — TaylorMade’s SIM driver. (USGA)

The moveable weight

The SIM driver has what appears to be a single weight in a track system, along with labeled positions marked Draw and Fade. TaylorMade has featured several drivers with moveable weights in the past to allow golfers and fitters to shift the center of gravity position and encourage specific shot shapes.

The SIM Max and SIM Max D do not have the weight track system.

TaylorMade SIM Max driver — TaylorMade’s SIM Max driver. (USGA)

Speed Injected

The words have been placed behind the leading edge of all three drivers, where the sole meets the hitting surface. They could mean several things, but last season’s M5 and M6 drivers could give us a hint. Those drivers were given faces that were made illegally fast, and then a computer-controlled system tested each club and injected tiny amounts of urethane into the heel and toe areas to slow the hitting surface down and make it conforming. TaylorMade called the process Speed Injection and the words Speed Injected were printed in the same spot on those clubs.

Twist Face

You won’t see those words in the photos, but Twist Face is listed as being on the face in the USGA’s identification marking notes. This is a technology that involves pulling the high-toe and low-heel portions of the hitting area back and TaylorMade recently added it to drivers to help golfers hit straighter shots.

TaylorMade SIM Max D driver — TaylorMade’s SIM Max D driver. (USGA)

Adjustable hosel

TaylorMade has been giving its drivers adjustable hosels for years. Typically, they allow players and fitters to increase or decrease the driver’s stated loft by up to 2 degrees.

Max and Max D

Aside from the moveable weight, it’s tough to tell what the differences might be between the SIM, the SIM Max and the SIM Max D, but for the past several seasons, TaylorMade has offered one highly-adjustable driver and one driver that is designed to maximize forgiveness and stability, like the M3 and M4, as well as the M5 and M6. The SIM appears to have more adjustability, so perhaps the SIM Max is designed to be more stable. The SIM Max D, which has a silver-toned piece in the back-heel section, could have a draw bias for golfers who struggle with a slice.

TaylorMade has released new drivers during the first week of January the last two years, so official word on these clubs may be coming soon. Golfweek will report all the details as they become available.

Xander Schauffele using Callaway Mavrik prototype driver at Presidents Cup

Two new Callaway drivers were added to the USGA and R&A’s conforming driver lists last week and Xander Schauffele is using one already.

Last week a pair of new Callaway clubs appeared for the first time on the United States Golf Association and R&A’s conforming driver lists. The company did not provide details about the Mavrik and Mavrik Sub Zero, but once those drivers were added to the lists, they became available for use in competition and it appears that Xander Schauffele put one into play on Thursday at Royal Melbourne Golf Club during the open matches at the Presidents Cup.

As you can see in this close-up photo of the driver Schauffele used in his opening-round match with Patrick Cantlay against Sungjae Im and Adam Hadwin, the bottom of the club clearly says Mavrik.

Xander Schauffele’s Callaway driver at Presidents Cup. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

With a weight visible in both the back and behind the leading edge, it appears that Schauffele is using the Sub Zero version of the Mavrik driver.

Historically, Sub Zero versions of Callaway drivers spin less than standard versions and produce a lower ball flight.

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Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons

David Dusek gives an in-depth review on the new Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons.

Wilson Staff Launch Pad driver

David Dusek gives a detailed club review on the new Wilson Staff Launch Pad driver.

Wilson Staff Launch Pad driver

Internal weighting, offset and an upright lie angle designed into the Staff Launch Pad driver should help golfers hit straighter drives.

Gear: Wilson Staff Launch Pad driver
Price: $299.99 with UST Mamiya Helium shaft and Lamkin MicroLite grip
Specs: 460-cubic-centimeter titanium head. 10.5 or 13 degrees of loft
Available: Jan. 13, 2020

Thanks to a win at the U.S. Open by Gary Woodland, Wilson’s better-player equipment got plenty of attention in 2019, but with the release of the Staff Launch Pad family, the company is showing it still knows how to make gear for slower-swinging, high-handicap players.

The Staff Launch Pad driver was designed to help cure one of the most common problems for golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s: a slice. Inside the 460-cubic-centimeter head, designers added a 13-gram weight to the heel area. That should encourage the face to close more efficiently on the downswing and produce less sidespin.

Offset and an internal weight help to close the Wilson Staff Launch Pad driver’s face to reduce sidespin and fight a slice. (Wilson)

The driver also was designed with a 60-degree lie angle, making it more upright than the typical driver, which has a lie angle of 58 degrees. That 2-degree difference may not sound like much, but clubs that are too flat tend to encourage a fade (or a slice) while more upright clubs typically encourage a right-to-left ball flight.

The Staff Launch Pad driver also was given offset, which should help close the face and reduce slice-creating sidespin.

