Equipment
Bullseye spotted! Ryuji Imada on his unique gear setup, return to the PGA Tour
After a nearly seven-year hiatus, Ryuji Imada has finally returned to the PGA Tour; he’ll be teeing it up this week at the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The last time we saw Imada play in a tour-sanctioned event in the United States was back in 2015, and while he played in the 2021 Zozo Championship in Japan, he’s largely stepped away from the professional game.
Imada, who was born in Japan and is currently 45 years old, captured his lone PGA Tour victory in 2008 at the AT&T Classic in a playoff against Kenny Perry; Imada also won the 2000 Buy.com Virginia Beach Open and the 2004 BMW Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs on the then-Nationwide Tour.
During Tuesday’s practice round day at Pebble Beach, Imada was greeted with hugs and hellos from fellow players and caddies; he was all smiles catching up with old friends.
He also showed up with a bag full of unique clubs, including an old Titleist Scotty Cameron Bullseye, a new set of Proto Concept (Proto-C) irons, and a lob wedge with a particularly unique grind on it. When Imada arrived to the range on Tuesday, he was carrying a handful of new fairway woods and drivers to test out, too.
While he was knocking some of the cobwebs off on the range at Pebble Beach, GolfWRX caught up with Imada to see what he’s been up to since we last saw him.
“To tell you the truth, not really much,” Imada said. “Been spending a lot of time with my daughter, and that’s about it. Just taking her to school, picking her up, taking her to other after school activities, and by then pretty much the day’s over.
“But yeah, I am [excited to be back out here]. I haven’t played an event in the U.S. in about 6 or 7 years. It’s good. It’s very fresh. Seeing all the old faces I can, it brings back memories.”
Speaking of old faces and memories, Imada still has the same putter in the bag he used throughout the majority of his PGA Tour career: a classic Titleist Scotty Cameron Bullseye.
“I think I got that putter about, I wanna say at least 15 years ago,” Imada said. “I can’t remember where I got it, but I think I just saw one on the putting green and I started putting with it, and it felt really good. I asked to have it, and it’s been in my bag ever since. I actually have another putter that I switch to sometimes – I switch between two putters – and the other one is probably a little bit older. Every time I feel I’m not putting well, I just switch over. But yeah, the [Bullseye] putter has been good to me.”
Of course, not every club in Imada’s bag is 15+ years old. At Pebble Beach this week, he’ll be gaming all-new Proto-C C01 blade irons and a custom Proto-C lob wedge.
“I’ve known (Masashi Kamoda, brand rep from Proto Concept) for a longtime, and he’s been a good friend of mine. He asked if I wanted to give the product a try, and as soon as I hit em, obviously they’re great looking clubs and they setup perfectly for me. I’ve always used blade irons growing up, probably up until almost 30 years old. They’re great looking, and surprisingly they’re very forgiving. I’d been playing cavity backs for the last 10 or 20 years, but these are probably more forgiving to me than the ones I’ve had before. I get more height with the middle irons, a little bit more spin, and they feel really good, they look good, and that’s all I can ask.”
The Proto-C C01 blade irons are unique because they incorporate a 25-gram titanium rod into their forgings, helping to enhance feel and sound. Also, since the titanium rod helps shift CG in the heads – to Imada’s point – they help induce higher launch angles and more forgiveness.
While Imada is playing stock C01 irons, his wedge grind is far from typical. To learn more about his special grind, I caught up with Kamoda, who represents Proto-C and works with Imada on his equipment.
“He’s picky on the wedges…he likes 61.5 or 62 degrees of loft, even though it says 60. He doesn’t like to have bounce on the back of the wedges, but he wants bounce on the front. It’s like 12-14 degrees of bounce on the front, but on the back it’s negative bounce. He likes to have light swing weights, around C7 or C8, and a shorter length: 34.5 inches.”
Being that most lob wedges are around D2-D5 swing weight and 35 inches in length, Imada’s wedge is especially short and light.
As for the rest of his setup, Imada fills out his bag with Jucie wedges (47 and 51 degrees), NexGen fairways (3 and 5 woods), NexGen hybrids (3 and 4), and his driver is still undetermined.
“I’ve been pretty much out of the golf business for awhile, so I’m gonna find out [what driver I’ll be using],” Imada said. “I’ve heard good things about Stealth. I know they’ve done really well this year ever since they came out. TaylorMade’s always made good stuff, and I’ve been using TaylorMade drivers the past 8-10 years or so, so hopefully it’ll be an easy switch for me. I haven’t even seen the head yet. When I found out I was coming, I wanted to give them a try so I got in touch with some TaylorMade people and asked if I could try some out.”
It’s been a long time away from the PGA Tour for Imada, so we’ll give him some time to test the new stuff out. Should we see Imada again, though, we’ll make sure to get an update on how the driver testing went.
With new perspective on life inside the ropes, Imada is tampering expectations when it comes to his results this week. When I asked him how his game is at the moment, he replied, “That, we’re not going to talk about. We’ll see how it goes. If I can make a few birdies, it’ll be a good day.”
