The Utah native used a special-edition Jazz workers bag throughout Wednesday’s pro-am spherical.
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Welcome to Wall-to-Wall Equipment, the Monday morning gear wrap-up during which GOLF tools editor Jonathan Wall takes you thru the most recent developments, rumors and breaking news.
Reppin’ the house group
You understand it’s formally golf’s foolish season when a customized workers bag is massive tools information. Playing alongside Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge early within the week on the Hero World Challenge, Tony Finau opted for a customized Jazz workers bag as a substitute of his typical Ping workers bag for the event.
The bag featured the Jazz brand on one of the facet panels and his sponsor Aptive Environmental on the opposite. Finau’s title and the quantity seven could possibly be discovered on the entrance panel, together with the Jazz’s long-used hashtag “TakeNote,” on the property pouch.
Finau was again to his typical Ping bag on Thursday, however the Jazz bag drew some eyeballs early within the week, whilst Tiger Woods was stealing most of the headlines.
According to Finau, a Utah native, he plans to signal the workers bag and donate it throughout the Jazz-Warriors recreation on Dec. 7 (Wednesday). If you’re a Jazz fan and need a full one-off workers bag from a Tour star — right here’s your likelihood.
Changing it up
Xander Schauffele has tried a number of totally different Odyssey putters this season however remained loyal to the No. 7 head form. The newest trial got here throughout the Hero World Challenge the place he tried out a silver Odyssey-Toulon prototype with Toulon’s distinctive milling sample.
“[Just a] little bit different feel and different finish obviously,” mentioned Odyssey Tour rep Joe Toulon. “Just freshened up the look. Seems to be working fine so far.”
Schauffele has relied on Odyssey’s fashionable White Hot insert, so the transfer away from an insert to a strong building head was a big change. And whereas the only plate appeared to be substantial, Toulon confirmed it was really a light-weight aluminum that includes two ahead moveable weights to dial-in swing weight and general head weight.
Schauffele completed fourth within the limited-field occasion whereas additionally rating sixth in putts per inexperienced in regulation — Strokes Gained statistics weren’t logged within the Bahamas — throughout the week.
New sticks
Like Schauffele, Collin Morikawa used his closing occasion of the 12 months to check out a brand new iron setup consisting of TaylorMade’s yet-to-be-released P7MC and P7CM irons. While we don’t know all of the small print surrounding the brand new choices, Morikawa supplied insights on what he requested for within the new blades, which embrace his initials as a substitute of the P7MB stamping golfers will discover on the eventual retail model.
“TaylorMade did a great job,” he mentioned. “They’re not too different than what I had in the P730s before. I actually changed kind of the bounce and the width of the sole and it’s not something that looks different at address. It actually looks exactly the same, a little different finish, so looking at it, it could be the same iron. There hasn’t been a huge like trust factor, it’s just seeing certain shots that I knew we made these changes for and actually seeing them improve, that’s what’s been exciting. So it actually hasn’t scared me at all to put in a new set because I knew what we were doing exactly to the irons.”
Morikawa additionally hinted the turf interplay has been improved when in comparison with the 730s he was taking part in beforehand.
“On hole 16 today, I hit 7-iron in and usually off kind of’ tighter conditions when it’s a little matted down, the P730s, what I used to use, I’d probably catch a little thin,” he mentioned. “These kind of just get in the turf a little better, I can catch more center face, they get in the air when I have downwind shots like that, I don’t have to worry about it rolling out. So it’s just kind of small little things that normal people, the regular person wouldn’t notice, but it’s a big difference for me. It kind of, you know, gets me to be able to hit a few more shots into, say, tucked pins or different kind of conditions.”
Rumor mill
New tools offers — at the least for these nonetheless below contract — gained’t go into impact till Jan. 1, but it surely seems a notable title is perhaps contemplating a transfer. Three-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Kisner lately examined out a Wilson Golf prototype driver throughout the RSM Classic, together with a set of Staff Model CB irons and Staff Model utility.
The Wilson-heavy setup was nonetheless in play within the Bahamas, a transparent indication he’s giving Wilson’s tools a tough look — even when nothing is official.
It’s vital to notice Kisner nonetheless seems on Callaway’s web site with gear that displays the current adjustments to his setup. It’s actually a storyline to look at because the calendar adjustments and new offers are introduced.
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