Equipment

Korean Gadget Report: How ADAK’s diamonds are redefining the wedge game

Published

10 months ago

Jul 18, 2025

You are in a great mood. You’re well ahead of your buddies in the middle of the 18th fairway, looking at an easy 9-iron into a relatively flat green. Surely, this is the day you’ll break 80, and with the countless range hours and lessons, it couldn’t happen sooner. Stepping up to the ball confidently, you take a few practice swings, settle over the ball, and thwack. You feel a surge of adrenaline as the ball tracks straight at the flag. That should be a good look at birdie. At the very least, an easy two-putt for a 79.

Wait, what? You look on in disbelief as your perfect shot lands 10 feet in front of the pin, only to cruise right past the hole. The ball continues to roll off the back of the green, deep into the rough where pars go to die. Expletives erupt forth unbidden as you curse the golf gods once again for dashing your hopes and dreams.

But what if the fault lay not with the gods, but something else? Something that could have been easily remedied?

Are you a club cleaner type of guy? Then this article is for you.

Clean clubs and grooves matter

With the advent of launch monitors, modern golfers have become obsessed with launch angles, spin rates, and countless other shot metrics. Yet we often overlook a simple but critical factor that can dramatically affect performance—clean clubs.

Clean clubfaces and grooves make a real difference in your game. A quick online search turns up dozens of articles emphasizing their importance, and research by manufacturers and golf review bloggers has consistently shown that dirty grooves can reduce spin, distance, accuracy, and even feel.

If you can afford it, Titleist’s data shows that new wedges after 75 rounds can help you stop the ball quicker.

Titleist’s Vokey team took this a step further in a 2021 study on the effects of worn grooves. Using a wedge-testing robot, they discovered that grooves on a new wedge begin to wear down after about 75 rounds, causing a significant drop in spin and increased rollout. Their research even recommended changing wedges every three months to maintain peak short-game performance—a suggestion that, let’s be honest, most of us can’t afford to follow.

So, now that we know how vital clean clubfaces and fresh grooves are, what can we do to keep them in top shape? Looking through some WRX discussion threads, it seems most of us share the same habit of cleaning our wedges regularly during play. Some even wipe every club down after every single shot. Whether these golfers are deadly serious about their game or just want to keep their clubs looking pristine for resale, the dedication is real.

The golf brush dominated the club cleaning category on Amazon. But how come the only innovation over the last 30 years is attaching the brush to a water spray bottle?

But the real kicker is that the most common cleaning method today is still the same as it was decades ago when persimmon woods ruled the tee box—brush, water, wipe, repeat. In fact, a quick browse through Amazon revealed hundreds of club cleaners, yet nearly all rely on the same old brush-and-water routine.

With every other part of golf evolving—adjustable drivers, AI-designed irons, launch monitors in our pockets—why are we still cleaning clubs like we did back in 1985? Has nothing better come along to do the job other than brush and water?

Ever skin your knuckles or damage your wedge while attempting to sharpen the grooves with this bad boy?

Club cleaner + Groove sharpener = ADAK

Breaking away from the monotony of the brush and water combo, a Korean company has now come up with an ingenious new way to keep your clubs and grooves in pristine condition.

At first glance, the ADAK golf club cleaner can easily be mistaken for almost anything other than what it actually is. I thought I was looking at a type of deodorant or sunscreen stick until I pulled off the lid to reveal a dark grey material shaped like a wedge.

With ADAK, you get both a club cleaner and a groove sharpener in one fancy looking package.

Upon closer inspection, the wedge looks like a small whetstone but with a smooth, firm rubbery texture. You can also see tiny glittering specks on it, which are tiny diamond particles infused into the elastomer material. This is definitely not your ordinary club cleaner.

Using this novel club cleaner was incredibly easy. Just pop off the cap, press the edge of ADAK’s polishing wedge firmly against the clubface, and scrub like you’re using an eraser. It’s as simple as that. No brush or water needed, save for a little bit of elbow grease. And yeah, this thing works as advertised.

