When it comes to cool, Ben Baller is the ultimate curator.

Ben Yang, a.k.a. Ben Baller, is a world-famous jeweler, music producer, actor, and podcaster who’s been a tastemaker for celebrities, musicians, and sports stars for decades.

He’s made custom jewelry designs for some of the biggest stars in the world, including Drake, Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, and Michael Jackson, and he worked as a music producer for Dr. Dre at Priority Records and Aftermath Entertainment.

Music lovers may recognize his name from an A$AP Ferg namedrop in the 2017 smash hit, Plain Jane.

“Ferg is the name, Ben Baller did the chain, Tourneau for the watch, presi Plain Jane,” raps Ferg.

Yeah, Ben Baller is certifiably cool.

Over the last two years, Ben Baller has also developed a newfound love of golf, and he’s bringing his eye for “cool stuff” to the golf world.

Despite his short period of involvement in the sport, he’s already broken 80 four times, he was on the winning 2023 Farmers Insurance Pro-Am team, and he’s earned the nickname “BBACK9.”

And, as one could only expect from the longtime jewelry titan, Ben Baller also has one of the coolest WITBs in all of golf. His setup includes a Bubba Watson pink proto Ping G430 driver (gifted to him by Bubba Watson personally), blacked-out TaylorMade P790 irons, custom-stamped TaylorMade MG4 wedges, and a jaw-dropping 24K gold Scotty Cameron 1-of-1 Circle-T putter, custom-made by Scotty Cameron putter fitting director Paul Vizanko.

As part of GolfWRX.com’s new Celebrity WITB video initiative, enjoy the video below, where Ben Baller takes us through his current “What’s in the Bag?”

 

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Calling all golfers: Will anyone be able to top Ben Baller’s custom setup?! For anyone not named Tiger Woods, that putter will be tough to beat. Send us a DM on our @GolfWRX social media channels to see if you have a chance!

Also, check out Ben Baller’s WITB from the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open in January

The island vibes in Maui tend to have a calming effect, but in the world of golf equipment, Maui set the stage for utter gear chaos in the first week of 2024.

With tons of new equipment on the horizon, I made the trek to the Kapulua Plantation Course for The Sentry to see what cool stuff I could find.

Here’s a rundown of everything new that I spotted this week.

Happy New Year!

Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke drivers, fairways and utilities

We got our first look at the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke products on Tour this week, including four driver models (Triple Diamond, Triple Diamond Max, Triple Diamond S and Max), two fairway wood models (Triple Diamond and Max), and a Triple Diamond Utility club.

While many players were testing the new products, and will likely switch further down the road, we confirmed that Si Woo Kim, Xander Schauffele, and Adam Hadwin, at least, will be using a new Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond driver. Hadwin, in particular, has a glob of lead tape on the heel portion of his new head, as pictured above.

See all of the photos of Callaway’s new Ai Smoke products here

Callaway’s new Chrome Tour X golf balls

Sam Burns (Chrome Tour X), Akshay Bhatia (Chrome Tour), Hadwin (Chrome Tour X) and Schauffele are also expected to debut new golf balls this week from Callaway.

Hadwin spoke in-depth about the new golf ball and driver:

“I’m not the guy that knows technology, but [the Ai Smoke driver has] been very good.

“It’s been a very easy switch over from Paradym, but did take me a while to find a head during the fitting process. Usually, drivers have been kind of plug and play almost. Like just match up the model, and they’re pretty close. This one took a little bit to figure it out, but once we did, it’s been really good. The numbers have been great.

“I’m in the new golf ball, as well, so I would say I’m probably 1-2 mph faster, with the combination. I’m not sure whether it’s the head or the ball or both, but in comparison to older golf ball and Paradym head, probably a couple miles per hour faster.

“The feel has been great. The versatility, and the sound. I played a practice round with Patrick Rodgers, and he even commented on that, just the way that it sounds coming off. I’m very pleased with it.

“I’m in the Triple Diamond head, and the Chrome Tour X.

“[The golf ball is] new for this year, yeah. I think the biggest thing is they changed the name, they went from Chrome Soft to Chrome Tour, and then I think there’s a slightly different – I just know what it does. I don’t see a lot around the greens, the iron profiles been really good. The visuals, the trajectory, has all been very much the same. Spin rates. Driver’s actually almost slightly higher than the other ones so far, like 100 rpm higher. Launch window same. Like I said, ball speed has been a little bit quicker with the combination.

