Tucked within the mansion-laden hills in Pacific Palisades, California, rests a beautiful and historic golf course – named The Riviera Country Club – where Tiger Woods hosts a yearly PGA Tour golf event.

As picturesque and story-filled the course may be, the competitors must properly prepare themselves for a challenging 72-hole test.

In this week’s Tour Report, I discuss the gear changes that the pros have made to properly arm themselves to tackle this week’s difficulties and other interesting findings from inside the ropes.

Enjoy this week’s eight hottest takeaways from the 2022 Genesis Invitational.

1) Kikuyu confusion

The fairways and rough at Riviera are made of Kikuyugrass – a native grass of Africa – that’s quite spongy. While nice to look at, the texture of the grass can cause issues with turf interaction on pitches and simple chip shots around the green.

To deal with the difficulties of Kikuyu, according to Titleist Vokey wedge rep Aaron Dill, players are either adding more bounce to add forgiveness or taking away bounce to allow the leading edge to work through the turf quicker. That means players are going with two opposing strategies to solve the same problem.

“This golf course is unique; this grass is unique,” Dill told GolfWRX. “Kikuyugrass is just weird. It’s a weird grass and in a weird way it makes wedges feel really sticky. It presents some challenges for chipping and wedge play. I’m seeing some guys switch bounces…you got JT, he’s going in with a K-grind this week. He knows that this grass just grabs stuff, so he wants to feel some forgiveness going out. Then you’ll see some guys gravitate to the opposite end, where they’ll say they want to feel the wedge working through the ground fast. And that usually means we have to reduce bounce, so we’ve seen some guys do that, as well.”

Justin Thomas has chosen the higher bounce option this week by adding in Vokey K-grind, a high-bounce wide-sole option to ensure his wedge doesn’t dig too much into the Kikuyu.

2) Rickie Fowler’s first time in a TaylorMade putter

@RiggsBarstool This is a big deal @RickieFowler @TaylorMadeGolf pic.twitter.com/sy2bNA1c1u

— Lesley (@DoinkTheCIown) February 17, 2022

Fowler, who’s most recently used Scotty Cameron and Cobra putters, has switched into TaylorMade’s new Spider GT Black mallet this week. While many versions of the new putter are available to Tour players, Fowler’s version has the following specs:

• A single sightline on the crown
• 35 inches in length
• 3 degrees of loft
• 70-degree lie angle
• A fluted shaft
• TaylorMade rubber pistol grip

The company also says it’s Fowler’s first time ever using a TaylorMade putter in competition.

3) Beverly’s ports

It’s not completely uncommon for pros to use clubs that have holes in their back cavities; this process is also known as “porting.” Something was different about the placement of Beverly’s ports, though, so I had to ask Dill for his insight on the build.

According to Dill, the holes helped reduce his swing weights down to D3-D5, offsetting the weight added from his +0.5-inch lengths. They’re also placed out on the heel and toe portions to avoid intruding on the “Bob Vokey” wings. Now that’s how you pay respect to the wedge legend Bob Vokey himself.

To read the full story about Beverly’s wedges, click here!

4) Rory and DJ iron things out

Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson are both switching things up at Riviera in the top end of their bags by removing a hybrid and replacing it with a 3-iron.

For McIlroy, he’s opting for a new TaylorMade P790 3-iron, equipped with an extra stout Fujikura Ventus Black HB 10TX shaft. Check out Rory’s full WITB here!

Johnson, on the other hand, has added in a TaylorMade DJ Proto blade 3-iron, equipped with his usual True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 iron shaft.

5) Hadwin’s Tour Drills

In a new segment called “Tour Drills,” I highlighted Adam Hadwin’s incredibly simple, yet effective, drills that he’s incorporated into his range practice at PGA Tour events. If you’re looking to shape your shots with better control, or you want more speed with the driver, these drills will be for you.

To learn how to conduct these drills for yourself, click here!

6) PGA Tour looper Reynolds Robinson provides real insight

PGA Tour veteran caddie Reynolds Robinson (caddie for Joseph Bramlett) dropped a bunch of gems on this week’s Caddie Corner. Click here for the full 15-question Q&A, and check out my favorite quote from him below regarding his advice for amateurs based on his time working with PGA Tour pros:

“Play within your means,” Robinson says. “Don’t try to hit the hero shot, just focus more on course management than you do on spectacular shots. If I had the swing to go with the knowledge I had now, I’d be a hell of a player. I just don’t have the swing these guys do. The one thing I learn from these guys is that even though they have the shots, they’ve learned how to manage their way around the golf course when it’s not looking good. They won’t take the hero shot. They’ll make the smart play. So for amateurs, play within yourself and don’t make the hero play, just manage the course and you’ll probably save a lot of strokes over the course of a round.”

7) Finau’s arrow

Tony Finau found winning success with this custom Ping PLD Anser 2D putter last year at The Northern Trust, and it still isn’t out of the bag.

Finau’s prototype is unique for two main reasons: 1) It’s made to perfectly match his look and feel preferences, and 2) It has alignment lines drawn on with permanent marker on both the top line near the hosel and on the head below the hosel portion.

In speaking with Ping tour rep Tony Serrano, we learned that Finau uses the lines to help with the position of his hands at setup.

“He uses the arrow and the line on top so when he gets behind a putt, he can get into the right address position,” Ping Tour rep Tony Serrano. “His hands tend to get too forward and drop a little bit, so the permanent marker lines help to get him in position. When he sees them disappear, he knows he’s good to fire.”

Just because he’s a PGA Tour winner doesn’t mean he’s too good for permanent marker lines on his custom putter.

8) Charl Schwartzel’s “Wilson” putter?!

While Schwartzel was testing putters on the putting green, I was confused when he started using a putter with an upside-down Wilson logo in the back cavity.

Upon further inspection, it was actually just a piece of Wilson lead tape that’s made for tennis, which he placed onto his 2007 Scotty Cameron Catalina Classic putter to add weight to the head.

Classic mixup by me. I promise I’ll be better next week as I report in from the 2022 Honda Classic.

See you next week!

Check out the rest of our photos from the 2022 Genesis Invitational here!