I’ll admit, I was super skeptical about ADAK’s ability to clean effectively. After all, brushes have long been the undisputed champions of club cleaning because their bristles can dig deep into the grooves. With ADAK’s flat, elastomer surface, I just couldn’t see how it could possibly reach into the grooves and get the job done.

After putting it to the test, however, I was genuinely surprised. ADAK’s diamond-infused elastomer effectively lifted dirt and debris that I assumed only bristles could reach. Even my old wedge with its micro-grooves packed with stubborn ball residue came out looking pristine after a few quick swipes.

For the tougher bits of dirt wedged deep in the grooves, the pointed edge of ADAK worked perfectly to scrub them out with ease. As a bonus, it also removed the rust-like oxidation from the face and sharpened the grooves with ease (test results down below on this later).

For something so simple, ADAK impressed me more than I expected.

Diamonds. Mobile phones. Wedges?

The secret behind ADAK’s cleaning power lies in its unique material, developed and patented by NEXTZHEN—a Korean company that, interestingly enough, is also a key supplier to Samsung, the mobile phone giant.

Specifically, the company created a unique Hybrid Elastic Bonding System that allows microscopic diamond particles to be bonded to an elastic compound. This innovative material is used in precision polishing wheels to grind, polish, and remove impurities from the edges of mobile phone display glass. The level of precision is astonishing—capable of finely polishing glass edges as thin as 420 microns. It’s no wonder NEXTZHEN was chosen by one of the world’s leading phone manufacturers.

The leap from glass polishing to golf club cleaning came from Hwang Jung-hoon, CEO of NEXTZHEN and an avid golfer himself.

“The idea for ADAK came two years ago when I saw my playing partner clean his golf clubs throughout the round. I was just a beginner back then, so I asked him why it was so important. When I learned that clean grooves improve spin, I realized our polishing technology could make a real difference.

“It wasn’t easy, as the material had to be firm enough to remove dirt and residue off the clubface, while being malleable enough to press into the grooves. The size of the diamond particles also required many prototypes to avoid damaging the face, yet strong enough to polish the face and sharpen the grooves for improved spin performance.” – Hwang Jung-hoon, Nextzhen CEO

Small and sleek to fit comfortably in your pocket or golf bag, the ADAK club cleaner is ideal for golfers who like their clubs clean and sharp.

Is it worth ditching the brush for?

Diamond particles to clean and sharpen golf club grooves? Absolutely. Leave it to Korean ingenuity to turn something as simple as a golf brush into a sleek, high-tech fashion accessory. But ADAK doesn’t just replace the traditional brush dangling from your golf bag—it offers several clear advantages:

Compact and durable: The slim, pocket-friendly design makes it easy to carry, while the diamond-elastic material not
only cleans but sharpens worn-out grooves easily with just a few swipes.
Flexible use: ADAK works with or without water, though I found that adding a bit of water made cleaning
quicker, especially on heavily soiled grooves.
Built to last: This is no disposable tool. Hwang has been using his cleaner for nearly two years with minimal signs of wear. Even better, the elastomer can be whittled with a knife to keep the scraping edge fresh for lasting cleaning/sharpening capability.
Proven performance: Tests conducted at KIGOS using a swing robot showed that sharpening wedge grooves with
ADAK led to a noticeable increase in spin(+3800rpm), ball speed (2%), carry distance (1.2
meters), and improvement in overall shot precision (1%).

Test results from KIGOS, Korea’s foremost golf equipment research organization, show much improved spin rate after cleaning and sharpening the grooves with ADAK.

The only real downside is the price. The ADAK costs about three times more than the top brush-and-water combos on Amazon. But hey, diamonds aren’t cheap — and they last forever. Unlike regular brushes that wear out fast and just clean off dirt, ADAK cleans and sharpens your grooves. Plus, it lasts for years and to save you money in the long run.

In a world where every piece of golf gear seems to be getting smarter, faster, and more high-tech, it’s surprising how the art of cleaning clubs has lagged behind. By combining cutting-edge materials with clever design, ADAK offers golfers a modern, effective way to keep their clubs performing their best without the hassle of soggy towels, worn-out brushes, and metal groove sharpeners.