Birdies or not, Imada will certainly have one of the most interesting gear setups in the field this week.
To see Ryuji Imada’s full bag setup at the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, click here!
Cameron Young’s WITB from his win at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. Cameron is a Titleist staff player but his bag is definitely filled with some unique clubs. Here are the clubs he used to secure his first PGA Tour win!
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Black VeloCore+ 10 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5), Titleist 631.CY Prototype (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F @57), WedgeWorks (60-K* @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Prototype
- Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees, C2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
7-wood: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (4, 5), Titleist T100 (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper AMT Tour White X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F, 56-08M @57, 60-04T @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Yellow
We’re proud to once again partner with 2nd Swing Golf to bring you GolfWRX Members Choice 2025! 2nd Swing has more than 150,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
What is the best driver in 2025? At GolfWRX, we take great pride in our online community and the cumulative knowledge and experience of our members. When it comes to the best driver of 2025, we want to know what our forum faithful think.
Since our founding in 2005, the bedrock of GolfWRX.com has been the community of passionate and knowledgeable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members — the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively, nor is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology.
Below are the results of GolfWRX member voting for the 2025 best driver, along with the vote percentage for each club.
Best driver of 2025: The top 5
5. Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond: 6.02%
Callaway’s pitch: “For golfers looking for a fast, forgiving, yet workable driver, the Elyte Triple Diamond features a tour-inspired shape and is the preferred model by most Callaway tour players.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond here.
4. Ping G440 Max: 6.86%
Ping’s pitch: “The most forgiving G440 model, MAX has a hotter face to generate speed and distance, and a lighter overall system weight with a longer shaft (46″) for faster clubhead speed, higher launch and longer carries. The Free Hosel and Carbonfly Wrap crown save weight to create our lowest CG ever and increase forgiveness while contributing to a more muted, pleasing sound.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 Max here.
3. Ping G440 LST: 9.53%
Ping’s pitch: “LST is an especially good fit for faster swings, offering less spin and more control with a penetrating trajectory. A hotter face, lighter overall system weight and longer shaft (46″) deliver more speed and distance while maintaining tight dispersion.”
@phizzy30: “Not a fan of Ping drivers in general, but 440 LST takes the cake. It’s super forgiving across the face for a low spin head, looks and sounds good and the ability to make it play neutral or slightly fade biased through the hosel settings is very appealing.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 LST here.
2. Titleist GT3: 16.55%
Titleist’s pitch: “The GT3 Driver offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization through adjustable performance. Dial in the CG Track to your frequent contact location to make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping.”
@mrmikeac: “I’ve been Anti-Titleist for years and years and years (outside of Vokey, of course). With that being said, HOLY BEGEEZUS the GT3 driver is an absolute NUCLEAR MONSTER! This thing blew my G430 10K Max out of the water in every single category. Forgiveness is the biggest thing that stands out of me, the 3 model has always been one of the less forgiving models in the past but this GT3 can take bad shot after bad shot and still end up in the fairway, I think a ton of that has to do with the adjustability, it’s actually effective. Feel and sound is perfect, that solid crack is so addicting to hear and when you hit it out the screws this thing can absolutely bomb it. Titleist, I’m sorry for doubting you. You have converted me.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT3 here.
1. Titleist GT2: 22.91%
Titleist’s pitch: “Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, the Titleist GT2 Driver extracts maximum performance through a forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed.”
@DTorres: “The Titleist GT2 has proven to be the best driver of the year. Packaged in a classic profile, GT2 perfectly balances performance and forgiveness while consistently being a high performer across all categories.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT2 here.
Other drivers receiving >2% of the vote
| Driver | Vote percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Cobra DS Adapt Max K | 4.85% |
| Ping G430 Max 10K | 3.85% |
| Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond | 3.68% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 | 3.51% |
| Callaway Elyte | 3.18% |
| Cobra DS Adapt X | 2.34% |
| Cobra DS Adapt LS | 2.17% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 LS | 2.17% |
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Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)
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Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
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Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
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neet and angel
Mar 5, 2024 at 1:47 am
Wow, it’s great to see Ryuji Imada back on the PGA Tour! His unique gear setup is definitely interesting, can’t wait to see how he performs this season. ???
Henry R Fitzgerald
Feb 25, 2022 at 12:19 pm
Who can forget this guy.
After all, Scotty Cameron made one of the ugliest ‘Inspired by’ putters after this guy.
Flash in the pan without seasoning, lol….
Now, the Bullseye is cool.
BobbyN
Feb 4, 2022 at 12:58 am
Bullseye is as pure as the driven snow boys.
Justin
Feb 2, 2022 at 2:47 pm
Imada has always been one of my favorites out there. That Del Mar putter with the face weights?? Amazing stuff. Super interested in those Proto C irons… Hopefully he has a shot at making the cut!