“I was just saying to my caddie, one thing that – again, this has been 18 holes total with it – but this has been the first real wind that we’ve played in, that I’ve played in with the golf ball, and what I have seen so far is potentially in some of the crosswinds, the mishits are still going as far as some of the more well struck shots. Maybe it’s holding its – not that it’s holding its line per se – but it’s flying through the air on the mishits maybe a little bit better.

“I think if I remember correctly, during the description, that’s part of what they did. The aerodynamics have changed slightly that in the air it shouldn’t take off on you. It kind of holds its line. It might be flying a little bit better through the wind.”

Collin Morikawa (finally) makes a driver switch

New in the bag this week for Morikawa is a TaylorMade Qi10 Max driver, and a TaylorMade Qi10 V-Steel 5-wood. On Tuesday, I spoke with Morikawa at length about the change from his longtime original SIM driver, which was one of the oldest driver models still active on the PGA TOUR prior to this switch:

“Yeah, I am [switching into the Qi10 Max driver this week]. I got a lot of crazy looks from the guys when I said I wanted the Max.

“Look, the TaylorMade guys have been amazing. They’ve obviously modified a bunch of heads, put in weights everywhere, try to match up the CG’s. The SIM has been amazing for me. It’s a shallower head, it’s not a deep head, or a long head from front to back. It’s pretty shallow compared to the new ones. That’s always something that I’ve liked.

“Even though this face is the same as all the other the ones – the QI10 LS version and the regular core version – visually it looks shallower because of how long the head is. So I had to get used to that, but they made me up a bunch of heads. I tried this one with a different shaft. I actually haven’t switched shafts in a long, long time. Actually since Harding Park – a week before Harding Park was FedEx St. Jude, I switched to the 60-gram Diamana D-Plus, which I played for awhile. So I haven’t switched since then. Switched to another profile of a Dimana, a little lighter of a version, and I’ve just been finding center.

“At the end of the day, the center ones are always gonna be good. When you’re on Trackman, you look at it, and it looks good, it’s great. But I really care about the misses, right. Where am I going to miss it on the face? Does it feel good one my misses?

“And it’s been great. I’ve been playing it for about a couple weeks, like 3-4 weeks almost since Bahamas, and it’s been really good. I’m excited to put it in play. This course, with the wind, even though there’s wide fairways, you need to be in the fairway to score.

“It’s a little spinnier than my SIM. My SIM was a little bit on the lower side. Look, for someone who doesn’t hit it that far, it’s obviously nice to opimtize it as much as you can: high launch, low spin. But, with this one, I’ve been able to play my different heights. So if it’s downwind and I need to be able to carry it, it covers. If it’s straight into the wind, I’m able to keep it low, and keep it flat and not spinny. If anything it’s still living on the higher side of the spin numbers. Maybe it’s spinning at, you know, if I get a spinny one, it’s spinning at 2500-2600 rpm, but the good ones, when I’m hitting it in the center, are phenomenal. They’re spinning at 2300 and staying in the air. But everything about it, it’s launching where I want when I look up; it’s doing what I want. So it’s very, very positive in that sense.

“Sound and feel is huge. I’ve got a lot of hot melt in this head. Look, the Max is made for someone that needs to get the ball up in the air, needs the spin, I have to explain to everyone that, ‘Look I have the amateur version.’  But no, I truly love it. And the feel with the hot melt and everything in it and back and forth, it’s just softened it up a little bit and the mishits have been great. I’m excited to put in play.”

Morikawa playing the “game improvement” Max model of the new Qi10 lineup is all the proof amateurs need that they should be getting fit, and testing all available models from a given driver company. Just saying!

See all of the in-hand photos of Morikawa’s driver and 5-wood here

Tom Kim and Cam Young debut new jaw-dropping Scotty Cameron prototypes

I covered this story in-depth over on PGATOUR.com, so if you’re looking for more information, I suggest heading over there. If all you want to see is the photos, I suggest scrolling below…

Tom Kim’s Scotty Cameron TourType GSS proto (with a new Scotty Cameron Xperimental Shaft by UST Mamiya)

Yeah. “Wow,” is right.

Cam Young’s Scotty Cameron T-5 Tour Only prototype

Hmm. That’s quite an intricate shaping differential from the stock T-5 heads, isn’t it? Very interesting.

Xander Schauffele’s updated 2024 WITB

Schauffele showed up to Hawai’i this week with a surprising amount of new equipment in the bag, including a new Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond driver, a Paradym Ai Smoke 3-wood, and new one-piece Callaway Apex TCB irons (…and a 10-wedge!).

