Equipment

Mickelson using an RBZ 3 wood in China

Published

14 years ago

Nov 2, 2012

Many GolfWRXers speculated that Mickelson was playing a 3 wood of some sort with a slot on the bottom at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China. While the club appeared to be a black-painted TaylorMade RBZ fairway wood, the photos were inconclusive, leading to theories that the 3 wood was actually using a soon-to-be-released Callaway product.

We’ve learned that Mickelson is indeed using an RBZ 3 wood in China, albeit a heavily modified one. It is bent 11.5 degree and includes a lighter-than-normal shaft for Mickelson as well as a lot of lead tape to lower the center of gravity.

Not Mickelson’s, but an example of a black-painted RBZ

How do we know? Frequent GolfWRX poster and Callaway Senior Vice President of Marketing Harry Arnett confirmed it in the forums. Read his post in its entirety below, in which Arnett rewards a GolfWRX member for discerning from photos that Mickelson was using an RBZ 3 wood with a prize, and provides other members with a dozen HexBlackTour golf balls.

Click here to read the thread in its entirety.

Callaway_HarryA:

“First of all, these guesses here were awesome. And I am going to make our R&D and product guys read this thread because there were some killer ideas/concepts you guys threw out. Should have known that the dark knights of club ho-edness could come up with some cool stuff.

Here’s the answer, and I think it will surprise many of you. But like I said when we jumped into this and as part of our mission to be a “different” company, a new company, we are going to do things differently and be more straight shooting and transparent.

About two weeks ago, Phil said that the HSBC at Mission Hills isn’t a course where he can hit driver at all. He doubted he would hit driver on any of the holes. He wanted to play a high COR fairway wood there because he wanted a club that went farther than his current 3 wood but not as far as his driver. He knows we have one coming and he asked to play one of our prototypes. Unfortunately we are not ready to launch this product yet and didn’t have the right lofts in left-handed for him. Our primary interest is supporting our players at all times so we told him to play whatever he wanted until he thinks we have the best possible product for him which we believe we will have imminently. This is pretty much standard operating procedure for us. Not well known to many is that Phil has one of the most flexible equipment contracts of any top player and has played other equipment from time to time during his relationship with us, and is well within his right to do so.

That, gentlemen, in Phil’s hands, is a modified RBZ 13 degree, bent to 11.5, “driving 3-wood.” Phil painted her up matte black because he thought that looked cool, put in a lighter shaft than normal so he could actually launch it in the air, and put a crap load of lead tape on the bottom of it to move the CG location so it could actually get up in the air. Result? He has a mini driver that’s good for 290 [yards] off the tee, right between his current 280 3 wood gamer and his 305 driver. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Phil Mickelson, the Crowned Prince of this Forum and club junkies everywhere.

SethPistol gets the win. Seth, HashtagChad will be reaching out to you to pick/claim your prize.

Everyone else who played? Since nobody’s a loser with the new Callaway, we’re going to send you all a dozen HexBlackTour golf balls. HashtagChad will DM you for your address.

Thanks for playing. Tip your waitresses on the way out….

ps: we have a product coming that will instantly replace this FrankenFairway in his bag…”

Click here to read the thread in its entirety.

Related Topics:TaylorMade

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10 Comments

Mike Kotter

Aug 11, 2013 at 3:01 am

Actually, looking at my friend’s pic of Phil’s bag it appears to say X HOT or HOT X and it didn’t look lime green on the back of the head it looked Denver Broncos orange. Which is my only doubt that it’s a RZR. I think personally the RBZ 3 wood is the best club I have ever hit. It jumps off the face well, unlike anything else I have hit. Better than the R1 in my opinion.

Reply Report comment
Mike Kotter

Aug 11, 2013 at 2:46 am

I looked in Phil’s bag at the PGA Championship at Oakhill In Rochester during the 1st round. In fact it was on hole 2 & I swear he has a Calloway RZR 3-wood. I have the TM-RBZ driver, 3 wood, & 5 wood. I understand that last year he hit the TM-RBZ but as of Aug 8, 2013 he is swinging a RZR. I had plenty of drinks before He tee’d off that day but I was right behind Bones when I saw it in his bag. Is this thread old news & if so could you point me in the direction of the most current info? Whatever he is hitting, if it is the new RZR 3 wood bent to 11.5 he is hitting it well. I’m sure it was the same club he hit at Muirfield because he didn’t have driver in his bag. I beg everyone their pardon if I am wrong on this. I don’t think I am breaking any news here but I have yet to find any info newer than this message board as of yet.

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Blopar

Dec 22, 2012 at 11:36 am

You must be blind Petter!

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Petter

Dec 18, 2012 at 1:42 am

Why is he using a right handed club…?

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Vint

Dec 3, 2012 at 8:50 pm

I would love to know how and where he put the lead tape. The club is so light I couldn’t feel the clubhead. I tried adding tape into the recessed part of the sole to no avail. After 3 layers of tape I had to put it away.

Reply Report comment
MJ

Dec 2, 2012 at 11:18 pm

Callaway: “Do you really have to use RBZ?”

Phil: “I can paint it black.”

Reply Report comment
Lee H.

