Equipment

Why Viktor Hovland loves his Ping i210 irons (and other equipment morsels)

Published

2 years ago

Sep 1, 2023

Our Andrew Tursky spoke with Ping PGA Tour rep Kenton Oates for a story we filed for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report earlier this week. The subject of the discussion? Not surprisingly, back-to-back playoff winner and FedEx Cup Champion Viktor Hovland and his weapons of choice.

Hovland, who was eighth on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained this season, has made a much-publicized effort to improve his balky short game this season with coach Joe Mayo. Impressively, for a player who says he “sucks at chipping” the Norwegian improved from 193 to 93 in strokes gained: around-the-green. While technical adjustments and good-old-fashioned sweat equity paid the greatest dividends in Hovland’s improved short game, he also made a change to his Ping Glide 2.0 60-degree wedge, as Oates explains.

“Viktor plays with the same wedge model he used to play with, but it was a 58-degree bent to 60 degrees before. Every time you bend a club weak, it’s a 1:1 ratio (weakening the club 1 degree adds 1 degree of bounce).

“So we were just trying to give him some protection (with the extra 2 degrees of bounce). The credit I’ll give Viktor is that even when he wasn’t chipping well, he never was a kid who was going to run from the shot. If the shot required you to open the face dead up, and hit a flop shot, he was always like, “I’m going to try and hit it.

“To his credit, that takes a lot of guts to do that. A lot of guys would say to themselves, “Well, I’m one of the best ball-strikers in the world. When I get in that situation two times out of 72 holes, I’m just going to play with more of a square face, and hit it to 15-20 feet, make my bogey, and go birdie the next three holes.

“He’s always wanted to be an elite chipper, and I think the attitude of just wanting to become an average chipper was never in his head, so he did need a club with less bounce. With his technique, in the past, we needed to give him more protection by adding that bounce.

“As he’s progressed, in this year, around THE PLAYERS Championship, or maybe around Augusta, we went to the same wedge he’d been playing, but now it’s the 60-degree model. So it has 2 degrees less of bounce, allowing the club to sit that much flatter to the ground when he opens it.”

Another morsel: While Hovland played Ping’s new Blueprint S irons briefly earlier this year, the irons didn’t last long in his bag. While Oates thinks he’ll test the new Blueprint irons again this offseason, Tursky wanted to know why the i210 irons work so well for Hovland.

“Oates: I think it really is that low center of gravity, and that higher spin rate the iron produces. He is such a shallow player. At times, he can under-spin it, and not get enough peak height. The 210s do spin quite a bit, because of the nature of the design, and they’re also a very straight-flying club. Some guys see curve and some guys don’t. I would say Viktor is a guy who doesn’t. He sees little curves, and he takes off distance by curving it more, but he’s a pretty straight ball hitter, and those irons allow him to be a straight ball hitter.”

For the full conversation, including a discussion of Hovland’s increased driving distance and beloved putter, check out the piece on PGATour.com.

Check out Hovland’s full WITB here.

Equipment

BK’s Breakdowns: Cameron Young’s winning WITB, 2025 Wyndham Championship

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 4, 2025

Brian Knudson

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

Whats in the Bag

Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 4, 2025

GolfWRX Staff

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

Check out more in-hand photos Malnati’s clubs here.

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

Check out more in-hand photos Malnati’s clubs here.

Equipment

GolfWRX Members Choice presented by 2nd Swing: Best driver of 2025

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 4, 2025

GolfWRX Staff

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%