I asked Schauffele about all the changes during his Wednesday press conference. Here’s his answer:

“Yeah, a new line of Paradym [Ai Smoke] woods came out. They’re kind of — I would call them siblings to the old line of Paradym. Same as the irons. The irons are still the TCBs. So again, it seems like a sibling. It feels like I’m looking down at the same iron. The construction’s just a one-piece versus sort of a two-piece head, so they sound a little bit more pure and solid.

“Then the golf ball is identical. I think they just stamped a new logo on it. So it seems like there’s a lot of new things in, but for the most part, I think that the woods are probably the biggest thing.”

See Xander’s full 2024 WITB here

Jordan Spieth switches to a full set of Titleist SM10 Vokey wedges

As you probably know by now, Spieth is especially particular when it comes to his wedge setup. I mean, he’s precise down the half of a degree on each wedge! So it shouldn’t go unnoticed that Spieth switched into not one, but four SM10 wedges during the first week of Titleist’s Tour validation process.

I spoke to Spieith about the wedge switches on Tuesday:

“I think the biggest difference is when you get to the gap wedge and pitching wedge on the full shots. I think the sweet spot’s been moved; it’s bigger and it’s moved a little to where any potential over-hook is almost eliminated, which is really nice. You can step up with a left pin and be pretty aggressive.

“Other than that, they look great. I’m pretty particular with my 60. It isn’t always an ‘SM,’ sometimes it’s a separate prototype version, but this time I’m right into the SM10. It looks really good to me. The biggest thing that [Vokey Tour rep Aaron Dill] told me was that as I start to hit those longer shots, they won’t produce the odd outliers that overturn to the left.”

For more on the SM10 wedges, click here, or head over to our GolfWRX.com forums to see more in-hand photos

Foresight’s new GC Quad Max launch monitors

Foresight officially unveiled its new GC Quad Max launch monitor units this week at The Sentry, with several Hawaiian-themed custom skins. Who knew launch monitors could look so cool?

We’ll have more information on the new units in the coming weeks as they prepare to hit retail in early February.

How’s that for a start to the New Year in the world of golf equipment?

For more gear photos from The Sentry, head over to our GolfWRX.com Forums!

Yes, it’s PGA Merchandise Show week, but it’s also Farmers Insurance Open week at Torrey Pines. And the field is sneaky stacked, with big names such as Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Jason Day… you get the point.

It’s a big field, for a big event, on a big golf course.

And the rough is big-time thick as this on-site reporter can verify.

But with a rain-out on Monday, and the event itself starting on a Wednesday, it didn’t make for the best club testing week. Plus it was a relatively cold-and-wet day for the Tuesday Pro-Am.

Still, though, there were some interesting equipment photos and stories to be had.

Here are 10 equipment highlights from the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open:

1) Not to worry, Berger still has the TaylorMade MC 2011 irons in the bag

Daniel Berger played in The American Express last week after a 19-month-long injury-induced hiatus from the PGA Tour, and he finished T39. Not a bad comeback at all. This week at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open, we caught up with Berger to see what’s in his bag, and to make sure he still has the TaylorMade TP MC 2011 irons in there. Not to worry, the Modern Classic irons are still going strong.

He also has a pair of new TaylorMade Qi10 Tour fairway woods, including a 21-degree 6-wood.

See what else Berger has in the bag this week

2) Jason Day doesn’t miss with his 7-wood

These type of photos from the PGA Tour are always very humbling. Jason Day is starting to create a nice wear mark right in the center of the face on his TaylorMade Stealth 7-wood.

We also verified that Day is using Bridgestone’s new Mindset visual technology on his Bridgestone Tour B X golf ball, which he helped develop.

Learn more about Bridgestone’s new golf balls here, or click here to see Day’s full WITB setup at the Farmers

3) The #1 Putter on Tour

Most Odyssey staff bags say “#1 Putter in Golf,” but Maverick McNealy’s is a little different, because he was statistically the “#1 Putter on Tour” throughout the 2022-2023 PGA Tour season in terms of Strokes Gained: Putting stats.

4) Woodland’s new woods

Gary Woodland has Cobra’s new Darkspeed LS driver in the bag, which appears to be 7 degrees, at least based on the white sticker he has on the hosel. He’s also testing a Darkspeed fairway wood, too.

Woodland also has a custom paint job on his Scotty Cameron Phantom putter, which is quite reminiscent of the Jailbird putters that took professional golf by storm in 2023, thanks to his buddy Rickie Fowler.

I think we can all agree that, regardless of his equipment, it’s great to see Woodland back on Tour after having brain surgery last year to remove a tumor.