So if you can’t afford new wedges every few months and are tired of watching well-struck shots skid off the green from dirty and worn grooves, ADAK might be the simple upgrade you and your clubs have been waiting for.

Equipment

Why Rickie Fowler is switching to a shorter driver at the PGA Championship

Published

24 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Alistair Cameron

In a golf world where players are looking to eke out every yard possible, usually by lengthening their drivers to add clubhead speed, there’s one player at the PGA Championship who’s going in the opposite direction. In fact, for Rickie Fowler, his goal off the tee is not about gaining extra distance or yards north to south, but rather about shrinking the misses from east to west.

Ahead of the PGA Championship and the week prior at the Truist Championship. Fowler mentioned to Cobra Tour Rep Ben Schomin that the driver didn’t quite swing feel the same as everything in the bag. As a result, and with Schomin’s suggestion to try and sync everything up with the big stick, Fowler decided to test out a shorter length shaft.

“He’s been at 45 (inches), and he’d been at 45 for a few weeks, 44 1/8 (inches) is really is where he is been living really for the most part, for the last couple of years, and is where he is been comfortable,” Schomin told GolfWRX. “It just felt like it was a little long and loose on him.”

Interestingly, Fowler ranks 40th in Driving Accuracy this year on the PGA Tour. It’s his most accurate season with the driver since the start of the decade. But sometimes for players, feel is more important than statistics.

“It was really more of a trying to get the swing to feel the fluidness from club to club to club to try to get it to feel the same,” Schomin added. “And so we took it down to 43 and a quarter, and it was a touch of a ball speed loss, just based on that overall club head speed. But honestly, he squared it up probably a little better. The right miss wasn’t nearly as far. So really, overall down-range dispersion tightened up a fair amount, and he felt confident in swinging it.”

The change in length had Fowler’s caddie, Ricky Romano, beaming at how well he had driven during Tuesday’s practice round at Aronimink. So much so, he was asking Schomin not to suggest changes anymore.

Fowler’s shaft-shortening is one of a few driver adjustments he’s made this season, and to Schomin’s credit, it’s thanks to the fact that he and the rest of the Cobra team had Fowler fit very well into three of the four heads in the Cobra OPTM lineup.

“He had three distinct drivers and the biggest decision was trying to decide which worked best at that time,” Schomin told GolfWRX previously. “He’s played the majority of the season with OPTM X, but has also played a couple of tournaments with OPTM LS. His overall driving stats have been good.”

At the RBC Heritage earlier this spring, Fowler switched drivers, changing from his Cobra OPTM X and into the Tour, low-loft Max K model that Gary Woodland used to win just a few weeks prior.

Now for the PGA Championship, Fowler’s back in the X head, but still using the UST Mamiya LIN-Q PowerCore White 6TX shaft, just a little bit shorter.

“Will he stay there? I’m not sure,” Schomin added. “Could we end up say at like 43 and 7.5 (of an inch). If it’s giving him the same feel of consistency through the bag, then I think we might end up just a touch longer. But if he likes where he is at, he’s confident where he is at, that’s really all that matters.”

If there’s more testing, though, just don’t tell his caddie.

Equipment

GolfWRX Launch Report: 2026 Titleist GTS drivers

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

What you need to know: As is customary for the Fairhaven-based company, Titleist officially announced today that its GTS drivers are headed to retail, following a successful tour release. The GTS2, GTS3, and GTS4 drivers will be available in golf shops June 11.

Since debuting at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, the new GTS lineup has quickly gained traction on the PGA Tour, with more than 50 players already making the switch to a GTS2, GTS3, or GTS4 driver. Among them are Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.

Justin Thomas’ Titleist GTS2 driver (Greg Moore, GolfWRX)

According to Titleist, the GTS series builds upon the performance foundation established by the GT Series, while introducing several major technological advancements, including a new Split Mass Frame construction, refined aerodynamics, and an updated Speed Sync face design.