To help higher-handicap players create more distance, Wilson designed the Staff Launch Pad driver to be as light as possible. For that reason, it was not made with either moveable weights or an adjustable hosel because those elements would increase overall weight, and many players in this category are not looking for those technologies. As a result, the Staff Launch Pad weighs just 272 grams, which is about 30 grams less than many drivers. So with the same amount of effort, golfers should be able to swing it faster and create more ball speed.

Designers also gave the club a variable thickness face that protects ball speed on mis-hits.

Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons

Combining hollow heads and progressive sole widths, Wilson’s newest max game-improvement irons target mid- and high-handicap golfers.

Gear: Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons
Price: $699.99 (4-PW) with KBS Tour 80 steel shafts and Wilson Staff 2 Crossline Mid grips; $799.99 with UST Mamiya Recoil 460 graphite shafts
Specs: Hollow-bodied irons with variable sole width
Available: Jan. 17, 2020

For high-handicap golfers, the most common problem when hitting tee shots with a driver is a slice. With irons, it’s hitting shots fat and making contact with the ground behind the ball before impact. It robs them of distance and consistency.

Wilson’s newest maximum game-improvement irons, the Staff Launch Pad irons, were designed to help golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s get more distance and avoid hitting fat shots.

The soles of the Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons become progressively thinner from the long irons to the short irons. (Wilson)

The key to helping these players make consistently better contact is the combination of a progressive sole design and an increased bounce angle. The Staff Launch Pad’s long irons have an extremely wide sole, much like a hybrid club, that skims over the turf. The sole width becones progressively more narrow through the mid-irons and eventually reaches a traditional game-improvement width in the short irons.

Wilson’s engineers also lifted the height of the leading edge by increasing the bounce angle, so the Staff Launch Pad irons are less likely to dig into the ground at impact.

To help golfers generate more ball speed, Wilson made the Staff Launch Pad irons hollow so the thin stainless steel faces can flex more efficiently at impact. The hollow design also helps place more weight low and back, away from the hitting area, to encourage a higher launch angle and a steeper angle of descent to help shots stop faster on the greens.

While the Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons are large, in the address position a players’ eyes naturally focus on the chrome topline, and surprisingly the large back section fades and does not become a visual distraction. In other words, at address the big club looks reassuring but not huge.

Scotty Cameron adds Phantom X 12.5 to new putter family

A new hosel and neck configuration could make this putter appealing to golfers who have an arched stroke and are looking for stability.

Scotty Cameron released the Phantom X line of putters in January at the PGA Merchandise Show, and today Titleist’s master craftsman for putters announced the release of the first line extension to that family, the Phantom X 12.5.

A full-size mallet with a single alignment line, the Phantom X 12.5 has a center section made from 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum with silver-toned 303 stainless steel sections in the heel and toe areas. The stainless steel is significantly heavier than the aluminum, so more of the head’s overall weight is in the perimeter, which stabilizes the club on off-center hits.

Scotty Cameron Phantom X 12.5 putters — The Phantom X 12.5 has an aluminum center section and stainless steel pieces in the heel and toe. (Titleist)

The putter also has a pair of weights in the sole that can be adjusted either at the Titleist factory or by a custom fitter. Longer putters typically come with lighter weights, and shorter putters come with heavier weights to standardize the swing weight, but golfers can get the weights customized based on their preferences.

The differences between the Phantom X 12.5 and the standard Phantom X 12 is the hosel configuration and the toe hang. The new putter has a low-bend shaft configuration that creates more toe hang, so the putter is better suited for players with an arced putting stroke.

The Phantom X 12.5 reaches stores Dec. 12 and costs $429.

Callaway Mavrik, Mavrik Sub Zero drivers appear on USGA conforming list

The USGA just added two Callaway drivers to its conforming driver head list. What do we know about the Mavrik and Mavrik Sub Zero?

Two yet-to-be-released Callaway drivers, the Mavrik and the Mavrik Sub Zero, have been added to the U.S. Golf Association’s list of conforming driver heads.

While Callaway has not made any official announcement about the clubs, every manufacturer must send test samples of new equipment to the USGA and the R&A to ensure the clubs conform to the Rules of Golf. If a club or ball does not appear on the appropriate list, it is not legal for use in official rounds or competition.

The conforming driver head list is updated every Monday, but clubs don’t simply show up on a Monday after tests are completed. USGA officials have said they work with manufacturers and add conforming driver heads to the list on dates requested by brands, so we can assume Callaway wanted the Mavrik and Mavrik Sub Zero added today. It’s interesting because the Presidents Cup is just a week away, and Callaway staff players such as Xander Schauffele, Marc Leishman and Adam Hadwin can add a Mavrik or Mavrik Sub Zero to their bags for that event.

Callaway Mavrik driver — Callaway’s yet-to-be-released Mavrik driver (USGA)

There are many things the black-and-white USGA photos do not show, but some features are visible, and history has taught us a few things about Callaway drivers.