See Woodland’s full WITB here

5) Hideki’s jaw-dropping (backup) putter

Hideki Matsuyama is the king of testing cool, new, custom Scotty Cameron putters, even though he mostly ends up using the same gamer putter that he’s used for years. This backup putter he was testing was especially noteworthy, however, due to the additional weights that are inside the face, and the beautifully simplistic stampings and putter finish.

While we likely won’t see this putter in competition, we must applaud the engineering and design.

Click to see Hideki Matsuyama’s full 2024 WITB 

6) L.A. Golf’s metal-faced putters

It was a busy week in the world of L.A. Golf, as the company unveiled a slew of new products, including a Gold-Edition driver shaft, a single-bend putter shaft, a 120-gram putter shaft, and a few new putters, which are equipped with heavier, “exotic metal” face inserts, as pictured above.

See what GolfWRX members are saying about L.A. Golf’s new metallic face inserts

7) TaylorMade’s metal-faced putters

Speaking of metal-faced putters, we also spotted a TaylorMade Spider Tour X custom putter that’s made with a milled aluminum face, which has a decidedly firmer feel than the company’s typical Pure Roll inserts that are much softer.

See what GolfWRX members are saying here

8) Swag’s Channel 4 News headcovers

I’m Ron Burgundy?

Click to see more photos of the SWAG headcovers

9) Go Rutgers!

I try to stay as unbiased as possible when writing about golf equipment, but as a fellow former Rutgers Scarlet Knight golfer, I must say that Chris Gotterup’s custom Vokey wedge just might be the coolest wedge on the PGA Tour.

Check out Gotterup’s full WITB here

10) Ben Griffin’s white Mizuno driver

We first spotted Mizuno’s white-crowned STX 230 driver last week when Keith Mitchell tested it at The American Express, and this week, it’s likely that Ben Griffin is switching into the new Mizuno STX 230 prototype.

What do you think about white-crowned drivers making a comeback? GolfWRX members are weighing in here.

And, with that, we say goodbye to the beautiful cliffs at Torrey Pines. We’ll see you next week on the beautiful cliffs at Pebble Beach for more equipment photos and information!

Check out all of our photos from this week at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open

The WMPhoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale provides golf fans and party-goers the perfect environment to celebrate what they love to do most: Watch golf, and party.

As such, the WMPO also provides apparel and equipment companies the perfect inspirations to make cool, fun and custom gear for the people to enjoy.

The creative and custom merch never ceases to please, and this year was no different. Actually, I think everyone turned up the heat on making cool stuff for this year.

Also, as always, we had some celebrity sightings during the Wednesday Pro-Am, and we dove into the celebs bags to see what kind of golf clubs they’re using. Big names such as Michael Phelps, Alex Rodriguez, Nick Saban, and DJ Kygo lead the way.

Below are 10 stand-out equipment stories from the 2024 WM Phoenix Open, and don’t forget to click here for all of our photos from the week.

1) Michael Phelps’ gold 1-of-1 Scotty Cameron putter (and Olympic Gold Medal TaylorMade wedges)    

Michael Phelps, a 23-time Gold medal-winning Olympic Swimmer, deserves to play a custom golden putter, and Scotty Cameron delivered.

Based on the “DSS” stamping in the back cavity of the putter, it’s made of Demascus Stainless Steel, with a glistening gold finish.

“Scotty sent me the putter, and I told him I don’t know if I even want to play it [because of how beautiful it is],” Phelps told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at TPC Scottsdale. “Scotty said, ‘You better play it.’”

So, as instructed, Phelps used it in the WMPO Pro-Am on Wednesday.

If the gold 1-of-1 putter wasn’t enough, Phelps also uses custom TaylorMade MG2 wedges, which feature gold-and-silver star stampings that represent each of Phelps’ medal wins, in the precise order that he won them.

If I’m being 100% honest, that’s the coolest wedge stamping I’ve ever seen. Not sure how anything could top it, especially since you’d need at least 23 Gold medals to even compete. Looks like Phelps wins again.

See more Phelps WITB photos here

2) Alex Rodriguez, and his blacked out irons

Legendary baseball player Alex Rodriguez showed off a set all-black PXG 0311P Gen6 irons, which his caddie confirmed with GolfWRX.com that they were new in the bag for the event. He also uses a game-improvement Miura PI-401 long iron to add a touch of forgiveness at the top of the set.

Anecdotally speaking, for anyone curious about A-Rod’s power off the tee, he drove the ball nearly greenside on hole No. 10, which measures 373 yards from the Resort tees. It remains unconfirmed whether the ball took its first bounce off a cart path, but on a wet-and-rainy Wednesday, it was a colossal drive regardless. A-Rod has certified home-run power on the golf course (as much it pains this New York Mets fan to say).