Nov 20, 2012 at 3:31 pm

11.5 Deg Fairway Food…

Exotics just released the XCG6 line of Drivers and Fairway woods. They do, in fact, have a 11.5 degree fairway wood. I hit it a week or so ago at a local golf shop. Great feel to it. This could in fact replace my current Driver later next year if I still struggle with a new Driver I am getting.

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phil04

Nov 6, 2012 at 4:43 pm

Why would Phil not use this magic Rocketballz 3 wood bent to 11.5 deg in the majors in 2013.? His contract is fluid with Callaway, and 290 yards in the fairway works everytime !

Reply Report comment
tlmck

Nov 4, 2012 at 2:39 am

I would buy a 10.5 or 11.5 degree 3 wood and ditch my driver if available. I have never quite gotten used to the 460cc driver heads. With the right shaft, I could probably hit it as far as the driver.

Reply Report comment
Derick

Nov 2, 2012 at 8:22 pm

I couldn’t post since I’m a new member to this site. I knew Lefty wasn’t using a new callaway Fairway wood, since Callaway hasn’t released them yet. It looked alot like a RBZ 3wood all taped up to counter the weight and to get alot of loft to get it in the air farther for Lefty…

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Equipment

Putters that never made it: Check out some of the best tour builds that didn’t make the cut

Published

2 weeks ago

May 18, 2026

Alistair Cameron

Arguably, the best perk of being a professional golfer on the PGA Tour is the ability to request or even just be handed pretty much any club you could think of. It happens more often than you think, usually with putters around the practice green from one event to the next. Come Wednesday, the Tour bags lining the edge of the putting surface become resting places for fallen flatsticks that never made the cut.

So let’s take a look at some of the best we’ve seen out on Tour this year that never made it to the competition. (You may notice none of Hideki Matsuyama’s custom Scotty Cameron putters made this list. There are too many.)

Let’s start with this custom Damascus Milled Odyssey Rossie made for Ryo Hisatsune. Featuring a single line and the short-slant hossel, we’ve seen plenty of Number 7 and jailbird heads featuring the Damascus Milled insert, but this is the first and only one we’ve spotted in a Rossie. Hisatsune primarily putts with an Odyssey Black Series iX #9, but we have seen him recently with a TaylorMade TP Collection SOTO, so there could be potential that the Damascus Milled Rossie could end up in the bag.

Everyone wants to be Cameron Young right now. We’ve had Justin Thomas and Tom Hoge both game the Scotty Cameron 9.5R prototype. Well, for the PGA Championship, Brooks Koepka nearly joined that list after requesting the same style of putter, with the full-length alignment line. But the Scotty Cameron reps took the request a step further and made one specially for Koepka with a Teryllium insert, similar to one in his previous Newport 2 gamers. The reason why this one didn’t go into play, though? Because it was too heavy.

Harry Hall was the third-best putter on Tour last year, so when Bettinardi made him a custom proto, you know it was going to be good. The custom BB28 blade features VDF face milling, a custom-welded single-bend shaft, and the owner’s initials – HH – on the sole of the putter. Hall, who usually games an Odyssey O-Works #7 W, has dabbled with a TaylorMade Spider Tour X already this year. Maybe there’s a chance this Bettinardi might make his bag.

Honestly, this one doesn’t need a description. It’s Kieth Mitchell’s custom Scotty Cameron Napa. One Scotty Cameron face stamp, two Scotty Dogs, two Scotty Cameron 7-Point Crowns and one Circle T. That is all. Oh, except for the Cashmere Cameron headcover.

Finally, and just for fun, how about we pour one out for this TaylorMade Spider Tour X made for Scottie Scheffler in its new torched finish. It’s unlikely we’ll see a putter change anytime soon from the best golfer in the world. In fact, he hit just two putts with it on the Harbour Town practice before going back to his trusty gamer.

Whats in the Bag

Patrick Reed WITB 2026 (May)

Published

2 weeks ago

May 18, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Driver: Titleist GT3 (9 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 130 M.S.I. 70 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi35 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 X

7-wood: TaylorMade Qi35 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Irons: Grindworks PR-202 (4), Grindworks PR-101A (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Cleveland RTX6 Tour Rack (52-10 Mid), Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (56-08M), SM11 (60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron Tour Rat 1.5 Tour Prototype

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

See more photos of Patrick Reed’s clubs here.

Equipment

Which of Tiger’s major winning irons are your favorite? – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

2 weeks ago

May 18, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

In our forums, our members have been discussing their favorite major winning irons used by Tiger Woods. WRXer ‘golferdude54’ kicks off the thread saying:

“Mizuno MP 14/29. Titleist 681T. Nike Forged Blades. TaylorMade P7TW.

Among these irons that helped Tiger win 15 majors, which is your favorite in terms of looks?”

And our members have been naming their favorites and why in response.

Here are a couple of posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

SwingBlade: “I prefer the early blades he played and the more recent TM TW’s especially because after Tiger had his major behavioral setbacks, part of Nikes support payback was making Tiger play a Nike putter and cease using his beloved uniquely customized Scotty putter.”
ProjectX: “This (Nike Forged Blades) and there’s not even a close second.”

Entire Thread: “Which of Tiger’s major winning irons are your favorite? – GolfWRXers discuss”