2026 Titleist GTS drivers: What’s new, key technology

Split Mass Frame and thermoform body

At the center of the new GTS lineup is a redesigned internal structure: the Split Mass Frame. This technology works with a full-thermoform body made from Titleist’s Proprietary Matrix Polymer (PMP), a lightweight composite that enables engineers to reposition mass more efficiently throughout the head. Compared to the previous GT generation, GTS drivers feature nearly double the PMP material, increasing from 13 grams to 26 grams, while maintaining the sound and feel preferred by better players.

The weight savings from the thermoform construction allowed Titleist engineers to strategically separate mass placement inside the head. Specifically, more weight is pushed rearward to improve stability and forgiveness, while additional mass is positioned low and forward to optimize speed, launch, and spin.

In short, golfers are able to maintain ball speed and consistency across both centered and off-center strikes.

Faster aerodynamics

Titleist also refined the aerodynamic shaping of the GTS heads to help players generate more clubhead speed.

The tails of the new GTS2 and GTS3 heads have been raised compared to previous models, helping airflow stay attached to the crown and sole longer during the swing. According to Titleist, the improved airflow reduces drag and increases speed without affecting launch conditions or center of gravity placement.

Typically, aerodynamic gains can compromise forgiveness or launch characteristics, but the weight savings from the Split Mass Frame allowed engineers to preserve preferred CG locations.

New Speed Sync face

The new Speed Sync Face design is engineered to improve ball speed retention across a larger portion of the face. A reinforced perimeter structure helps maximize face deflection and COR on centered strikes, while the upper portion of the support ring is opened up to increase speed on high-face impacts, a common strike location for many golfers. The face also features a variable thickness design to preserve speed and performance across a wider impact area.

Expanded adjustability

Each GTS model includes a dual-weighting system to fine-tune launch, spin, and shot shape more precisely than previous generations. GTS2 uses interchangeable forward and aft weights, while GTS3 and GTS4 combine a rear weight with an adjustable forward track weight system.

Tour-inspired face graphics

The new lineup features redesigned high-contrast face graphics to improve alignment and framing at address, according to Titleist. Sharp visual lines are designed to make it easier to center the golf ball and to perceive loft more easily at setup.

Additional model details

GTS2

The GTS2 is the most forgiving model, designed for golfers seeking maximum stability and consistent speed across the face.
It produces high launch with mid spin and features a larger, confidence-inspiring profile behind the ball.
Standard weighting includes an 11-gram forward weight and a 5-gram rear weight, with additional fitting configurations available.

GTS3

The GTS3 is aimed at players who want more control over launch, spin, and shot shaping.
Compared to GTS2, the GTS3 offers lower launch and spin while featuring a more compact profile and deeper face design preferred by many stronger players.
The head features an adjustable forward-track weight system to further fine-tune center of gravity placement.

GTS4

The lowest-spinning option in the lineup, GTS4 is built for golfers looking to reduce excessive spin and maximize total distance.
Unlike previous “4” models from Titleist, the new GTS4 features a full 460cc profile that improves forgiveness and stability while retaining its low-spin DNA.
Like GTS3, it includes a forward track weighting system for precise fitting adjustments.

What Titleist says

“When we talk about driver design, it’s never about the one feature or benefit — it’s about all of them,” said Stephanie Luttrell, Titleist’s Senior Director of Metalwood R&D. “Ball speed, forgiveness, spin stability, adjustability, exceptional sound and feel… these are all attributes that golfers care about. It’s our job to design a lineup that elevates performance across the board without sacrificing in key areas, and we feel we’ve done that with GTS.”

“We know that forward CGs drive speed with great launch and spin characteristics, but you need to be able to do that with an inertial stability that still preserves ball speed, launch and spin consistency on off-center hits,” Luttrell said. “We’ve never before been able to hit these CG positions and inertia properties at the same time, and we’re achieving that because of GTS’ construction.”

Club Junkie’s take

I feel like every time there is a new Titleist wood release, I figure they can’t outdo their previous driver. And every year, I am wrong and impressed with the performance. The GTS fits right into that narrative again, as I didn’t know where Titleist could go from GT, but they pushed the limits again, and my fitting proved the smart people there found ways to improve.