See all the clubs Alex Rodgriquez has in the bag

3) DJ Kygo joins Cobra’s “Palm Tree Crew”

Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, a.k.a. DJ Kygo, is a world-famous music DJ from Norway, and he wow’d the golf equipment world by having a new Cobra Darkspeed “Palm Tree Crew” custom driver in the bag at the 2024 WMPO.

Some would even say his new driver Stole the Show…

4) Nicolo Galleti’s Silkyy custom Ping PLD putter

With all the talk of celebrities so far, I wanted to remind everyone that a serious PGA Tour event is also being played this week, and Monday qualifier Nicolo Galletti – a former ASU golfer and roommate of Jon Rahm – will be using this raw Ping PLD putter.

See Galletti’s full WITB here

5) Waste Management custom gear

As discussed previously, the equipment companies turned up this year at the 2024 WMPO with their custom gear.

Below is a collection of photos from Bettinardi, Ping, SuperStroke, Odyssey and Swag Golf.

6) Higgo switches to a DF3 for south paws

In case you didn’t know, L.A.B. Golf recently launched a new line of DF3 (Directed Force 3) mallet putters, and left-hander Garrick Higgo has one in his bag this week.

7) Coach Nick Saban is still Coach Nick Saban

The legendary Nick Saban recently retired from his longtime head coaching gig at the University of Alabama, and accepted a job as an analyst for College GameDay. Although Saban will now be part of the media, he’s still Coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide at heart, as displayed by his “Roll Tide” Ping Glide 4.0 wedge, and “Coach Nick Saban” stitched golf bag.

Check out Coach Nick Saban’s full WITB here

8) The 2021 National League Cy Young winner, Corbin Burnes, brings the heat

Three-time MLB All-Star Corbin Burnes, formerly a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, and currently a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, had a TaylorMade SIM “Rocket” 14-degree 3-wood in the bag, and this custom TaylorMade Spider GT putter on Tuesday at TPC Scottsdale.

See Burnes’ full WITB here

9) Spotted: New Scotty Cameron T-9 and T-9.5 putters

Scotty Cameron unveiled a slew of new T-9 and T-9.5 model putters this week, including compact mallet shapes with a slew of new alignment lines on the crown, and several different hosel styles. The one-piece milled crown allows Scotty Cameron a clean canvas for extended sightlines, while still providing angular shapes within the design to frame the ball at address.

Check out all of the new Scotty Cameron putters here

10) A 16th Hole miracle

The rain-shortened Wednesday Pro-Am, which also featured a brief hail storm, turned into a closest-to-the-pin contest for all of the celebrities on the 16th Hole. Within minutes following the contest, a double rainbow sprouted out of the grandstands.

Somehow, the photo above isn’t an A.I.-generated advertisement for Whoop, but a real photo that I took of a double-rainbow hovering over the 16th green.

Truly awesome.

And, with that, we say goodbye to the biggest party on grass, and we’ll see you next week at Tiger’s event: The 2024 Genesis Open in L.A.

See all of our photos from the 2024 WMPO here

Welcome to the 2024 Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, where the Florida Swing officially gets underway

Not to oversell the story below, but we spotted a surprising amount of interesting gear this week.

We got our first look at Maverick McNealy’s updated set (he’s mostly a free agent now, aside from the putter), Jake Knapp’s two-driver setup, Chris Kirk’s show-stopping new black irons, Tom Kim’s “new” custom Scotty Cameron, an oddly high-tech prototype driver headcover, and we even got a look at Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s set during the Wednesday Pro-Am.

There’s a lot to cover, and no time to waste. Let’s get right into the 9 interesting equipment photos below!

See all of our photos from the 2024 Cognizant Classic here

1) Our first look at Maverick McNealy’s setup in 2024

Now as an Odyssey putter staffer, McNealy is free to play any 13 full-shot clubs that he desires. McNealy has always preferred a blade iron style with a longer blade length – ala Tiger Woods – so it’s no shocker to see him switch into the TaylorMade P-7TW iron head, co-designed by Tiger himself. What’s cool about the photo above is you can see that he originally had lead tape across the top portion of the head, but removed it and added weight to the bottom portion; in all likelihood, he still wanted the extra head weight, but also wanted a bit of extra launch and height. After all, it is a thin blade 3-iron we’re talking about, so it makes sense.