The Mavrik appears to be more similar to Callaway’s Rogue driver than the Epic Flash, with a single weight in the back section of the sole, an adjustable hosel mechanism and Jailbreak Technology. The Rogue driver has a carbon-fiber crown, but the USGA photo does not show the top of the Mavrik. The Rogue driver was released in January 2018, so it would make sense for the Mavrik to replace it after a two-year product cycle.

Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero driver — Callaway’s yet-to-be-released Mavrik Sub Zero driver (USGA)

The Mavrik Sub Zero appears to have the same technologies, with the addition of a second weight behind the Jailbreak bars and the leading edge. Historically, Sub Zero versions of Callaway drivers were designed to produce less spin and fly lower than standard drivers.

Equipment Q&A: Tyler Duncan, RSM Classic winner

A day after Tyler Duncan won the RSM Classic, the first-time PGA Tour winner spoke with Golfweek’s David Dusek about his golf equipment.

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A day after Tyler Duncan won the RSM Classic, the first-time PGA Tour winner spoke with Golfweek’s David Dusek about his golf equipment and the changes he made this season.

David Dusek: From an equipment standpoint, you made a few changes to your bag in 2019. Would you consider yourself someone who is open to changing things up or do you prefer to stick with what you know?

Tyler Duncan: It was a bit of a coincidence. It wasn’t really planned, it just kind of happened that way. After last season I was almost planning on going with no contract and just playing what I wanted, and then I tested the Titleist driver and that was the selling point for me. I have always played the Titleist ball, and I was not willing to give that up. I tested the driver and it was awesome. It fit me perfectly, so we were off from there.

DD: Midway through the season you changed into a TS3 fairway wood that is listed at 13.5 degrees. There are lots of pros who use only one fairway wood, but typically it’s around 16.5 degrees. Have you always carried only one fairway wood, and had it been so strongly lofted?

TD: It probably has a little more loft on it than that, but I’ve always been trying to use one that fits the numbers that I’m looking for. I can hit roughly 255 yards in the air with that club. That’s really the gap that I’m looking for, but into a par 5, the way that it’s set up, I can launch into a green with a high cut with some spin or a hard draw with no spin. It’s just very versatile.

DD: You also carry a U500 2-iron. Is that club course specific? Also, there’s a big gap between a strong 3-wood to a 2-iron to your 4-iron. There must have been a lot of tinkering to make that setup work.

TD: Yup. The 2-iron is bent to 19 degrees, so it’s a degree weaker, and the 4-iron is a degree stronger. That’s narrowed those gaps on either side just a little bit. I switched to the U500 just before the Korn Ferry Finals. It has a little less offset, and I was able to launch it a little bit higher but hit it just a bit farther without too much spin.

DD: So you are going to be able to stop that shot.

TD: Exactly.

DD: Have you always played a graphite shaft in your driving iron?

TD: Yes, I’ve always played graphite in the driving iron because it allows me to launch it with the spin that I want and also get more distance out of it when I need to.

DD: So if your 3-wood goes about 255, what are the stock yardages for your driving iron and your next iron, the 4-iron.

TD: 230 and 210, basically.

DD: To a recreational player, those gaps may sound pretty big, but you know them. If you need more or less, you can hit a cut or turn a shot from right to left with a draw. Have you played this setup for a while?

TD: Yes, I used to play a 3-iron, but this is now my third season playing four wedges. I felt that adding that extra wedge was going to be a better help than a 3-iron. Most of the time you are not going to make many birdies with a 2-, 3- or 4-iron, but you can make a lot of birdies with your wedges. Being able to narrow those gaps and get my numbers dialed in with the wedges, I felt, was much more important than five or so yards at the other end of the bag.

DD: I noticed that you, along with a lot of other Titleist players, added some SM8 wedges to your bag last week. Did you work with Aaron Dill (Titleist’s PGA Tour rep for wedges) or Bob Vokey to make that transition, and what did you like about the new sand wedge and lob wedge?

TD: I worked with both of them. When Bob’s around he’s always a great person to talk to. I see Aaron almost every week. He comes and checks in to make sure that we have everything that we need. The SM8s are awesome; they went straight in the bag. That speaks for itself, but for me they were launching the ball a little lower, which is something that I have been working on. But I was able to keep the spin up, or higher, which was really helpful.

DD: Finally, I know that you play a Pro V1. Have you always been a V player, or did you switch over from the Pro V1x at some point?

TD: I played the Pro V1x until 2015, and that’s when I switched over to the Pro V1. I noticed that the Pro V1, especially with the irons, was allowing me to launch it a little bit lower and spin it a little bit less. I’m a pretty high-spin player, especially with the irons, so being able to launch it lower and with less spin was something that I needed.

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