My past four Titleist drivers have been a 2 series as my swing typically requires a little height, spin, and forgiveness so I figured I would just get a new GTS2 and be on my way. During the fitting, I was impressed by the new GTS construction, its added PMP material, and the advanced adjustability on each model. My fitter, Joey, got to work putting together a GTS2 and we started there. The launch and spin were great, and the consistency on misses was very tight. My average ball speed with the GTS went up a little bit as the new Speed Sync face creates more speed away from the center.

Joey then built up a GTS3 in 11 degrees, but I figured this wouldn’t have the stability I needed for tight dispersion on my miss hits. That thought was quickly erased after a few shots, and I really liked the more center start line and reduced draw on the misses I was seeing. We tried a few different settings and shafts to dial in the details in order to get the best fit. Having a forward and rear weight in the head allowed Joey to set up the GTS3 with a heavier rear weight to keep the launch and spin up, while the Sure Fit hosel set flat created a more center start line for me. My misses were not nearly as far left, and I was really impressed with the consistency on the spin and launch when I didn’t hit it in the center.

Titleist again created a wood line in GTS that delivers improvements over previous drivers while keeping the traditional look and feel you expect. More adjustability, better off-center speed, and 3 drivers that are playable over a wider range of players should make these extremely successful in fittings.

Pricing, specs, availability

GTS2 lofts: 8, 9, 10, 11 degrees (RH/LH)

GTS3 lofts: 8, 9, 10, 11 degrees (RH/LH)

GTS4 lofts: 8, 9, 10 (RH/LH)

Featured shafts

Project X Titan Black
Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White
Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue
Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Red

Premium shafts

Graphite Design Tour AD DI
Graphite Design Tour AD VF
Graphite Design Tour AD FI

Available for fittings and pre-sale now.

In golf shops worldwide beginning June 11.

Price: $699 (standard), $899 (premium)

Equipment

Titleist launches new GTS2 and GTS3 fairways

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Titleist has today introduced its new GTS2 and GTS3 fairways.

Lower and deeper center of gravity (CG) positions, new adjustable heel-toe weights and advanced clubface innovations drive total performance in the two tour-proven models.

New GTS fairway technology:

Wraparound composite crowns: Unlock lower CG positions for higher launch and lower spin as well as more CG depth for added forgiveness.

Refined shapes and profiles: With two distinct setups, with GTS2 featuring a shallower face height and larger address profile compared to GTS3’s deeper face and more compact profile. Both models feature flatter sole designs for better performance off the turf.

Dual-weighting systems: The dual-weighting systems allows for personalized performance, with interchangeable heel-toe flat weights helping to fine-tune CG location across the face.

A forged L-Cup face design: The new face design is optimized for GTS and works to preserve ball speed, maintain launch conditions and enhance sound and feel on low-face impacts.

Tour-inspired polished clubfaces: To help players see more of the clubface at address.

GTS2 Fairway

The new GTS2 fairway is designed with a shallower face and a larger profile than GTS3, ideal for players with more sweeping deliveries with their fairway metals.

GTS2’s new face height, inspired by tour feedback, was designed shallower than the prior generation GT2 model and more in line with the GT1 fairway. Each loft in GTS2 leverages a shallower profile except for the 13.5-degree, which maintains a slightly taller face.

With its new dual-weighting system, the ‘2’ model now has heel-toe CG adjustability.

Lofts: 13.5, 15.0, 16.5, 18.0, 21.0

Dual-weight system: 11-gram weight in heel, 5-gram weight in toe (standard)

GTS3 Fairway

The new GTS3 fairway is designed with a deeper face and a more compact profile, ideal for players who hit down on the golf ball more with their fairway metals.

New to the GTS3 family is a 21-degree offering, giving players two distinct profiles in Titleist’s 7-wood loft.

Instead of the track weight system featured in prior generation ‘3’ models, GTS3 now benefits from adjustable heel-toe flat weights.

Lofts: 15.0, 16.5, 18.0, 21.0

Dual-weight system: 11-gram weight in heel, 5-gram weight in toe (standard)

Price & Availability

The new GTS fairways are available for fittings and pre-sale now and will be in golf shops worldwide beginning June 11 priced at $399 (standard) and $599 (premium).