As for the rest of McNealy’s bag, he’s using a TaylorMade Qi10 driver, two Stealth 2 fairway woods (3HL and 7), a set of P-7TW irons (3-9), Titleist Vokey SM10 wedges (46, 50, 54 and 58 degrees), and he’s testing between his longtime Odyssey Toulon “Stanford MM” putter, and a new Odyssey Ai-One Milled “Stanford” black-and-gold putter.

He’s also using a Titleist Pro V1x golf ball, where he uses the “dot” while putting for visual focus, and the line for alignment on his tee shot.

McNealy is the type of gearhead that GolfWRX.com is all about; attention to detail, with a flair for style. He’s a pilot, too, which explains the Top Gun-inspired “Maverick” headcovers, and “remove before flight” headcover tag.

Check out McNealy’s full 2024 WITB here from the Cognizant Classic

2) Shane Lowry’s two heartwarming headcovers

Shane Lowry has two daughters.

One is named Ivy…

And the other is named Iris…

See what golf clubs are underneath Lowry’s family-oriented headcovers here.

3) Brandt Snedeker still has the Odyssey White Hot Rossie XG putter in the bag

He’s still got it!

But, let’s not get too excited, because on Wednesday, we also spotted Sneds with a Bridgestone TD-02 putter in the bag, which looks quite similar to his longtime gamer Rossie XG.

Snedeker certainly has a type when it comes to how his putter looks, doesn’t he?

Check out the rest of Snedeker’s 2024 WITB here

4) A prototype Swag Golf headcover

 

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It’s rare that “prototype headcover testing” happens on the PGA Tour, but that exactly what’s happening with Nick Hardy this week.

According to Swag Golf founder and CEO Nick Venson, Swag Golf is in the creation process of what the company is calling “Headcover 3.0,” which uses TPU welding and a support structure to create a three-dimensional look, and greater durability.

The new age of headcovers could be developing right in front of our eyes.

5) Tom Kim’s custom putter

I wrote in-depth about Tom Kim’s new custom putter over on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report this week, but below is a few snippets of what he had to say about the customized Scotty Cameron Tour-Only T5S mallet that he switched to recently at the 2024 Genesis Invitational:

6) Chris Kirk’s black Callaway Apex CB irons

We saw Kirk switch into Callaway’s Apex CB irons – which were the stock silver/chrome color – at the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Classic last year, but, we also know that Kirk prefers the look of black irons because they make the head look slightly smaller.

Well, it looks like Kirk is testing out some new black-colored Apex CB irons, which combine the forgiveness of the Apex CB iron head, with the “smaller looking” black colorway that Kirk prefers. He still had his old chrome versions in the bag on Wednesday, to go along with the new black models, so we’ll keep an eye on what irons Kirk decides to put in the bag come competition time.

Don’t be surprised if he switches this week, or sometime in the near future.

See what GolfWRX members are saying Kirk’s new black Apex CB irons here

7) Knapp wins with two drivers in the bag

We already covered Knapp’s two-driver setup on GolfWRX.com and PGATOUR.com, but I wanted to re-emphasize how popular it’s becoming that PGA Tour players are using both a driver and a mini driver, rather than a driver and a 3-wood. Adam Scott and Tommy Fleetwood also come to mind.

I’m not saying you should switch to a setup like this for yourself, but even Knapp says that the BRNR Mini driver is significantly easier to hit than a three wood. When pros say things like that, it’s a cue to amateurs to at least test out its merits for themselves.

8) Make the forums go crazy, Jake!

We’ve already covered a few putters in this story, but still, the Custom Putter of the Week Award goes to Jacob Bridgeman, who showed off his Scotty Cameron putter with a “commando” finish and three white alignment lines.

GolfWRX Forums members weren’t ready for this type of heat, and some even slapped the “NSFW” tag on the putter photos.

Don’t hurt ’em, Jake!

See what else the forum members are saying about Bridgeman’s custom Scotty here

9) Left-handed NFL quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s right-handed golf clubs

Tua isn’t the first person ever to throw a football left-handed and play golf right-handed. Jordan Spieth is the same way. But, admittedly, it did throw me for a spiral when I first saw Tua swinging righty.

Too bad Tua can’t throw a spiral himself!

Sorry, that was a mean attempt at a pun. I’m a Giants fan, though, we can’t help it.

In terms of Tua’s WITB, he was gaming mostly PXG clubs, including a driver, fairway wood, irons, wedges, and a putter. He also had a Callaway Jaws lob wedge in the bag during the Wednesday Pro-Am, just to keep things interesting.

Something tells me the next time we see Tua on the golf course, he’ll be using a custom Miami Dolphins SuperStroke grip on his PXG putter.

And, with that cross-sport connection, we say goodbye to Palm Beach Gardens. We’ll see you next week in Orlando at Arnie’s Place for the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational. See you there!

Check out all of our photos from the 2024 Cognizant Classic here

Arnold Palmer was undoubtedly golf’s biggest gear head and club tinkerer ever, and he must have been smiling down upon Bay Hill this week, as some of golf’s biggest names were testing and switching into new equipment at the Elevated Event.

Names such as Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, and Justin Rose all made gear changes at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

We also spotted some new equipment on-site at Bay Hill, including Bettinardi irons, new Scotty Cameron and PXG putters, and new Golf Pride putter grips.

Just to add a little more gear intrigue in honor of Arnie, we also got a look into NFL quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s golf bag, including his unbelievable custom “No. 16” putter, as well as NBA legend Vince Carter’s current setup during the Wednesday Pro-Am.

Yeah, I know; too much talk, not enough photos. I hear you, so let’s get into this week’s equipment highlights from the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge.

Click here to see all of our photos from Bay Hill this week

1) Scottie Scheffler switches into a TaylorMade Spider Tour X prototype putter

It’s been a long road of putter testing for Scheffler as he continues to search for the one putter that will stick longterm. Maybe his new Spider Tour X prototype is the answer.

His 2-under-par 70 in round 1 is certainly a nice start.

While his former Tour X SS proto putter that we spotted in 2023 came equipped with a custom milled face, his new Arnold Palmer Invitational version uses TaylorMade’s stock Pure Roll face insert. The new putter also has a visibly short plumbers neck construction.

TaylorMade weighed in with some insight on the new design after the first round:

“Scottie Scheffler put Spider Tour X putter in play this week after doing some extensive work with the putter at home. The putter is half-inch longer than Scottie’s previous gamer with the L-neck hosel and True Path with a full-line sightline on top. Scottie switched to Spider Tour X for increased MOI and stability compared to a blade.

“Spec wise, Scottie’s Spider Tour X has 3 degrees of loft with a lie angle of 72 degrees, and an 80/20 Pure Roll insert. He is also using Golf Pride’s Pistol grip.”

See more photos of Scheffler’s new putter here, or click here to see his full WITB from this week.

2) Collin Morikawa switches into a Logan Olson putter

Right as Scheffler gets off the Logan Olson train, Morikawa hops aboard.

New in the bag this week, Morikawa is now playing a custom Logan Olson blade putter, equipped with his familiar Mitsubishi Diamana putter shaft, and a SuperStroke Zynergy Tour 2.0XL putter grip.

See more photos of Collin’s new Logan Olson putter here

3) Fowler switches into a Cobra Darkspeed X driver, with a new Project X Denali shaft

If you’re particularly interested in Fowler’s new driver, or new driver shaft, or in the reasons why he switched, I recommend reading our full write-up over on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, where Fowler went super in-depth on the change and new driver setup. Fowler is quite in-tune with his equipment, so he’s always interesting to speak with about his testing process.

Here’s a snippet of what Fowler had to say about it:

4) Justin Rose switches to Srixon Z Forged II irons

According to Rose’s caddie, Rose played his first 9 holes with the new Srixon X Forged II set on Tuesday, and as confirmed during the first round of competition on Thursday, he officially made the switch.

I guess he liked what he saw. Or felt.

As GolfWRX Forum user Drewhill44 pointed out in the forum thread, Rose has won on the PGA Tour twice on the week of an iron switch, so special things could be in store for Rose with the new Srixon irons this week.

We’ll catch with Rose next week at The Players to see why he made the change.

5) Arnold Palmer’s 2-iron, and “memorial” WITB

As mentioned earlier, Arnold Palmer was a true club tinkerer. Seriously, his club collection totals over 10,000.

That’s a lot of golf clubs.

On Wednesday, an umbrella-shaded Arnold Palmer staff bag was on display, and filled with clubs from his collection.

The 2-iron particularly caught my eye, as did the custom Odyssey Toulon Latrobe blade putter, crafted in his honor.

All of the clubs in The King’s memorial bag are worth checking out.

6) Trevor and Vince

Trevor Lawrence and Vince Carter played alongside Baron Corbin and Collin Morikawa during the Wednesday Pro-Am, and they each had some cool stuff in the bag.

Lawrence, who wears jersey number 16 while playing quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, was using a Royal Payne/Rex Golf collab putter, and Carter, who’s a certified NBA legend, was using a Ping G430 7-wood.

Superstars always know how to wow the crowd.

Click for the full story on Lawrence’s putter, or see more photos of his full bag.

7) Guess what company makes this putter…

What’s your guess? Here’s the answer.

8) Bettinardi’s first irons ever

This was quite a surprise drop from Bettinardi this week. Luckily, GolfWRX Gear Expert Brian Knudson already wrote an in-depth story about the irons here.

9) New Scotty Cameron putters and LD/Long Design grips

The Scotty Cameron putter launch train keeps rolling, and adds a new LD/Long Design grip to the passenger car, too.

See what GolfWRX members are saying about the putters and grips here

10) Golf Pride throws it in Reverse (Taper)

Speaking of new putter grips, Golf Pride launched three new Reverse Taper putter grip models that completely flip the thought process of tapered putting grips, in hopes of stabilizing the hands throughout the stroke.

You can read more about the new technology here.

I tried telling you, it was a wild week in golf equipment at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Cheers to a great weekend of golf watching, and we’ll see you next week at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

Pour up an Arnold Palmer to celebrate.

Click here to see all of our photos from Bay Hill this week

Charley Hoffman is undoubtedly one of the modern pioneers of prototype mallet putters. He and the Scotty Cameron team have been pushing the limits of mallet designs together for years.

Not only does Hoffman have a keen eye for detail, and a trustworthy opinion, but he’s always taken a liking to the 3-lined design, which was popularized by the Scotty Cameron Red X mallet putter.

The result of Hoffman’s preferences, combined with the Scotty Cameron team’s visions, are eye-popping prototype putters.

Check out GolfWRX’s throwback collection of photos from the past 6-7 years:

His latest version uses a slightly new recipe.

This time around, Hoffman has incorporated a half-moon design, which is similar to a prototype Scotty Cameron putter that Justin Rose has been using recently (as pictured below).

Justin Rose’s recent prototype Scotty Cameron

Of course, Hoffman and team had to add the 3-line design into the equation, with orange paintfill . Here’s a look at the crown of Hoffman’s new putter:

At its core, the putter is a Scotty Cameron Tour Only T-11 mallet, but it’s made specifically for Hoffman in almost every other way. As Hoffman describes, it has a “sports car look to it” with rounded edges and a fast-looking crown. It also has a deep-milled face for a softer feel, and a chromatized shaft with the proper lean for his setup.

On Tuesday in Napa, ahead of the 2024 Procore Championship, GolfWRX.com and PGATOUR.com spoke to Hoffman, as he explained in passionate detail how the putter came to be.

Please enjoy the interview with Hoffman below.

@golfwrxA new custom Scotty Cameron putter in the bag for Charley Hoffman? original sound – golfwrx

The two Hawaiian events – the Sony Open and The Sentry – are well positioned on the calendar to create complete equipment chaos every year.

For the players, they don’t have the same access to fully stocked Tour trucks that they do on the mainland, but, the new 2025 gear is starting to roll out, so they want to use the latest and greatest gear.

For the fans, it’s a first look at the upcoming clubs that might be available in 2025. Who’s testing what? Who’s switching to what? Who’s not switching anything?

It’s a perfect storm of new stuff, which just cranks up the intrigue around equipment like no other week during the year.

And this year was no different.

Since we’re currently inside the tropical whirlwind of new equipment, here are 10 things I’ve learned about new equipment coming in 2025.

Aloha, new gear!

1) Collin Morikawa switched into the new Qi35 LS driver, which is COVERED in carbon

Check out Collin Morikawa’s full WITB here

2) Xander switched to the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond (he’s a righty), and Akshay switched into the Elyte standard (he’s a lefty)

See Schauffele’s full WITB

See Bhatia’ full WITB

3) Max Homa signed with Cobra, and switched into a bunch of new Cobra clubs

See Max Homa’s full WITB here

4) Titleist has a new GT 280, plus H1 fairway woods and hybrids

More photos of the GT280

More photos of the GT1 fairway wood

More photos of the GT1 hybrid

5) Speaking of Titleist, Scotty Cameron has new putters, Hula covers, and staff bags out in Hawai’i

6) Also… Hideki Matsuyama broke the all-time scoring record on the PGA Tour, using a new center-shafted Scotty Cameron prototype

Photo via PGATour.com

Hideki Matsuyama’s Winning WITB

8) SuperStroke made some festive, Pineapple putter grips

SuperStroke pineapple grips

9) Christiaan Bezuidenhout is now a PXG Troop member

Christiaan Bezuidenhout’s WITB

10) Odyssey unveiled a new Hawai’i-inspired floral putter cover

Check out Odyssey’s new headcovers here

Don’t forget to check out all of our photos from the Sony Open and The Sentry